Built some DVD shelves...

[Nick Chapman]

Not sure I like this set up very well. But my goal is to have everything HT related inside this closet, DVD's included.
This took about 30 minutes to build, and is decent, but not near enough room for everything that I want to put in there. I'll probably rip it all out, and start over again. Need some better planning on what exactly I want. I can build just about anything, but designing things is not my cup of tea

Anyhow, here's what I have so far...




Can any of you guys add your thoughts to this? All in all, I have about 400 DVD's. I know that it will be impossible to get them all in the closet, but I would like as many as I can get in there.


Thanks,
Nick

[Rafa]

Would widen the closet to the right be out of the question? Not sure what it looks like to the right of the closet. You could widen at least a 1' or more and get sliding doors or something.

Edit...I know you're planning on getting some vents in there, but just fyi, that ps3 gets freaking warm.

[Mustangman_2000]

You should just get a standalone dvd shelf. They come in a variety of different designs and configurations. And I hope you keep that door open when you run that equipment. a/v receivers and gaming consoles get damn hot and need adequate ventilation if you want them to last.

You could probably sift through some closet organizer product sites and see if they have a space saving closet shelf design.

[Rafa]

How much room do you got from edge of dvd shelves to the door? Not sure if it will look tacky, but you if you have enough room you can make some shelves or a small cabinet on the upper half(inside) of door. Just throwing out ideas.

[Nick Chapman]

Originally Posted by Mustangman_2000

You should just get a standalone dvd shelf. They come in a variety of different designs and configurations. And I hope you keep that door open when you run that equipment. a/v receivers and gaming consoles get damn hot and need adequate ventilation if you want them to last.

You could probably sift through some closet organizer product sites and see if they have a space saving closet shelf design.

The goal of this, is to hide everything HT related. This includes DVD's. I don't want anything in the livingroom. So a standalone DVD shelf won't work for what I want unless I can mount it inside of this closet.

The door is always open.....for now. I am working on installing a fan in the ceiling of the closet. There is a 1" gap at the bottom of the door, and with a fan sucking from the ceiling, there will be enough ventilation.

[Nick Chapman]

Originally Posted by Rafa

How much room do you got from edge of dvd shelves to the door? Not sure if it will look tacky, but you if you have enough room you can make some shelves or a small cabinet on the upper half(inside) of door. Just throwing out ideas.

Thats an idea.

I think I just need to set up a HTPC, and be done with it. Store all of my movies in a hard drive

[TINKRD]

hole in the ceiling with a drop down automatic revolving shelf.

[Nick Chapman]

Originally Posted by TINKRD

hole in the ceiling with a drop down automatic revolving shelf.

hmmmmmm

[Rafa]

Gotta be one hell of a revolving shelf to hold 400+ dvd's.

[Nick Chapman]

I don't have to have them all in there. Some of the cheesy titles can be boxed up and stored. I just want something thats going to look clean, and be functional.

[Wario]

Nick, I'd look at doing something with a slide out. You can by things like this pre-fab at Home depot.

[Nick Chapman]

Originally Posted by Wario

Nick, I'd look at doing something with a slide out. You can by things like this pre-fab at Home depot.

I thought about that. But with the equipment taking up the bottom half of the closet, how will I see in side the drawers? I'd hate to have to get a step ladder just to get a dvd out

[TINKRD]

1. put them all on a hard drive

or

2. buy a DVD player that has a 400 disc changer

what's behind the closet wall?

[Chili]

Put the DVD's into the Big CD sleeves and put the original boxes in the attic.

Here.. Something like this too.. Those cases take up all the space:



http://diskjocki.com/djw200.htm

Don't know how much though.. And you'll need to catalog everything and keep a list handy.

Or these:

[2K2 LS1]

Why not put them all in a sony 400 disc changer and put the cases in the attic.

[Phillystang]

I would suggest keeping the height between shelfs at the same height as the DVD cases so that there isn't so much dead space above them and the next shelf.

[uwishuknew]

Look at The Container Store, they have awesome closet set ups.

[sleeperLS]

I think old school movies when it comes to this stuff. Find a big peice of art you like. Counter sink the shelves in the wall hang picture over it haha.

You'll prob be better off just boxing up wht you never really watch just have a list of all you have on the door so if people want to watch it you can go get it.

[Nick Chapman]

Originally Posted by 2K2 LS1

Why not put them all in a sony 400 disc changer and put the cases in the attic.

Because I use the Toshiba HD DVD player, or the Blu Ray player as an upconverter.

[jluv]

I am a decent (at best) builder, but I take pride in designing cool shit.

Just at a quick glance, and without thinking about it for more than the past 3 minutes, and using just the space you have:

Build similar wood shelves for all of your equipment. Start LOW in the closet and leave little room above and below, assuming you can integrate adequate ventilation.

Same thing with the DVDs. You don't need more than an inch on top of each row to get your finger in and slide one out.

If the closet is deep enough, you could slide the DVDS all the way to the back wall in a row like you have them now, and on the sides of that row you could either box it or curve it around and have several more DVDs lined up on each side. In other words, make each horizontal shelf of DVDs shaped like a horseshoe. You'll sacrifice a few on the back edges, but if your closet is fairly deep you will get them all back and then some. Try it out and see how significant the gain is, but I am guessing maybe 15+ on each level. That can be siginificant if you can do 4 or 5 levels.

Go to the top. Put your least watched DVDs up high. You can always get something to stand on if you really need to access those DVDs.

Instead of making the closet wider, make it deeper. you should be able to sink it back a couple of inches, and if the horseshoe thing works, that will get you an extra 4-6 DVDs per level.

Totally different idea: Go diagonal. Make the shelves slanted (starting low closest to you and angling up towards the back)and put three shelves on each slanted shelf, thus giving you a lot more DVDs on each shelf. You'll need to leave a lot more room between shelves for access, but you will maximixe the space on each shelf. If you really want to get slick with this, have each slanted main shelf on a vertical track at the back of the closet, allowing you to slide them straight up and down. Then, the amount of space you need between each shelf, you'll only need once in the whole closet, vs once between each shelf, as you can always slide the shelves you aren't accessing far enough from the one shelf you are looking at at any given moment.

[jluv]

Another idea for saving room and aiding ventilation, make the shelves (at least the ones that the equipment is on) out of 1/4" pegboard. I'd double it up for strength, but make sure that the holes all line up and fix it together so it acts as one piece. This will be much better for airflow, be strong, and 1/2" is pretty slim. You can still paint it or whatever if you want it to look professional.

[Cammin4V]

a few ideas....


1. make the shelves closer together so the dvd stands straight up and is just at the bottom of the next shelf.
2. build shelves on the left of the closet for dvd's, and on the right of the closet for the equipment. looking at the space, it looks like there is enough to have a 'walk-in' like closet. you could walk in, look to the left for dvd's and the right for HT equipment. Want a little fancier? Keep the HT stuff faced towards the door, and build shelves on a track going left to right in the picture. Then you can slide the equipment to the right to see DVD's, and have it slid to the left(just like it is in the picture) to show the equipment or adjust something. That would be pretty easy to do with the shelf you have, but i would build a wood set-up to make it look a lot more professional.

Also, by building a custom shelf you could build a few fans into it to suck the hot air away from the equipment. Use a few computer fans or something similar.

[Da Prez]

how about you throw all the dvd's away, do you actually watch a movie youve already seen over and over again?

[Nick Chapman]

Originally Posted by Da Prez

how about you throw all the dvd's away, do you actually watch a movie youve already seen over and over again?

Yeah, I do actually DAS BOOT! FTW!!!

[Blue90LXSupercharged]

for your Vent you should get a nice bathroom vent and install it into the ceiling of the closet. And vent the heat into the attic. Heat rises, so your air flow should be drawn from the gap between the door and the floor up through the equipment and up out the vent.

[Da Prez]

Originally Posted by n737nc

Yeah, I do actually DAS BOOT! FTW!!!

when do you find the time? you detail cars for 14 hours a day and the rest of the time you are on here...

[Nick Chapman]

Originally Posted by Da Prez

when do you find the time? you detail cars for 14 hours a day and the rest of the time you are on here...

Actually, my day starts at 4:30am when I go to work at my full time job for 8 hours, then detail cars for the next 6-10 hours after that. Then go home and deal with the family