Display Den

[OnlyGenusCaps]

I've been absent on the forum with only intermittent involvement of late.  There are a number of reasons for why Ive had less time to be on here, but really only one relevant to the topic of this forum.  I have been turning a bit of bad luck into an opportunity.  When I set up my aquariums under my basement stairs, I did so because I have had to move my tanks around my house repeatedly because of necessary maintenance or repairs to my "fixer-upper" house.  So, I specifically picked a spot where there was only one utility anywhere near the tanks.  A plan for a permanent home if you will.  The only thing in the area was the main soil pipe under the foundation headed out to the road.  Safe.  Or so I thought...  Turns out, this spring I learned, much to my horror, that the soil pipe had corroded and would need to be replaced.  This would mean using a jackhammer to excise the section of the foundation directly under where my aquarium are.  Figures.

I was lamenting this one evening to my wife in our basement, where we spend most of our evenings, when she suggested that the display tanks (aquariums and vivariums) would be welcome to move into the finished part of the basement.  I was elated, but realized too, that we were wasting this space essentially.  It's 1/3 of our house's footprint, and is just one big room.  It acts to hold exercise equipment, the rack for coats/mudroom from the tuck-under garage, and the only TV in the house.  It has always felt like a jumbled purpose room.  So, in a bold stroke we decided to put in a wall to divide the room, making the back half a den.  I would get a spot to put my display worthy tanks (breeding setups will need to remains back under the stairs later), and she'll get a newer TV out of the deal (ours is the one we bought when my TV/VCR combo from under grad broke and her desktop monitor at work is larger), and a big comfy corner couch.  As a bonus, this will mean we will get to spend our evenings together; her watching whatever terrible drama she wants, and me cleaning algae.  Wedded bliss!  But we've had to build it.

Just to give you a perspective, here is the before photo looking from the back of the room to the front:

Full disclosure, we hired someone to build the wall.  But here it is in process:

But we are painting this ourselves.  The idea is that for both a gallery-like display of tanks, and for a room to watch movies in, dark wall are best.  But they started out very, very light as we primed them.  Yikes!  I now remember why I have a disdain for white walls.

A very dark, windowless room, though, can be quite uninviting to enter when you first open the door.  So we have plans (even if the dog is not sure about them!):

A slash of color to help make the room seem more welcoming:

We finally got to the darker paint stage last night.  I wanted a dark gun metal grey, and piked out on from the line up at "big box store".  Unfortunately, it looks more brown on the wall to me.  What do you think?

After the paint is done, I am going to have to build stands for the tanks.  So, let me get some input from you all.  If you had to stack 2 75 gallon aquariums as a double rack, what would be the shelf height you would pick for each, and why?  I'll be curious to hear what folks think.

In the meantime, thanks for looking!  And hopefully I'll be able to be back on here more often once this nears completion.  The whole process had made me wonder what has become of @Brandy's basement build. 

[Guppysnail]

This looks like quite the project. It also looks like it will be very rewarding in the end. I love the color splash. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/7/2023 at 2:23 PM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

Full disclosure, we hired someone to build the wall.  But here it is in process:

I wish your wall builder could come help with the current "fixer upper" we're in. 😂

What a hassle sometimes. This week the pool broke.

I am excited to see your progress and I look forward to seeing how your words change as you have that final tank in place. I wonder between the two of you, who will enjoy the nature surroundings more.