I’m going to place the TV and other devices on the west wall in the living room, between the doorway to the bathroom and the doorway to the kitchen. This gives me 75″ width and 70″ height to work with. This project is not a short term goal and will probably be within 3 or 4 years. Parts of the project will be completed before other parts, but does require the TV and shelving to be completed.

Goals

The primary goal is to buy the TV, shelves, and sound system. This will be near $3500, so the next stage with buying the gaming systems will be another $1000 or so, not including games.

• TV that is over 50″, but under $2000. This also has to have at least 3 HDMI connections, but isn’t all that important, because I plan on buying a sound system to plug the HDMI into and then just plug the sound system into the TV for video.
• Sound System is going to have HDMI connections for sound and video. Doing it this way, I can plug most of the devices that are HDMI into the sound system, have the sound go straight to the sound system and then have the video directly sent to the TV. This will reduce the amount of wires required to complete the devices.

  One of the longer term projects will be to send the speaker wire through the walls to hide them. This can be achieved easily by placing the module with the wire ran underneath the flooring and then back up to where the sound system is located. This will reduce the amount of wiring needed and will look a great deal tidy. The problem is that once this is done, it will be very time consuming to correct, so setting it up without first and then running through the walls is a better choice.

  The sound system is probably going to have either a DVD player or a Blu-Ray player as part of it.

• Shelves

  The shelving will be glass and I want to have close to about 6 shelves. The bottom shelves are going to be 30″ wide and long enough to hold most devices. I will proably need to place it a foot off of the ground in order to fit the other shelves with the TV. I can only do two shelves on top of each other or I’ll be limited on the screen size. The good news is that I’ll be able to place a shelf mounts on each side of the TV that is 12″ wide for speakers or I could use speaker mounts.

  I might not use glass for the shelves. I think it is fine if it is wood, since it is unlikely to cut and slice the person if they happen to fall through it. The point is to not fall through it, but I’ll rather have the odds that if someone were to fall through it, then they wouldn’t require hospital attention. The reason to have glass is that it will match the rest of the house. Given that I may have kids, I’ll rather be safe than sorry and it will probably be cheaper for wood shelves.

• Game Systems

  I’m going to buy a Playstation, Nintendo, and whatever system Microsoft has out in 3 years. These will be 3 of the five or six shelves, although, the Nintendo could probably fit on one of the shelf with another game system.

• TiVo or Internet Connection Device

  In three years, I doubt seriously that I’ll have cable. I’m doing exceptionally fine without cable TV with Netflix, Hulu, etc. The need for cable TV is diminishing, so thus is also the need for TiVo. If I need to, then simply, I could get away with using my computer to record TV and then stream to the Xbox or Playstation devices. I’ll have to wait and see. Most likely after the sound system and game systems, I’ll at least want to have a few shelves open for future devices.

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• Home Improvement Plans

I have both short-term and long-term home improvement plans that include projects I need to do and projects I want to do. I’m planning on finishing the projects I need to do and waiting on the projects I want to do for later.

As always, it costs a great deal of money to work on the home and the projects requiring a contractor or someone else doing it will most likely be put off until the money can be saved up. The neat thing about some projects is that the long-term savings from energy and the increased equity of the home will make the improvements well worth it when it comes time to sell.

I just don’t want to get further in debt and any loan taken from the house, better be to improve the house. I don’t want to get in debt and increase the time needed to pay off the house than I have to. If I can pay off the house in 20 years and have it look awesome, then I’ll be happy. It is going to take a year and a half to pay off my current debt, so once that is done, I’ll start saving a lot more and should have money to start some of these longer term projects in two years.

Projects I Need Done

1. Replace binds and add Curtains. (Short-term.)

   I worry about people being able to see me and I like my privacy. I’m planning on a combination of binds and curtains. Any crack in the binds will be hid by the curtains. This allows me to walk around with very few clothes and not have to worry about some neighbor seeing me.

2. Replace the plumbing with either PEX or CPVC. (Long-term.)

   Right now, there is a lot of metal plumbing that needs to be replaced. I’m lucky in that the plumbing is located in one general area and shouldn’t require a lot of time and money to replace. I’m thinking of hiring a plumber, since I lack skills, discipline, and time to do it myself. I do also want it done right, the first time. I have several problems, I’m not sure where the sewage lines are and where the water supply lines are. I’m sure I can do most, if not all of the PEX plumbing, but if I have to do CPVC, then I’ll need to bring in a professional.

3. Replace Windows with more efficient type. (Long-term)

   I wish to save money with heating and cooling costs. I have 8 windows, 7 are double-hung and will cost around $200 to replace. This does not include installation costs and I’m estimating around $2500 for the windows and installation. The bathroom window is an awning and needs to be of a glass you can’t see through easily.

4. Replace Kitchen tile. (Short-term)

   The tile in the kitchen isn’t all that strong and is breaking up quite easily. I believe this is one of the first projects I’m going to do, because it should be cheap for the supplies and I can do it myself. I’m contemplating using wood locking tile, but mostly I’m going to use any material that will lay flat, be smooth and strong. It also has to be easy to lay and has to be able to be done quickly.

5. Replace Living Room tile and carpet. (Short-term)

   I was thinking of just replacing the tile and removing the carpet up to the entrance to the kitchen, but giving it some more thought, I think I should replace the carpet as well. I’ll use the same material as the kitchen to complement both. Since the flooring is going to be “wood” it should give a nicer appearance than the carpet. It is easier to clean the hardwood floor, since it only requires a bloom and mop/swifter. Given how frequently vacuums break and require replacing, I’ll rather spend the money on a bloom and mop than vacuum.

   I’m unsure what I’m going to do for the entryway. I’m most likely going to do tile, since it will be strong than the wood and therefore take the beating that the entryway does.

6. Replace fan in bathroom. (Short-term)

   The fan is very loud and doesn’t work well. I’m planning on replacing it with a more efficient one. I can buy a really good one for around $100, so it is a cheap project that can be done within the next few months.

Projects I Want Done

1. Replace Water Heater. (Long-term or 5+ years)

   My water heater is fine, it works and that means it is currently not required to replace it. The reason I wish to replace it is that it appears to be old and I’m hoping for a more efficient heater.

2. Extend closet doorways. (Long-term or 3+ years)

   Currently, the closet doorways are, well just that. The problem is that it is really difficult to organize and get to stuff and it is restricting in that I can’t really do anything, because there is limited entry way into the closets and I don’t want to block anything.

   The closets for the two bedrooms are located beside each other and there is a light switch to one side. Luckily, I can extend one closet towards the outer wall about two feet and the other closet towards the living room another two feet as well. If possible, I want to rise the top doorway ceiling another foot and put a shelf up there for long term storage. I’ll be able to put shoe organizers and more shelves into that little foot to a foot and a half area behind the light switch.

   The lighting will be pretty simple, since the closet is open mostly into the room, then it can use the room’s lighting. I do plan on placing additional LED fixtures for every shelf and one long LED strip for the top.

3. More cabinets in the Kitchen and perhaps an island. (Long-term or 3+ years)

   The problem I currently have is the lack of where to put food, dishes, and pots and pans. I like that I have a lot of open space in the kitchen, but I’ll have to make sure after I put a table and the washer and dryer. I don’t want it to be too crowded in the kitchen.

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• Home Entertainment Center Project