So some of you may remember this as my last cave of solitude. My 16ft x 32ft home within my home:




It was laid out like this:



Well with my kids getting older we needed a place to let them play and spread their toys without the wife and I tripping and crushing and cursing. Early November my hot water tank busted and I saw my opportunity to make some big changes to the basement. I relocated the water heater to the same corner of the basement as the pressure tank. I enclosed that all in a closet and added a wall across the middle of the basement, framing around the support poles which I was beginning to hate more and more for ruining my flow. A little paint on the walls, some on the floor and a huge 12x15 area rug with underlayment from Ollie's and they have a play room. It's still not complete, I need to do some wiring to reconfigure the lighting and then add a white beadboard ceiling and maybe some crown trim. A nice 13 x 15 room for the kids to go wild.






And what was now my smaller area I took down a wall that was in the house when we bought it and had the purpose of one day adding a bathroom in the basement. Bad idea IMO so down it came. I've now got a 13 by 26 office/hideaway with a lock on the door. I've still got a long way to go, got to get the baseboard trim done, frame around the ductwork, throw on some plywood for a ceiling, make nicer shelves, organize, reorganize, and then relax.

To the right of the doorway and continuing around the room to the right.:






Now the new basement layout:

_________________

.awesome.

_________________

Cold rain is keeping form making the shelves and painting them. All my organizing is on hold for now.

_________________

So my initial estimate of having my collection reorganized by early spring seems to have been off by a bit. Warm weather means outside projects so this has been put on hold except for rainy days. The good news is that I have all but two shelves completed for my joe stuff and I have access to my customizing desk again. I have gotten some WIP pieced together recently and hopefully I'll get some painting done soon.

Please excuse the mess.

First a shot of the north wall, my collection of all "extra" figures, alphabetized, GI Joe on the top 2 shelves, bad guy characters on the third shelf, and troops on the bottom shelf. The uppermost shelf is for taller vehicles and playsets. These shelves still need straightening up and the figures need to have their accessories placed with them. These shelves are 21 foot long and 10 inches deep.


And now my "Joe-Verse" wall on the south wall.

_________________

The GI Joe team is on the middle set of shelves.
Top Shelf: Sky Patrol
Next: The hostage rescue team: Ninja Force and the commando team: Sgt Slaughter and the Marauders.
Next: The public relations and escort team: GI Joe Sigma and world explorers: The Adventure Team.
Next: Weapons development: BF3K with their array of RoboJOEs
Next: The enemy rehabilitation unit: The Renegades, Enemy weapons specialists: The Tiger Force, and Urban Assault.
Next: The basic GI Joe team and the Special Assignment Team: Snake Eyes, Beachhead, Flint and Barrage.
Bottom Shelf: Arctic Assault and Desert Attack.



To the left of GI Joe are the shelves containing Cobra and their allies.
Top Shelf: BATs
Next: The Cobra Hierarchy led by Cobra Commander III (Billy). His advisers, bodyguards, and Cobra security personnel.
Next: CC3 has reorganized Cobra in the style of GI Joe with small assault teams and less specialized troopers. Left to right: The Immortals, The Plague, Firefly Inc, and The Viper Elite.
Next: MARS and The Iron Grenadiers.
Next: The Ironklad, the biker gang led by Zaranna after The Dreadnok Uncivil War. The Headhunters and their associates from South America Cobra de Estrela.
Still need to finish the bottom two shelves for Cobra troops.


And to the far right are other groups, some good and some bad.

Top Shelf: The 100 acre menagerie, and The Arashikage clan
Next: GI Joe's replacement: The Phoenix Guard
Next: The Dreadnoks, and The Red Shadows
Next: The PyroManiax, a west coast based apocalyptic group of anarchists, The Red Ninja clan, and The Night Creepers
Next: The cult of Serpentor, The Coil.
Next: OverKill Industries, the world's most advanced robotics manufacturers.
Bottom Shelf: The Island of Dr. Minbender, freaks and mutations.



I still have a long ways to go but I'm enjoying going through my figures again.

_________________

I always enjoy posts like these. Looking good.

_________________

Holy cow that's a lot of Joe's

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

My last best count was somewhere in the 1200 range but that was 4 or 5 years ago. I estimate closer to 1500 now if I count the Marvel, Hobbitt, and other random 1/18th figures I have thrown in with my joeverse stuff.

_________________