Shelving Solutions for the Sophisticated Gamer

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

These are my custom build shelves using brackets and lumber. Originally I was going to paint the lumber but I decided I actually like the wood look. Fully adjustable of course. 

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

@CodysGameRoom Now that is a literal wall of videogames. Holy cow!

[TDIRunner | 2,725]

These white shelves were originally from a video rental store and when the store closed down, a tanning salon bought them along with a bunch of DVDs and rented movies out of their salon for several years.  Once they decided to get out of that market they listed the shelves on Facebook market place and I picked them up for $60.  The only downside is that the shelves are not adjustable.  But that works out because anything smaller like PS1 or other portable games just go on my other Atlantic Oskar shelves which are adjustable.  

 

 

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,055]

MAde my own to fit the weird space I have to work with. I would like to re-do them one day and adjust spacing, add doors, lights, etc. Sorry for the blurry picture it's the only one I have at the moment and it's a few years old.

Edited March 20, 2020 by LeatherRebel5150

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

9 hours ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

MAde my own to fit the weird space I have to work with. I would like to re-do them one day and adjust spacing, add doors, lights, etc. Sorry for the blurry picture it's the only one I have at the moment and it's a few years old.

Looks great! You have to work with the space you have!

[Ghost Soldier | 24]

On 3/20/2020 at 12:54 PM, LeatherRebel5150 said:

MAde my own to fit the weird space I have to work with. I would like to re-do them one day and adjust spacing, add doors, lights, etc. Sorry for the blurry picture it's the only one I have at the moment and it's a few years old.

Perfect setup for enjoying some gaming goodness. I love the look of this corner and can see myself sitting on the floor playing.

Edited March 28, 2020 by Ghost Soldier

[ninjistar | 517]

Hey friends! Nice to see folks are still sharing their shelving solutions here!  I've since completed my new NES cart setup and am pretty pleased (I documented it on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/ninjistar if you'd like to see it). I'm now on the hunt for a cart-only solution for N64. I'm still working on completing the set, but wondering what do you all recommend? I look forward to seeing what folks think!

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

Despite enjoying my custom shelves for a few years, I had to say goodbye this past summer as I moved to a new job and new home and I don't have any replacement for them yet. Worse still, my games have been packed up since then. There is good news though: my new house has a large walk-in closet which connects directly to a large walk-in attic which I plan on turning into a kick-ass retro gaming area. That project probably won't get going in earnest until sometime late next year and I'll be sure to document here.

Until then, I'd like to get my NES games out of storage. I just need some way to display them temporarily. I'm leaning heavily towards the Atlantic Oskar 1080, due to its shear size. I'm concerned about the quality, but it's not meant to be a permanent solution. For now, I'm moving the NES games out onto wire rack shelving which looks kind of terrible. I'll get some pics up when they are unloaded, but I was wondering how you all feel about the Oskars or other oversized, low quality particle board shelving.

[TDIRunner | 2,725]

2 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

Despite enjoying my custom shelves for a few years, I had to say goodbye this past summer as I moved to a new job and new home and I don't have any replacement for them yet. Worse still, my games have been packed up since then. There is good news though: my new house has a large walk-in closet which connects directly to a large walk-in attic which I plan on turning into a kick-ass retro gaming area. That project probably won't get going in earnest until sometime late next year and I'll be sure to document here.

Until then, I'd like to get my NES games out of storage. I just need some way to display them temporarily. I'm leaning heavily towards the Atlantic Oskar 1080, due to its shear size. I'm concerned about the quality, but it's not meant to be a permanent solution. For now, I'm moving the NES games out onto wire rack shelving which looks kind of terrible. I'll get some pics up when they are unloaded, but I was wondering how you all feel about the Oskars or other oversized, low quality particle board shelving.

It depends on how old they are. I have those,  but mine date back to when they were deep enough that CD jewel cases didn't stick out.  Mine are pretty solid, but I believe the newer ones are much thinner and CD jewel cases will stick out over the edge. I'm not a fan of that considering they are pretty pricey. 

[LutherDestroysTheGond | 690]

9 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

It depends on how old they are. I have those,  but mine date back to when they were deep enough that CD jewel cases didn't stick out.  Mine are pretty solid, but I believe the newer ones are much thinner and CD jewel cases will stick out over the edge. I'm not a fan of that considering they are pretty pricey. 

Wow that is really annoying.  Glad you said that because I had no clue

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

10 hours ago, TDIRunner said:

It depends on how old they are. I have those,  but mine date back to when they were deep enough that CD jewel cases didn't stick out.  Mine are pretty solid, but I believe the newer ones are much thinner and CD jewel cases will stick out over the edge. I'm not a fan of that considering they are pretty pricey. 

 

1 hour ago, LutherDestroysTheGond said:

Wow that is really annoying.  Glad you said that because I had no clue

Yeah, the pictures on Amazon show a little bit of overhang for DVD cases and Blu-Ray cases come right to the edge. They claim a depth of 9.13 inches, so that must be outer dimensions or just plain incorrect. I'll give them a shot and let you guys know whether they suck. I am very concerned about the quality of the materials though. People seem to complain about that a lot in the reviews.

[TDIRunner | 2,725]

1 minute ago, DoctorEncore said:

 

Yeah, the pictures on Amazon show a little bit of overhang for DVD cases and Blu-Ray cases come right to the edge. They claim a depth of 9.13 inches, so that must be outer dimensions or just plain incorrect. I'll give them a shot and let you guys know whether they suck. I am very concerned about the quality of the materials though. People seem to complain about that a lot in the reviews.

I'll be curious about the thickness of everything too. I'm guessing they are thinner in all aspects compared to the older ones. 

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

No Oskars yet, but I did get my NES games unpacked and moved onto the wire shelves in my storage closet. In general, I think wire shelves are terrible, but they are a necessary evil so I can get unpacked and organized. I've got big plans to redo this whole room and attached walk-in attic which I'll detail in another thread when the time comes.

The Oskars are going to go in the open corner. I may put an additional one behind the door if I like them.

The bins contains an assortment of thousands of non-NES items. In the end, all the wire shelves will come down and I'll find a better solution.

I'll post again when I get the Oskars up.

[drxandy | 3,225]

#totelyfe #totesmagoats #totelytubular

Nice blank canvas dood, I'm excited for ya to get it the way you want it!

Also I have some of those yellow topped totes, the lids don't like the cold. I had one kinda shatter from garage storage in the past so they've been relegated to inside but not bad for the price.

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

3 hours ago, drxandy said:

#totelyfe #totesmagoats #totelytubular

Nice blank canvas dood, I'm excited for ya to get it the way you want it!

Also I have some of those yellow topped totes, the lids don't like the cold. I had one kinda shatter from garage storage in the past so they've been relegated to inside but not bad for the price.

Thanks man.

If there is one thing that would cause my wife to divorce me, it would be the excess of totes. Thank God she gave me this room before we even moved in or they'd be scattered across several storage areas in the basement. So far the Home Depot yellow lid ones have been pretty solid and they have a nice square base which makes packing way easier. No problems with the lids... yet.

Also, after much consternation I decided to cancel the Oskars and go with white Billy Bookcases for this room to trial them. I've heard so many good things from everyone in this thread and a few others, that I just had to do it. They were also significantly cheaper than the Oskars. Unfortunately, all the brown/black Billy's are unavailable right now so I can't move on to the basement just yet. I guess people have been doing some serious pandemic home organizing.

Edited December 7, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[TDIRunner | 2,725]

5 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

Also, after much consternation I decided to cancel the Oskars and go with white Billy Bookcases 

Probably a good idea, but damn it, I wanted to know the dimensions/thickness of the current models.  

But I guess it doesn't matter.  Even if they were as good of a quality as my older ones, I wouldn't pay what they are asking for them.  

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

19 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

Probably a good idea, but damn it, I wanted to know the dimensions/thickness of the current models.  

But I guess it doesn't matter.  Even if they were as good of a quality as my older ones, I wouldn't pay what they are asking for them.  

Yeah I had my heart set on them just for shear volume, but the cost is ridiculous for thin particle board. I already got one of the Billy Bookcases out and that thing is extremely sturdy, so I'm happy.

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

Quick pic update with some Billy Bookcases. Right now the NES games are two deep, but they will eventually just be single depth. Ripping out the wire shelves is a pain in the ass due to all the dry wall anchors. I guess I'll be spending some time spackling tomorrow.

After rounding this corner, I am facing a bit of a dilemma since the slope of the wall starts at a height of 75 inches and the Billy bookcases are 79.5 inches tall. I could do some modifications or switch to a shorter bookcase. Unfortunately the next tallest Billy is 41.5 inches, leaving a ton of unused wall space. I've already got one of those to trial so I'll see how that looks, but I'm considering switching to the cheaper Gersby which is 70.75 inches tall. I can also add extensions onto the two wide bookcases to make them even taller, but I kind of like the open space on top right now. Suggestions appreciated!

Before:

After:

Edited January 11, 2021 by DoctorEncore

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

Alright, the wire shelves are gone (good riddance) and all the spackling is done (poorly). I added more large Billy bookcases on each side the attic door and two short Billy bookcases. I bought the short ones to experiment with due to the slanted ceiling. The walls look terrible with all the unpainted spackle, but I'm not planning to paint since most of the wall will be blocked with shelves and this whole room may get renovated. Also, please forgive the complete lack of game organization. My main goal was just to get all games out of bins and, in that regard, I succeeded.

I also decided to use the remaining skinny Billy (seen in the picture directly above holding a few books and SEs) as a proof of concept for altering these units to account for the slanted ceiling. It turned out surprisingly well so I'll be adding and modifying more of the large Billy bookcases to the remaining open wall.

Billy Modifications

Spoiler

The angle on the ceiling is pretty much exactly 45 degrees. The height at which the slant begins varies only slightly from 75.75 to 76 inches along the wall, so I just cut at 76.

Saw horses and measuring tape out as I mark my 45 degree cut.

After already cutting the back corner at a 45 angle (bottom board), I am preparing to trim the top most portion of the bookcase (top board). Unfortunately, I forgot to angle the saw blade for this cut, so this doesn't sit flush with the wall. Also note that this cut removes one dowel hole and one cam hole.

The sides with their 45 degree cuts completed.

Unfortunately, the backing still needs to be adjusted.

I used a box cutter to repeatedly score the back side until I could easily bend it, then put a few nails through the very edge at a slight angle.

The modified Billy against the wall/ceiling. Looks pretty good!

The other side. Also pretty good! Note that the backing is not in place in this pic or the previous one.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by DoctorEncore

[ninjistar | 517]

Looks like it's coming along, @DoctorEncore!  It's so hard to move a NES set and put it back up...  It took me 1 - 2 years to get mine unwrapped, unpacked, and set back up in the new space. I still have some odds and ends I'd like to finish. It's a marathon, not a race, right?  

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

31 minutes ago, ninjistar said:

Looks like it's coming along, @DoctorEncore!  It's so hard to move a NES set and put it back up...  It took me 1 - 2 years to get mine unwrapped, unpacked, and set back up in the new space. I still have some odds and ends I'd like to finish. It's a marathon, not a race, right?  

Yeah, the only reason I even got to it after 3-4 months is because I had to use my vacation days before the year ended or I would have lost them. There is something particularly daunting about moving and unpacking 700+ games that are in flimsy cardboard boxes. All in all, those are probably going to take up seven shelves on three full size and one skinny Billy if I want to display them properly. Makes me seriously reconsider going for more full sets.

Edited December 16, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[O.G. CIB | 415]

1 hour ago, DoctorEncore said:

Yeah, the only reason I even got to it after 3-4 months is because I had to use my vacation days before the year ended or I would have lost them. There is something particularly daunting about moving and unpacking 700+ games that are in flimsy cardboard boxes. All in all, those are probably going to take up seven shelves on three full size and one skinny Billy if I want to display them properly. Makes me seriously reconsider going for more full sets.

Since your using the Billy you should be able to get a max 10 shelves per unit (8 for games and 2 skinny shelves for things like books or to lay Arkanoid flat).  Should be 232 NES games with protectors ...spine out. If you decide to front face any games add 40 for a total of 272. Looks awesome!

[Foochie776 | 1,051]

I love this thread, so many great ideas!

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

Alright, so I finally got around to working on some custom large Billy bookcases. Results were mixed. Trimming the 45 angle of the sides was fine, but cutting the top piece with an angled cut proved to be quite difficult. I'm not sure if this is due to my crappy battery-powered circular saw or the difficulty of cutting particle board. Regardless, my angled cuts were wavy and ugly.

Adding a bracket to the top to make up for the lost cam/dowel was pretty easy.

Unfortunately, the backing board REALLY does not like to bend, preferring to rip and tear. It's also not long enough to cover everything when you add the new angled surface.

I'd call this project a moderate success, but the amount I struggled made me wish I'd just built entirely custom shelves. I still have four more of these to build.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by DoctorEncore

[O.G. CIB | 415]

You should be using a table saw for those long cuts vs a hand circular saw. Those cuts should be rather quick however, your end result looks good to me.