To be successful in what every you do you need a space to work out your plans, a space to work on your projects, a space too keep inventory of your workmanship, a peaceful space to sit in silence so you can visualized an ideas or vision in your brain uninterrupted, a space to be yourself. As a human despite wanted to be crowded around people to socialized there are times you need to be isolated so you can relax and be on your own.....that is like to be a human again in an environment that fits for self development and mental growth. That's why people build special space, a room, workshop, garage or caves to work on their favorite activities and keep their personal stuff. Modern days in puns they usually called it a "man cave" or "man space" for males and "she-shed" for women where genders can workout their favorite activity without ruin traditional home living. However i decline to called mine as "man cave" since it sounds more gender stereotyping because my rooms are open for any gender as symbol of productive hobby for society..so i called it "hobby cave". So all i have are hangar, relaxation/social spot and work place...space for productivity and self discovery.
As promised from previous article i'm going to post article about my renovated space which consists of 3 rooms dedicated for my hobby. The reason having a my own paradise is not to show-off or what most people think like " who has the biggest stick" but as an environment that motivates me to be active and productive daily in my hobby and a place to be able to grow both skills and knowledge that can be useful for any open opportunities out there like career advancement or self sustain development. It is a true fact that any successful ambition and goal always starts at home, that's where everyone start their days, ideas and wakeup from bed envision what to do next in their daily life, their surroundings will actually helps to shape who they are and what they want to be. For example just looks few component in our house under the roof that motivates or shapes us to be able to live a successful, happy and healthy lifestyle:
- The kitchen
A good kitchen makes a good healthy food, with proper cooking tool makes great dishes for family to enjoy or maybe you can start being creative trying out new cooking recipe, start a cooking hobby, blog or selling recipes/catering businesses. Its up to the an individual to see what possibilities can as space like this offer him or her. - Living room
Good place to relax, enjoy some media entertainment, play video games or family gathering to improve social relationship. Watch TV to keep us updated what is happening outside and decided what to do next for tomorrow planning based on received media info. A place to relax, remove depression and being entertained. - Dining room
A gathering for family not only to enjoy great meal together but also a great place to share ideas via discussion among family members to plan for next activity through dining conversation. Sometimes we use this space to do some office work and other activities on the table. Long time ago i always used dining table to work on my projects and present Youtube video on it, so from there i can grow and proceed to improve my workplace by shifting to more improve spaces. - Bedroom
A good clean and nicely setup bedroom promotes comfort and complete relaxation to recover exhausting body and wakeup refresh next day. If your bedroom is messy your mental also will be 'unconsciously' distress by visual looks through the surrounding of your untidy bedroom thus this emotion will be carried forward throughout the day until you fix the problem. So cleanliness proves to provide a good mental health because what the eyes see will be pictured and embedded into your brain forever. See bad things you get bad feeling, see good things you get good feeling throughout the day. - Backyard/front porch
You can do lots of great activity here, gardening, barbeque, social activity, setting up mini workshop to repair your bike, cars mods, carpentry or anything that generate ideas for new opportunities like start growing some flower for businesses or freelance car repair. 70% of people grew their talent from this space because by human instinct when they see bigger empty space they always been thinking in their heads; "i can do lots of stuff here!". - Bathroom
Yes of course, you'll need to refresh and clean your body to get your days going fresh and socially comfortable in the public with a new clean you, not smelly you.
So here are the main key points why you need a dedicate space or 'cave' for your hobbies.
- So you have a dedicate space to mess around without affecting other household activity or interior decor.
- You can be yourself again become what you want to be and do what you always wanted to do especially married people with restricted household movement.
- A room complete with pool of resources such as tools and workspace so you can workout some project and grow your knowledge and skills.
- A room with shelves and wall so you can put your pride and joy of your works/products of workmanship/collectibles and also a wall to hang photos of your achievements, awards or trophy to show your milestones.
- A place to show your portfolio, physical resume and proof of your capability, workmanship to the public and full fill any existing opportunity in the job market with your related hobby. Think it as Museum about your achievement in life and your pride on your work. So when people come and visit your cave they will respect your talents, passion and your history of life.
- A room for mental peace and happiness where you can express your emotion, thoughts and translate it into physical/handy work, thus promotes healthy lifestyle doing what you do best. I'll elaborate later why a happy mental and emotion leads to healthy body a social life.
So you see a dedicated space can transform a person into something they could become 'unconsciously' and make a small step to start a hobby or further than that. If you have empty garage there are definitely a moment you wish you could transform it into something useful; why not start carpenter build sofa and table for your homes. Who knows from there you grow into business selling furniture or just as a hobby to blog or social media about your carpentry stuff....later you will grow into positive activity that contributes the work your way to become master or a teacher. In return not only you gain respect by community knowing you can do wood stuff but also keeps you away from doing bad stuff like wasting time or out of home wasting money on something that are not important or socially disturbing. Having a hobby or any productive activity will keep you 'sane' and alive....not insane. I don't respect people who don't have any hobby because people who don't have any hobby or something to develop their own profile or self esteem usually like to cling to others or "social groupies" because they are lost their way and trying to find identity for themself by being 'loud' hoping the crowds helps him to shape what he should be, trying to standout by associating with other person achievement (shared/parasite-ing success) and brag a lot with nothing to proof....you can see them a lot in their Facebook and Twitter, social media exposed this type of people. So get real, stop bragging and work your future by having a space to be productive. There so many thing you do in life like blogging, collecting HotWheels, collecting magazines, build your own library, art paintings, stone collection, collecting anime merchandise, 3d designs and so much more....even colleting as simple as empty cans of soda or bottle can be a hobby too...check of in Youtube video for lots of weird and interesting hobby, these people are dedicated and become useful to the society because of a simple hobby they have. I even met few wonderful people where i teach my Aviation class at school and also at flying field that some quit their traditional jobs to work on their hobby that they are passionate about and made career out of it like building micro house, modern hydroponic agriculture, food chef, aerial drone 3d mapper, web designer and other out of box opportunism. These people are awesome because the finally had jobs that they love to do because it started out as a hobby from home.
After having my hangar well arranged with models in proper racks and hanging slots, photographs of my social involvement and achievement hanged up for display, designs sketches pasted on the wall and projects item properly placed i can see the results years of my work with startling contrast how far i've accomplish in my hobby throughout the decades, what contribution have i made to the community, what was missing and what to do next for my upcoming milestone. From there i could easily envision what to do next and what goal i wanted to achieve in the future and definitely try to go a step up than stuck in linear success. I don't like to stuck on the same step so i like to step my goal from upwards...up up away we go just like how i pushes my planes high above the clouds and reaching the stratosphere. Looking back at my hangar i could trace back my origin for example..i have memorable 80's TAMIYA car models that help me startup my R/C enthusiasm in 1984 then progressing up into aviation what is now an FPV and UAV technology 30 years later. From there my profile of life are well described and i have shown evolution of my mindset and skills. So whenever i have guest and visitor visiting my hangar or other rooms i could easily tell stories and history about how i evolve through R/C technology, 3d designs, engineering works and other creative project that i did that helped shaped the community over the years. So there i have "wow" factor to show my audience through history lesson because i've been through many route to get up passes society expectation. The hangar is my life story museum. The secondary of my life museum definitely my website https://www.supermotoxl.com as you reading right now. Being a person with strong background and interesting history is worthy living that doing nothing in life, having a space to present your history to your audience both in physical world and in digital world (online)/archived capsule helps to make life more interesting to live on. Your space also represent your own physical portfolio, your live resume, history of your workmanship and your heritage too. Just think about a Museum, that's how you feel when you come inside and see wonders of human history through timelines and able to see, touch and feel it.
My productive hobby caves
Ok, so now you understand why it is important to have your own special space to pursue your life long passion, hobby or goals to make life living more worthy. Now let check out and have a tour around my "man cave" or you can almost say "man house", lol.
There are three room i built to inspire my hobby and ambition. I love planes, cars, models, i love to invent and also i love to design both sketches and 3D, so i made few spaces for these:
- Main Hangar
- The Pilot Lounge
- Work studio
The Main Hangar
Its the heart of the hobby space in general. Place to store and exhibit my productive works, models, project and etc. R/C planes, cars, models, hand build projects and other technology i build are exhibited in this hangar. Previously years ago as shown in my gallery archive section in this website you can see my old hangar used to be crammed, compact, messy, not well organized nor have any proper inventory to store parts and hardware back then since early 2010. Life not so productive with all those unorganized and messy stuff around even my passion for this hobby still intact. Some of my models collection come and go due to less amount of space to keep them all, so i decided to do something about it. So i proceed renovate and spread out the models where deem necessary so i have space to for self mental growth.
By mid 2017 my hangar is completely well organized where models are arranged based on their category. Every corner of the room and spaces around the shelf have been optimized for efficient model storage where no space are left un-used and floor space to walk around have been increase to allow me to move freely around the room so i can view my models and easily grab any when i need to bring it out to play. All planes are hooked on to the wall via thin steel wires strapped between their landing gears. The wires then hooked on clothing style hook that nailed into the wall. Planes of the same models, brand, platform and flight style are clump and together on the same wall. Ground models such as buggies, trucks, scale off-roader, touring/on-roads, crawlers and micros are places on or nearby the cupboards which is originally a big shoe rack which all the cover doors removed. The top deck placed bigger 1:10 scale models, the mid section of the cupboard placed mini to micro size models ranging from 1:14 up to 1:45 scale models. The heavier models such as the 1:8 nitro engine powered and 1:5 scale petrol trucks are left on the floor just beside the foot of the cupboard. Lighter FPV,UAV and mutirotors models are hanged on the wall while the larger ones have its own rack stand from the floor for bigger scale planes especially LX (LanXiang Jets). Some oversize FMS models such as 1400mm~1600mm are left leaning against the wall from the floor due to its weight unable to hang simple on wires. Other bigger scale models that are too big to fit into this room are moved out from the hangar and to be displayed at 'The Pilot Lounge'. All working/productive tools such as computers, 3d printers, maintenance hardware and spare parts are moved to the Work Studio. This allow the hangar to be more roomier and pleasant for the eyes to wonder around the hangar. With the present setup and spacious arrangement not only looks pleasant to view around but also the wings from every planes are no longer clipping with each other causing scratches or damages plus allow more convenient for me to "grab-n-go" models from its place holder without too much struggle to put it back after use. Now the hangar is more spacious to walk around, systematically arranged according to it category, very airy, less 'suffocated' and visitor can walk-in and enjoy the view of my historical collection of Radio Controlled aircrafts, ground models and other by products of my projects. Not only as hangar but a Museum of my history full of story and adventure to tell. Whenever i enter this hangar it bring me smile and joy to see them all in one place, all reminds me of great sweet memory being together and reminds nothing impossible to achieve if i make a move on my dream, my childhood dream finally come true. The history embedded in each models bring priceless amount of story and nostalgic value to me. I can guarantee you only in this hangar it hold the rarest yet famous models ever build...i guess you all knew that.
The Pilot Lounge
Basically a simple living room where i can relax, socializing with guest, visitors, reading magazines and watching digital medias on tv screen. This area have two corner space with different light ambient and furniture styling to represent 2 themes; The old and The modern aviation era as shown in attached pictures. The first bigger space with white ambient, black furniture and access to media center such as TV host modern theme decorated with jet fighters, e-turbine based models and also scale ground R/C models which its colors also matched with overall furniture colors. Also include some drone equipment in the corner of the space also with matching black and white colors. The picture frame also have dark maroon/walnut color to match the surroundings too. All these to reflect modern side of of my hobby.
The other opposite corner shown on the upper left side of the picture shows slightly warm ambient "woody" color have wooden based furniture, asian style Tatami like floor mat, woody picture frame, wooden coffee table and door showcase classic scale planes from WW2 such as the big B2 flying fortress and Messerschmitt BF-110. This space reflect old era of flight and aura of vintage planes. Also host picture of my families which suites the feel of being going back in time. Having 2 spaces with different ambience reflects differences of 2 different era of flight evolution, thus allow any guest or visitor to view and understand the history of aviation. A white on-road bicycle behind the sofa matching overall space giving the youthful looks around the room symbolizing active lifestyle and freedom. However my favorite grey color mountain bike doesn't fit the scene so it stays away from the view until i found the right spot for it.
The Work Studio
This is my main workspace for overall my hobbies which include the following task to be achieve in this space:
- CAD/3D designs, design prototyping and modeling.
- 3D Printing and parts fabrication.
- Graphics, art and blogging/web publishing.
- Sims/Game programming + mods.
- Models/project assembly space, electronics, mechanical works and maintenance.
- Painting and air brushing.
- Main server/Cloud computing.
This room divided into 2 corner; the left side of the wall are space for computer related task, digital media works and 3d printing, the wall decorated with my 3d designs, prototype of concept designed automobiles and also gaming/sim object designs for past gaming projects which i worked from the year 1998 till present time as shown in my website https://www.supermotoxl.com at 3d design sections. It also represent the core of SupermotoXL Design original existence on the net before other of my hobbies started to propagate on my webpage.
Right side of the wall space for i have basic table, parts inventory shelf and tools where i can work my hands on projects, models, electronics and other hardwares. The wall decorated with boxes of models and also classic 1980's box art cover of R/C models that i love during my childhood age which represent origin of my enthusiasm into radio control hobbies since 1984. The work table able to fit max 1:8 scale models at one time just a perfect size to spread the parts around the table and fit nicely with the present room size.
Both side have access to electrical outlet and also good amount of bright sunlight especially in the morning. Nearby windows provides excellent flow of fresh air to vent out heat from 24 hours working server, smokes from soldering equipment and fumes out particles during air brushing works. In the middle part of the room is an empty space ideally to work on bigger "EP" planes can accommodates atleast about 2500mm wingspan size to work in the middle of the room. While in the middle i could reach all corner of the room from computer to access reference info on the net, tools from the shelf, grab parts from inventory and on the table tools with minimal amount of movement around the room.
How much did i spent on these "man cave" setup?
I didn't spent much because the renovation because i used existing furniture, shelf and storage item and some recycled from unused item such as old cloth rack modified for hanging my radio unit, shoe shelves for storing ground R/C models and plastic drawer box for clothing storage used to store hardware and parts.
The expenditure cost mostly used to purchase the following:
+ USD$24 on picture frame
+ USD$14 on Banquet style table for my workplace
+ USD$ 12 Canon ink printing cartridge for printing picture on A4 paper for picture frame and wall
+ USD$15 for wires wall hanger, nails and double sticking tape
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TOTAL: USD$65/-
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There are no fancy IKEAS nor new furniture involve in the setup and to prove that you can check the my hangar gallery, some familiar stuff such as table, cupboards and etc from the old days are used back to present time recycled back for neat arrangement to make it more attractive and pleasant place to store all my models for all three rooms.
Productive results
With my new space to work on my hobby the productivity increase rapidly, i could finish my project for example each TAMIYA model in less than 6 hours compare to average 24 hours per-project because all the tools that i need and workspace are properly are within reach around me without having to move a lot physically and less mental exhaustion to scour around the tools. For example last time i have to squirm around the hangar to reach for tools and parts i want to work on and had to run down to my dining table as my workspace. After that have to clean it up so i could prepare dinner and stuff. With this new workspace i can leave my stuff hanging around till next day without affecting other parts of the household. A big windows allow direct sunlight and fresh air to come into the room giving great ambient of lights and fresh air to keep me healthy and work without hazard, the Work Studio which is now my current workspace give out nice aura around me that inspire me to be productive, creative and hangout more around the room to do more interesting stuff...it motivates!
Mental health benefit
Its very hard to explain in details how having a great 'hobby cave' bring great amount of mental health benefits and reduce depression or daily life stress because if you have a space to enjoy what you like mentally you're having so much fun and reduce mental illness thus a healthy body....think that room as a place for meditation and paradise to escape from world madness. Stress and unhappiness always lead to mental suffering, degradation of overall health because, slow healing of wounds and evidently leads to death...no bullshit it happens 100% in our modern times as people are pressure to work for money. Trust me i had few friends in the same hobby passed away just recently within 3 years, they are all young but moving on to after life. They all have same thing in common...stress in life, unhappy, depression, trying to catch up with general society expectation. I had their picture on my wall because they were all part of our flying club members. Sad isn't it....so i was thinking nah! i'm not going to be ended up like that without having to enjoy what i want to be so i step up my determination and work my way to improve life and enjoy what i passion about and not what the society wants me to be yet at the same time successful in both hobby and career. So i build my own paradise, not to escape from society but to stand out and make my own side economy through this hobby.
When you're not happy, feel depressed and worrying too much to fulfill society ends meet our body will not produce hormon that heals our body, instead part of our brain will produce too much "Cortisol" hormone (or sometime known similarly as Steroids Hormone). If produced excessive can cause this symptoms: Severe fatigue, Muscle weakness, Depression, anxiety and irritability, Loss of emotional control, Cognitive difficulties, New or worsened high blood pressure, Headache, Bone loss, leading to fractures over time and other fatal side effect such as suppressed immunity and insulin resistance ..all this come from our mental state...our brain. How do i know all that....remember i used to learned Medical courses, Sport science (National Cyclist athlete) before obtaining Degree in Computer Science which is after Electronics Engineering semesters. Of course my other siblings are in medical career except me....curiosity make me excel in Biology class but not when it comes to practical work...red stuff are gross so i decline the medical scholarship, glad i did cause medical works had too much overtime and stress like what my other siblings went through.
So as said before a happy person with positive mental health that always thinks about happy things or something "light" (enlightenment) in his mind and body will produce hormone such as endorphins, dopamine and serotonin to keep the body excited and tip top shape. Plus when your busy doing something you like in your hobby room you will likely forget all those bad news and the pressure from outside from outside work. You the will achieved the state of Hakuna Matata!
When you're happy and enjoying your hobby these hormone will automatically trigger and developed in your body as follows:
Endorphins hormone
Our body produce Endorphins hormone when you are doing exercise, active physical activity, laughter, craving something sweets like chocolate and even as simple as listening music with enthusiasm. Endorphins hormone also known as "feel-good" or "mental receptor pain killer" hormone which helps to give us a positive mood, stimulate your brain to feel happy and bring up positive feeling in your body. Which is why when a person exercise they feel like hyper and excited because this hormone triggers it. When you listen to the music the mood give vibrant vibe and you will dance to the rhythm, that's what Endorphins does it bring good mood in. This hormone also helps to reduce pain and stress in the brain by interacting receptors in your brain by dampens any severe mental suffering or any physical injury. A good example is that when a person fall in a funny way on a tarmac during jogging accidentally cuts or bruised his/her palm but laughed about it with his friends about how funny it was the way he/she fall that person will not feel any pain from cuts because the Endorphins hormone produced during laughter dampens the pain receptor signal in the brain....yes everyone experience that before. So that's your Endorphins hormone 101 facts. So when you enjoy something you forget all your pain and suffering..sounds familiar huh.
Dopamine hormone
Dopamine hormone produced when you're brain stimulated by "self enthusiasm" (not by forcing yourself to feel enthusiast on an activity) like listening to new song, excitement in discovering new things, doing physical activity that you like, planning something ahead by thinking about it, building stuff/projects, meditation/relaxation, playful or anything that trigger happiness (WOW factor) and excitement that stimulate the parts of the brain. Dopamine hormone is also known as "addictive chemical" that does good things to the body especially the brain which helps our mind to participate activities and being productive in positive way....hence natural produced drug created from healthy mind. So when you see something cool and you get addicted to it was your Dopamine hormone kicks in.
Serotonin hormone
Known also hormone of "desire" responsible for maintaining mood balance and reduce depression. This hormone control our behavior, social mood interaction and also love swing. So when you're in a bad mood you're lacking this hormone. About 80~90% of this hormone produce from our intestine while the remaining balance produce by our brains. If you're happy this hormone will be produce to provide positive function and increase good mood around the body which make you wanted to interact with someone of feeling love/desired.. The hormone circulate a lot around our bodies through blood patelets and our nervous system and helps to control our body moods and bowel functions immediately. Which is why when our mood down we always have bowel problem or stomach ache and refuse to eat food, "No mood today i don't have appetite to eat"....sound familiar?
When i fly my FPV plane high above the clouds and view the awesomeness of kingdom of heavenly blue skies my body started produce all that 3 hormones because i got so excited!, imagine how happy i am especially knowing the plane i have created with my own hand born out from my very own hangar achieved the impossible..feel super amazing and proud!. Mega happiness that lasts for years, hehehehe.. So what makes you happy? How do you do that? Yes! get a hobby or interesting activity to generate happiness and positive thinking. You need a space for that. Stay away from depression cause its bad for your health. Make a space or a room that helps you to inspire to move on.
Challenges from public point of view
Having your own "Garden of Eden" in your home to expand and express vision of your hobby and self growth can be quite challenging especially when you received much criticism and negative opinion from "no so open minded" people especially within your family member, relative, friends and also people with traditional mindset. Think about it you just have one life to enjoy the best of your life to be what you want to be before end of days and your rights denied by people who are not so open about your way of life. If the goal of your life is for positive development, contribute positive productivity, bring job opportunities and put food on the table then why not go ahead and make it happens. Let it be weird and unique because you want it life worthy, do it now because when you're in death bed there will be a moment you wish you have done it soon when you were in good health. If you're healthy now and still in doubt just spend few minutes going into the hospital ward and walk around few bed of patient on it...sad view huh?. Build that cave or die in regrets not to able to experience what you passionate about. Had few friends passed away not having chances to do thing they wanted and leaving wife and children behind...sad but its truth of life, people have short lifespan in today modern times even they try to live in healthy lifestyle because of modern threats such as; cancer, fluoride in our tap water, recycled cooking oil, leads in the food, 'cheap contractor' food manufacturer, cacogenic food, benzene fumes inside our car, air crash, car crash, tsunami, earth quake, heart attack, economic depression and etc all awaiting for you until its time for you to sleep in the casket. Its better to 'Game Over' after you done doing things you love the most rather that regret not doing it.
My ultimate hobby cave should have started decades ago after i purchase my own house however received strong objection my late mother and also backed by relatives advices halted my pursue for such renovation because born in the family of Asian heritage strongly rejects non-traditional way of living and that includes renovating my home based on my taste..yup, i can't hang it even one plane in the living room. Despite my own home and reaching my adulthood my mother tends to dominate my space booked some of my room for religious worshiping (she is heavily religious person) by putting an altar which currently is my present main hangar. My mom and relative on her side objects my hobby strongly because women view it as non-productive and waste of money but the fact is its the other way around because the world is changing. Yes, its true i was born under the care of "tiger mom"...my childhood with my mother was more of recalling myself receiving swinging PVC pipe and emphasis education first rather that social life of normal young teenager...so i missed a lot of my normal childhood during those 'home dictatorship' days. My grandmother doesn't help because that's where my mom inherit her attributes. Men especially my father and my grandfather are subjected to Queen control, very passive and submissive but my father still most caring people and secretly bought me my first R/C models and told me to hide from my mom. So my childhood kinda bleak back then but my passion for R/C models inherit from my uncle and how i was born in the 1980's was heavily influenced by coolest tech toys which have the Radio Control models...yeah the great days of MARUI, TAMIYA, HIROBO, KYOSHO, AIRFIX, NIKKO and others plastic scaler especially when all the stuff comes from Japan technology. Lots of quality stuff back then, the engineering details was really good and the engineering was inspiring which leads to my hobby to present time.
My mom passed away late year 2012, my family have become more 'relaxed' and practice freedom that was long strained by our mother. So i finally have control over the space that is no longer tied to any traditional value which once practiced by my late mother. You might notice that particular year "2012" is the year my hangar started to changed, my hobby grow extreme at rapid rate and successful after her departure because i have more space and freedom to express my ambition and also how i wanted to live my life....i have to pick up bits of my missing life, a normal life of a man. Slowly i have expanded my hangar, workspace and interaction with society, thus along the way gained skills, experience, knowledge that applies to real life job skills and opportunity around me to efficiently put food on the table. My life now became more meaning full and living "out of the box" and open to the world around me. My job as Software engineer has improved, my hobby brings great luck, made my footprint in respective community and grow become consultants/teacher for various tech learning institution as shown from my social gallery archive. Today those who shun my ambition have shun away from me in guilt while my trusted friends and other relatives have come forward to congratulate my success. Its all about fighting the right to live and enjoy the way of life you always wanted as long what you worked on doesn't cause harm and burden to others. Your life, your future.
Some tips to get going
So now you got the ideas the importance of having a space of your own to express your enthusiasm and passion on activity that you love the most. Maybe now you wanted to start a room full of Lego collection, HotWheels collectibles, a craft making hobby, an Art painting room, fashion design room, bicycle shrines, football fan room, plastic model kits collection room, Anime shrine, Gundam/Gunpla modeler room, Gamer room, pet house and many more. Here are my few tips to guide your way in building an awesome space for your activities:
- Don't spent to much money on room renovation item, use recycles.
If you're on the budget don't buy new expensive furniture or luxury place holder/ack to store your collectibles or project items, you can always recycle or DIY home made your own workspace like DIY wooden rack to hold your collection in place. Psychologically if you keep practicing using recycled item you will have the tendency to be more creative and resourceful thus allow extra money or surplus resources concentrated building up your hobby or buy another collectibles. - Don't crammed everything into one small space.
I used to crammed all my models into one small confined space, extremely crammed and almost hard to pull out each model from my hangar when its time for me to go out and play it consequently causes scratches and damages to the models during handling in and out from the shelf. Visually an over populated space with models tightly spaced between each other makes it harder for you and visitor to focus which models or object they wanted to see. It will be mentally challenging to view your models especially if its not organized according to its category and size. You will more likely loose interest immediately and lost stimulation to continue collecting or building stuff you always passionate about because of inconsistent appearance in arrangement of your collection especially when the size of the items are variable in height and length and this will makes our brains fall into confusion...at the end you'll ended up grumpy and not stimulated in that room. As human its natural behavior to be attracted to something well organized and spaced from each other which give the impression of professionally showcased like exhibition similarly to how you see Supercar collection in showroom rather than Supercars tightly arrange on a truck trailer during transportation. - Make everything accessible and isolate objects that are not related.
Like i mentioned before a well spaced objects allow you to easily grab-n-go without bumping other object around. Normally as hobbyist like me there two type of items we always get hold on: Models and Work tools. Originally both items are located in the same hangar but now these two items are separated and allocated to proper space. The models (planes, cars, drones and etc) are kept in the hangar because its showcase worthy for public exhibition. While the work tools (computers, 3d printers, air brushing equipment, wirings, spare parts and etc) are moved to my Work Studio in separate room where these object can be used more frequent for productivity than clogging the hangar space. In this way you can keep the hangar cleaned, roomier and usable tools are properly utilized in proper room without having run in and out of the hangar to get the tools needed to work on at remote work space else it can be exhausting both mentally and physically especially oi your parts inventory is not labeled properly when you wanted to find parts you needed. - Let more air and lights in.
This one is pretty much human factor and health necessity to keep us fresh both mind and body if we're spending so much time in these particular room so that we don't feel stuffy, hot, sweaty and ruin the aura of enjoying the hobby. - If you're into collectibles buy something meaningful.
To have a meaningful collections in your hobby caves one must truly love and enthusiastic about it. The biggest mistake for collectors or hobbyist is to buy something they do not really love because of persuasion from marketing trends, influenced by friends or in attempts to make the room populated for quantity over historic value. A true collectors collects items that have meaningful value for personal interest and the stories that comes with it because one day if someone comes to visit your collection you will have stories to tell what this particular item is all about. People collect because of historic value and sometimes personal attachment rather than meaningless possession. If you looks at many Youtube videos of professional collectors they are able to tell historical details about particular collectibles which bring attention to audience and boosted enthusiasm enjoying their hobby. Thus knowing something promotes the hobby itself to others....growing with history as we speak. If you're my long fan for many years i guess you may recognized almost all my planes have its footprint of historical value, stories of adventures and achievements it has been etched throughout the years as depicted in this website content. That's what makes my hobby more interesting than just a piece of showcased object. - Color matching
Object that arranged according to combination of 'harmony' colors would likely provide huge appealing looks to your room setup, thus provide stimulating experience surrounding your favorite hobby, harmonious color that helps to ease everyday stress of life. The best example is my Pilot Lounge as previously described before; the overall plane models color matched its surrounding furniture colors and also vice versa on other corner giving nice luxury looks despite with simple amount of furniture. So when i sit down relax in that room my mind would feel more calm and enjoyed, simple yet luxury feeling being surrounded with modern planes which represented by dark color matched today theme of modern technology and sense of stealth. On other corner is classic woody theme with warm ambient color reflect golden age of classic aviation. The color helps our brain to relax and give joy being harmonious in colors...almost like therapy room for R/C plane enthusiast.
So don't be discourage if you wanted to start up with little amount of resources of what is available in hand because for everything to happen it has to start with something small. I've been there too with two small cheap Radio Control cars to start with many years ago but slowly it grows along the way as you progressed slowly. With many participation in clubs, social activities and other community contribution related your hobby will slowly build up its reputation both in asset and your own personal portfolio. Also as you progress you will gain lots of skills, experience and records of your milestones that gives value added stories to tell to your future audience your journey into this hobby. Once your hobby reach its peak your collection has tons of sweet nostalgia, memories, knowledge and skillset to share with future generation to come or job opportunities that comes at you.
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Summary
After completed renovating all my rooms to fit my hobby needs my daily life was perfect, its like i have something to live on so i can do something useful and also motivated me to continue build more amazing stuff for the community, for my students in aviation class, my club, my career and overall life goal. Most importantly i felt like 'i was born for this', making it everyday a new discovery and adventures. Every room is an inspiration, brings out the creativity in me and also produce something new to introduce to the world which is why it brings meaning full life to me. It also help me put attention on something important in life rather that worry about chaotic world, fake news on the net, doomsday trauma or get into trouble socially even complain about life in social media.
Each time i wake up early in the morning i would walk into my Work Studio to plan what to do for the rest of the day, checking my email, forumer responses, fans questions and also request from sponsors. Then continue bits of projects left on the table from yesterday while waiting for rays of sunrise to enter through the windows. Then head to my main hangar to greet my models and absorb those great memories recalling the great adventure we had together especially the FPV planes and UAVs models which i hand build myself. After that head to The Pilot Lounge, sit on my lazy yet cozy black couch reading aviation or R/C magazines while listening to stream of music's and then watch video documentary beaming sounds of GE F110 engine from of F-14 Tomcat documentary on beautiful morning to stimulate my brain. Later walk along the corridor full of framed photographed of social activities with people whom i worked with as i made my way to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Moment later i grab my planes from my hangar and off i go for the great outdoors activities.
Remember, having your own work space is great way to improve your life not only to exhibit your workmanship but also as respect who you are and what you wanted to be. It helps to sharpen your skill set, discipline, moral boost, self confident, knowledge, experiences, social interaction, communication, presentation, your health condition and also adaptability to available job opportunities using similar experience gained through your hobby. Having a 'cave' of passion helps to discover who you are and also a place to record of your historical achievement in life just like how cave man in prehistoric time left their legacy through painted wall for today historian to discover. All this made possible when you have a space to make yourself grow both physically and mentally. "To be a man is to standout, work his action and fight for his future".
Gallery links: View my hangar here.
Video link of touring around my R/C Man Cave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNtEPlvZt6U