
I have always enjoyed The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, but that does not mean I will be decorating my house with spurs and lube.
Time for someone to grow up and accept real life for what it is.
One Trekkie's dream of boldly going where no interior designer has gone before appears to be over – thanks to his estranged wife, who has decided his starship Voyager-themed flat isn't entirely suitable for the terrestrial housing market. Former DJ Tony Alleyne, 58, has spent 10 years and a wad of cash coverting the one-bed …
"Why should we 'grow up' out of video games, Star Trek and posting turds through objectionable neighbour's letter boxes?!"
Erm, because it will send you bankrupt, your wife will leave you leave and you'll be left destitute and in tears. Man, you really weren't paying attention, were you!
No: Still enjoying what life has to offer, rather than becoming an embittered drone.
It's ok, though: I can totally understand why those who feel pressured into 'growing up', breeding, participating in a 2 hour commute and suchlike like to try to look down on those with a little bit of élan and imagination left in them.
After all, the man has put his heart and soul and ten *years* of hard work into it. So on top of bankruptcy, losing his home and a failed business, why not completely destroy the one thing he had to keep him going? I'm sure he'll be very appreciative of your sentiments. Jackass.
I've said it before, and I'll say it as many times as it takes for idiots to understand it: fun things do not stop being fun because you get older, and the definition of "fun" is personal. Anyone who subscribes to the notion that they may no longer do something because they have passed some magical imaginary number boundary has voluntarily made themselves more boring.
Let the nerd have his fun. That goes for his wife, too. Hell, in the current housing market, something unique like that would probably make selling easier!
Cue an internet whip-round to buy out his wife's half of the property.
between 'let the nerd have his fun' and an albatross of a flat that costs a bomb in increasingly expensive electrical power and won't sell in a million years because, meticulous reproduction of a fictional universe that it is, normal people won't want to live there. Too, his wife having paid eighteen years' worth of the mortgage, I tend to suspect her ownership interest in the property amounts to a fair bit more than half -- too bad for him, if he'd paid the mortgage off before he started remodeling, he wouldn't be having this problem now.
"his hobby is no harm to anyone else"
Except his to-be-ex-wife, y'know, the owner of the property? It won't sell any time soon at its correct price. You're right, he's perfectly entitled to a hobby/obsession and good luck to him, but spunking close to (what's now) £100K on permanent fixtures/fittings to a property that's not in your name isn't the brightest idea, and from what I can tell they'd separated when he kicked off his project, so knew this must be on the cards at some point.
Why should he grow up? Plenty of people like playing at being kids when they're adults. From extreme end of the scale infantilists to more conventionally accepted nerds playing with computers and video games. What's mending cars other than a full size Mecanno kit?
Leave him alone!
I just don't see what is so great about being like everyone else.
(Admitadly, I go to some trouble not to let my hobbies bankrupt me or financially disadvantage others, which isn't the case here, but that is more about getting a brain than getting a life.)
Just throw a few twigs in a vase, throw some candles on the console, maybe a rug in front of the captains chair. Sorted. The little I have learnt about interior design from the wife are:
Twigs in a vase = Good
Empty vase on shelf = Good
Candles = Good (Candles should never be lit)
Cushions same colour as Candle = Very Good
Rug = Perfection
All different shapes and sizes. All must be arranged in a certain order every morning, all must be carefully stored every evening. The one with the blue stripes on a green background goes over *here*, and the one with the green stripes on the blue background goes over *there*.
Her: "Don't forget that dusky muave, dusty rose, and a pale purplish pink are entirely different colours and belong in entirely different locations."
Me: "What? They're all the *same*."
Her: "Go sleep on the muave couch."
Me: "WHICH ONE'S THAT?"
crazywoman. (n). Usually pronounced [woom-uhn]. Sometimes the crazy is silent, but it is always there.
IGMC -- I'll need it for whatever the hell couch she's pointing at. I think it's some god-awful shade of pink.
Mike, tealights are used in my household in the little oil burner I crafted for the wife. I've not really see the point of them anywhere else, but apparently they're quite good for keeping certain kinds of food warm.
Other than that I don't allow candles except for special occasions because they're a fire hazard in a flat with two kitties hanging about.
It's those bloody home makeover shows that say everything should be beige when you sell a house.
It's an entire waste of time as everyone decorates when they move in anyway so even if they didn't like the design the new owners could bin/sell it.
Instead the new owners have dull decoration that they feel guilty about removing as it's only just been put up.
But I guess if it isn't destroyed already the best chance of finding someone who does want it like it is is with an Register article!
Hah, my landlady is like this. Just got a new tenant moving into our shared house and the landlady had the room that was going spare repainted from a rather nice shade of light blue to magnolia.
All painting your house in magnolia shows is that you have no imagination or soul and that you could probably do with having a full tin of paint to the head.
If my landlady wasn't a raving mental I would agree but she insists on fully painting the rooms and common areas whenever getting a new tenant in despite the fact that they've always been kept pristine and don't need it. Light blue is a pale colour by the way and also a colour that the new tenant liked the look of so having it magnolia'd is more than slightly annoying for him because now it is depressingly bland.
And not everyone wants to cover their walls with posters.
"All painting your house in magnolia shows is that you have no imagination or soul and that you could probably do with having a full tin of paint to the head."
Unfortunately, that describes a lot of potential buyers. I've known people decide against buying a property because they didn't like the seller's sofa or the colour of the spare bedroom walls.
And when you point out to them that the sofa will leave with the seller or that they can paint the bedroom walls whatever colour they like, you always get a reply that starts "I know, but...".
about the guy who built a boat in his basement?
She's been paying the mortgage for eighteen years, which means probably she's paid by far the majority of the money that's gone into paying back that loan. Too bad for Mr. Alleyne, I suppose, but it would seem she's got a considerable right to the final say in what happens to the place -- not least because, after all, he's turned it into something which I very much doubt she finds habitable. (Hard to blame her; neither would I, and neither would you, really -- Star Trek is designed to be a TV show, not something people actually inhabit, and as you can see from pictures of the place it rather shows.)
If anything, the whole debacle should serve as a salutary lesson in the importance of ensuring one actually does own one's magnum opus.
Actually, I'm sure they could get more for it as it is. There is bound to be someone somewhere that would pay a fortune for it. If they restore the flat to some kind of conventional decor, then it'a just going to be a flat for sale...
The difficulty would be finding the buyer, but that is what the internet is for...
It's presumably in her name and *not* paying the mortgage would cause the bank to repossess. Selling may not have been economically viable due to either negative equity or given the timescales involved, an endowment mortgage with a significant shortfall. He may also have been paying rent. Finally, selling a fixed asset in your name before a divorce isn't always the smartest move either as its harder to prove the money raised by the sale isn't both of theirs.
...instead of skipping it, he carefully dismantles it, so allowing him to re-erect it in wherever he moves to (or, if that's not possible, sell or auction the components off - which would net him a bit of money to boot). Of course, take lots of photos of the place from all angles before dismantling so a record's left for posterity.
This bloke is on the news every year, showing off his flat and saying it's up for sale. He appears to me to be a self publicist because it really is like Groundhog Day, seeing him pop up again in the news with the same story.
Every year another news programme (or even one that's already covered his flat in previous years) presents him as a new story - the star trek fan who's boldly decorated his flat like no one has before and is now putting his beloved masterpiece up for sale. There's the obligatory tour of the flat, ending with the reporter standing on the transmat pad thing, signing off and then fading away in the most terrible effect ITN/BBC London/Five/Sky could knock up with the equipment they have.
As for making a living creating USS Enterprise décor for other trekkies, that's never going to work for such a dead franchise. Someone should have cashed in making Tardis sheds over the last seven years, though I think interest in Dr Who is waning too, so don't go do that now if you're still reading this.
"his hobby is no harm to anyone else"
Except the person who actually owns the house. He's gone bankrupt and he's not paid into the mortgage for 18 years, so it's almost guaranteed that he no longer has a share in it and can only be renting it. And FWIW, he did the work *after* they'd split up.
If he really wants it, he can always get himself a mortgage and buy it himself. Sure, he'll be paying top whack for having no deposit, and he'll have to work his arse off to cover repayments. If it really mattered to him and he had a shred of maturity, he'd be doing that. But if he had a shred of maturity and not just a gross sense of entitlement, he wouldn't be here in the first place.
Yes, I'm sorry to see this going on and I can absolutely understand that this is an emotional blow for the fellow. But seriously... Its not as if he couldn't have seen this coming. I mean; you don't go bankrupt over one night.
IMO this looks like a classic example of overdoing it. You cannot cast certain responsibilities aside for the sole purpose of following your dream. That is; unless you can afford it and it seems he could not.
Still... All cynicism aside I have to wonder; there are more people in the world who love Star Trek, Surely the pair should be able to sell or rent the condo as it is now ? I bet you could get more for a "themed flat" than a regular one, especially amongst fans.
And if you managed to rent it you may even setup a steady cash flow.
The lesson here is "don't turn someone else's property into a theatrical set" and nothing more, really.
It is very sad for the misguided twit who thought he had permanent squatting rights, but that's about it.
Also, it might be better to plan this sort of thing to be in a shed or garage, like model railway builders often do. You can always move the shed to a new location if it comes to it.
They were married, and the flat has been paid off mostly (if not entirely) up to this point during their marriage. It might be in her name only, but that has never meant anything when divorce is happening - especially if he was paying rent or contributing at any point.
He should just disassemble it and put it all into storage or a mate's garage. However I suspect that it's all screwed/nailed/glued together and disassembly == destruction.
At least he followed his dream and actually did it. How many of us have said "that would be so cool if I could do that" about our flat, yard, car or motorbike, and never did anything because we didn't have the money, our own place, just didn't want to hear the silly comments or just didn't think our dreams were important enough to actually do something about.
He did it.
First rounds on me.
"At least he followed his dream and actually did it. How many of us have said "that would be so cool if I could do that""
And then reality rears it's ugly head ...
Me, I was in IT for around thirty years (and a SciFi fan). Over my last seven full-time years in IT, I conceived, and built my Wife's horse ranch. Now I'm pseudo-retired (if sun-up to often way past sun-down work on a horse ranch, 7 days per week, can be considered "retired" ...), but I'm a hell of a lot happier that J. Random Trekkie seems to be.
Again, think "perspective". It's kinda important, year to year (Are you really a "time master"? What does that mean, exactly?). Halloween costumes are all well and good, but they hardly pays the bills ... unless you are in the costume business.
Although the initial postings conformed to my expectations from reading this thread, I am amused, surprised and disturbed by the serious amount of interior design knowledge displayed by a predominantly male set of commentators.
Oatmeal?
Vases with twigs and stones?
Reminds me of that episode of Cheers where Norm displays a previously undisclosed talent for interior design, and even fakes being gay to fit the part. Despite possessing the taken to make a serious amount of money to whatever field he puts his mind, he's happy enough to drink beer, eat peanuts and be accepted by his small drinking circle - even if that means putting up with Cliff's sense of his own self-importance - at the bar where everyone knows his name.
What I really want to know is when 'burnt orange' stopped being fashionable to paint one's lounge?
I seem to recall seeing a TV news item about this place - it's certainly been featured on a few news programs in recent years - and IIRC, he had put the place up for sale (with it's Star Trek theme intact) some time back.....
Seems the ex-wife has given up being patient and wants her share of the money back.
Seems a shame to just "bin" it - eBay would seem to be a sensible option http://www.theregister.co.uk/Design/graphics/icons/comment/meh_32.png
Been around for years.. Back in the news again.. From what i remember last time around, the flat has had major issues. No-one will *ever* buy it and its all a bit too well "fitted" to be removed in a modular way afaik..
Best i reckon he can hope for is remove it as intact as possible, sell flat, and try to offload the graphic panelsand bits to enthusiats somewhere.
All of the pieces really are incredibly faithful reproductions, but at a couple, to a handful, of hundreds of pounds each, he's not going to make his 100-odd grand back thats for sure!
You've got to admire his craftsmanship, and since it took 10 years - his dedication too. It's a shame his business doing this sort of thing didn't work out, and it's a shame he did all this in a flat that's not his. It's also a shame he can't get a decent job so he can buy the flat off his Mrs.
All said and done, I can't imagine wanting to live in a place like that, but I admire the guy for doing something bold, imaginative and impressive. As someone above said, I hope he can sell it for parts rather than just dump[ it in a skip.