The ultimate man cav

The brainchild of 32-year-old father-of-one Tyler Kirkham, from Utah, the fantasy-themed room also includes a $15,000 bathroom with its own waterfall and ivy-covered rock face, a stained wooden floor costing $8,000, and is finished using $8,000-worth of stone and masonry.

Mr Kirkham, a comic book artist who has worked on Tomb Raider, Transformers, Amazing Spiderman, X-Men, and Ultimate Fantastic 4, spent three years building the basement, despite wife Jill asking for a pool in the back yard.

Themed around the Elder Scrolls series of video games, it features weapons, armor and details that will be familiar to anyone who played the last Sykrim installment - set in a land based on real-life vikings.

Just like the houses in the video game, it comes with its own alchemy station for brewing potions and poisons, and is equipped with a weapon rack and armor stands to store hard-won treasure after a quest.

Mr Kirkham spared no expense on the weapons inside, which include an Italian crossbow he bought for $250, and a medieval helmet which cost $100.

He said: It felt amazing to turn our dream vision of what we wanted the space to be into a reality. I wanted to do something fun with the basement and I love the fantasy world of these games. 

'When you're in there it just has a very unique feel, it's completely different from the rest of the house.' 

Tyler's wife Jill, 32, a real estate agent, even helped with the design. She said: 'With all the money we've put into finishing the basement, maybe we could have divvied it up and put in a pool in the backyard.

'But I never wish we had a plain basement - who wouldn't want one like this, it's amazing.'

The basement has been a huge hit with Tyler's friends and neighbours too. He added: 'Pretty much everyone's reaction has been the same, whether they know what the game is or not - wide eyes, mouth open, with a shocked look on their faces. They always ask: 'How did you guys think of this?'' 

One of the basement's biggest admirers is Tyler's brother, Tristan. The pair love to play the game together with friends.

Tristan said: 'I think Tyler did a great job, he's always had a knack for interior design. When Tyler first told me about the basement, I was very excited, because we both love the game and I knew he'd do a great job of it.

'When I entered the basement for the first time I was completely floored.' 

He began construction on the family space and theatre in February 2012 and uses screenshots from the games to ensure maximum accuracy. Financial constraints meant that Tyler had to wait until the summer of 2014 to add the bathroom.

The basement features a wealth of other nerdy details from the game, including coin purses sourced from Italy and homemade scrolls customised to look ancient and tattered. 

(dailymail.co.uk)