This small cabinet shelf unit is on another wall of their living room. I thought it was a cute way to fill in the space between the double french doors. It made a great place to display things as well as giving them extra storage.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Big Entertainment Center
Here is a really cool entertainment center I built for a couple who live in Tommy Williams' Longleaf subdivision.
We had the homeowners come by the house during the framing stage and literally throw ideas at the wall. I showed them some pictures of things I'd built before, and then we started drawing ideas on the wall with a black marker! After coming up with the basic design they wanted, we started getting specific on cabinet heights, TV widths, space for the components, etc. The valance on top was added to the project when I drew them up a final sketch - I felt the space between the bookcases needed something to fill them in and connect the two sides.
I loved the idea of having a separate open area for their cable and DVD components. It helps let the air circulate keeping the components cool, and it doesn't use up shelf or cabinet space. They were able to fill the cabinets below with all of their DVD's. As with just about everything I build, all of the shelves are adjustable.
Mantle with bookcase/cabinets
I built this mantle with bookcase/cabinet combination for Mark and Greg Warring.
These really turned out fantastic. I loved the colors they chose for the walls and the tile around the fireplace. The mantle design became popular enough, that I ended up making two more of the same design for other homeowners.
The book shelves are fully adjustable, as well as the two shelves in each of the lower cabinets. The structure and cabinets were made of 3/4 inch birch plywood, with a 1/4 inch birch backing. It was trimmed out with routered 1x2's and the doors came from Real Wood Products.
When I was building the mantle, I had the desire to router more of the edges, but Greg Warring insisted that I keep everything square and smooth, except for inside the small boxes. At first I thought it was a mistake, but when the project was done I loved it. If I had routered all of those edges it would have become too much.
Someday I want to build one of these in my own house!
Someday I want to build one of these in my own house!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Entertainment Center
Here is an entertainment center that I built for Mark and Greg Warring (Warring Homes) in the Windgate subdivision in Jonesville.
The unit is made of finish grade 3/4 inch birch wood with birch backing inside the cabinets and decorative bead board behind the open areas. The doors were ordered from Real Wood Products.
The TV opening was custom sized to fit the homeowners flat screen T.V, and all of the shelves on the unit and in the cabinets are adjustable.
It really turned out to be an impressive creation.
The unit is made of finish grade 3/4 inch birch wood with birch backing inside the cabinets and decorative bead board behind the open areas. The doors were ordered from Real Wood Products.
The TV opening was custom sized to fit the homeowners flat screen T.V, and all of the shelves on the unit and in the cabinets are adjustable.
It really turned out to be an impressive creation.
Laundry Room Cabinets
Here's some cabinets I made for Jennifer in Belmont to utilize the wasted space over her front loading washer and dryer. They have become a very popular item for other homeowners that I work for.
When she bought the house it came with a single wire shelf over the washer and dryer, but the washer and dryer were so big that she couldn't reach the shelf! This forced her to keep all of her laundry products on top of the washer and dryer. It was a very messy situation and things kept falling behind or down the side of the units.
These cabinets, built only 6 inches back from the front of the washer and dryer, and only about six inches above, make a great place for her to store detergent, softener, and dryer sheets, as well as plenty of other stuff. The cabinets are three and a half feet tall to maximize the usable vertical storage space. Though she needs a small step ladder to reach the upper shelves inside the cabinets (each unit has two adjustable shelves), she can store things in them that she doesn't use frequently, like the turkey pan she might use only around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The cabinets are made of finish grade 3/4 inch birch plywood with doors that I ordered from one of the cabinet door companies I use. I painted the cabinets and doors for her myself.
When she bought the house it came with a single wire shelf over the washer and dryer, but the washer and dryer were so big that she couldn't reach the shelf! This forced her to keep all of her laundry products on top of the washer and dryer. It was a very messy situation and things kept falling behind or down the side of the units.
These cabinets, built only 6 inches back from the front of the washer and dryer, and only about six inches above, make a great place for her to store detergent, softener, and dryer sheets, as well as plenty of other stuff. The cabinets are three and a half feet tall to maximize the usable vertical storage space. Though she needs a small step ladder to reach the upper shelves inside the cabinets (each unit has two adjustable shelves), she can store things in them that she doesn't use frequently, like the turkey pan she might use only around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The cabinets are made of finish grade 3/4 inch birch plywood with doors that I ordered from one of the cabinet door companies I use. I painted the cabinets and doors for her myself.
Garage Shelving
These are pictures of some wall to wall garage shelving I made for Jennifer in Belmont.
David, I believe, had four shelves, which were about 16 inches deep. The spacing between his shelves were similar to the ones shown here but his mothers garage was taller making room for a fourth shelf, the idea being to utilize the maximum amount of vertical storage space. Jennifer, however, chose to utilize all of the room next to her garage door by having me build her shelves at 22 inches deep.
To keep costs down, I made both sets of shelves out of sanded B&C plywood, instead of cabinet grade oak, or birch. Unpainted, the plywood looks like the kind of utility grade plywood someone would put on the roof or wall of a house, but it comes with a smooth sanded side (the "B" side), that when painted looks almost as good as a more expensive plywood.
The shelves are supported in the back by 1x2 that has been screwed to the studs in the wall for strength. The support's that are visible in the front are each made of two 1x2's that are nailed end to middle to make a "T", for strength, and most importantly, are installed underneath the plywood surface for incredible support. Too many times I've seen people make shelves and nail single 1x2's, or 2x4's, to the front edge of the shelf, and over time the nail or screw simply breaks out.
For both David, and Jennifer, I was able to demonstrate the strength of the shelves by climbing up on them and lying down on the top shelf! They really are strong!
David painted his mother's shelves for her, and I painted these for Jennifer.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Computer Desk and Cabinets
This was a really interesting built-in I made for Joe and Pat from Belmont. It's a combination computer desk and bookcase/cabinet set. It really illustrates the beauty behind custom built-in's, where I can modify the design to meet the specific needs of the individual.
Pat and Joe had some particular needs they wanted fulfilled with this cabinet set, and had some interesting problems we had to overcome in order to make it all work.
Joe and Pat moved into their new house as a downsizing measure, and the room where the computer was had to take the place of three separate rooms from their old house. The room was to be a workout room, an office, and a guest bedroom.
We started off by replacing two cabinets that were similar to the bookcase/cabinets that I built on the left side of the unit. Pat liked the layout of the old cabinets, but found them to be too small. The lower portion of the original cabinets were not deep enough to store Pat's precious photo albums. So I built the new cabinets deep enough to fit her biggest album. But, by solving that problem, we created a new one.
The couch that you see in the picture is also a fold out bed for guests to sleep in when visiting, and is an essential part of the room. However, by making the base cabinets deeper, they were now too deep to allow regular cabinet doors to open with the couch there. We solved that problem by installing sliding doors instead of hinged doors.
Joe wanted a new computer desk, but he needed to have enough room for all of his peripherals, such as scanner, printer, etc. He wanted to utilize the space up the wall for those, plus, he also wanted to have storage space for ink, paper, disks, and such. So I made the extra tall cubbyholes over the main work area to accommodate his printer and scanner, and then made standard cabinets with hinged doors over them for storage.
He also had an old file cabinet that he wanted to replace, so I built him a new one as part of the desk, which is to the right but covered up in the picture by the chair.
The entire unit was made of cabinet grade birch plywood with routered pine trim. The doors were ordered from one of the cabinet door supply companies I use. It was finished in latex enamel by Rocky, from Tommy Williams Homes.
All in all I was very proud of the creation we made here. It turned out to be a great combination of beauty and functionality. Too many times looks have to be traded in for utility, or vice-versa, but in this situation, that wasn't the case.
This has to be one of my favorite creations to date!
Pat and Joe had some particular needs they wanted fulfilled with this cabinet set, and had some interesting problems we had to overcome in order to make it all work.
Joe and Pat moved into their new house as a downsizing measure, and the room where the computer was had to take the place of three separate rooms from their old house. The room was to be a workout room, an office, and a guest bedroom.
We started off by replacing two cabinets that were similar to the bookcase/cabinets that I built on the left side of the unit. Pat liked the layout of the old cabinets, but found them to be too small. The lower portion of the original cabinets were not deep enough to store Pat's precious photo albums. So I built the new cabinets deep enough to fit her biggest album. But, by solving that problem, we created a new one.
The couch that you see in the picture is also a fold out bed for guests to sleep in when visiting, and is an essential part of the room. However, by making the base cabinets deeper, they were now too deep to allow regular cabinet doors to open with the couch there. We solved that problem by installing sliding doors instead of hinged doors.
Joe wanted a new computer desk, but he needed to have enough room for all of his peripherals, such as scanner, printer, etc. He wanted to utilize the space up the wall for those, plus, he also wanted to have storage space for ink, paper, disks, and such. So I made the extra tall cubbyholes over the main work area to accommodate his printer and scanner, and then made standard cabinets with hinged doors over them for storage.
He also had an old file cabinet that he wanted to replace, so I built him a new one as part of the desk, which is to the right but covered up in the picture by the chair.
The entire unit was made of cabinet grade birch plywood with routered pine trim. The doors were ordered from one of the cabinet door supply companies I use. It was finished in latex enamel by Rocky, from Tommy Williams Homes.
All in all I was very proud of the creation we made here. It turned out to be a great combination of beauty and functionality. Too many times looks have to be traded in for utility, or vice-versa, but in this situation, that wasn't the case.
This has to be one of my favorite creations to date!
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