Customizing Your Home, One Built-In At A Time

It's been suggested that my blogging has been too slow...so here's my attempt to get you all caught up. Only one more post stands between now and the final reveal!

Once the ceiling and walls were painted, it was time to start framing out the built ins before we could install the wainscoting. (picture to the left is the way the room looked when we bought the house in 2008)

BASIC CONSTRUCTION:

We decided as part of the project to install book cases on either side of the fireplace.  For us this space was a bit awkward and not really usable so having two shelves for books, extra lighting and my vinyl collection made perfect sense.

Because there is a floor vent about 20 inches from the wall we knew that the shelves could be no deeper than 17 inches...which after building we realized was more than deep enough since standard book cases usually run 12 inches deep max.

To get started Paul took a million measurements and crafted the shelves outside before "custom" fitting them in place.  Using the table saw he was able to make precision cuts that he had only dreamed of before.  

That being said, no matter how much you measure or how perfect your cut is, nothing ever fits. This meant that he had to get creative and use a router and laminate top cutter to trim off the tiny bit of excess that was keeping the unit from fitting snugly in place. 

Why? Because the last thing anyone wants to do is disassemble the entire unit over a 1/4 of an inch. All in all a little patience and finesse yielded a perfect fit.

Once in place, we used 2 inch wood coarse screws to secure the shelving unit to the back wall.

DESIGN:

Based on a simple cabinet style construction, we decided to add hand-routed detail for a more decorative flare. To create the detail on the front of the shelves Paul glued two 1 x 2's together and used a Roman style Ogee router bit to mimic the door and window frames that run throughout the house.  Next he added a 1.5 inch piece of pre-milled trim to give it a bit more substance.

We also opted to change up the tops for a more craftsman feel, which helped them blend in with the mantel that Paul made previously from salvaged roof timbers from the old garage we took down last year. 

Using stain-grade Aspen we picked a stain and poly blend with a matte finish.  It took a couple rounds of sanding with steel wool to pick up the fine particles but after a couple passes with the foam brush--the tops were a most welcome addition.

All that was left was to install the adjustable shelf pieces and add a little paint (we picked a soft Du Jour white in a semi-gloss instead of your typical bright white in glossy). 

Voila!  Custom built-in book shelves.

Cheers,

Laura