bushwacked Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Ok, so if you have not noticed by now, I like to plan ahead for everything and then let it sit while I think it over to make sure its what I want ... Add that to the fact that I am working Taiwan hours this week for Go-Live, I need something to stimulate me and keep me awake haha. So, now I am working on my built in for my office. I have a goofy wall with an AC run up the wall ... so I figured it kinda killed the wall for most things, but I could put a nice built in there to help make it not look so bad. Here is what I am working with ... Here is my original thought ... Dont worry about the desk in the middle of the room, just making sure things fit The design I think is pretty basic, but not sure what else would look good design wise ... I am open to ideas. I was thinking of going with some nice materials ... not sure what yet though. Possibly walnut plywood with some maple accent pieces tied into it somewhere if I can get that worked out. Last I checked a sheet of walnut ply was around $140 a sheet, so this wont be the cheapest project ... right now it is looking like I would need 3 pieces of ply to get everything but the doors. I was thinking possibly real walnut for rails and styles since I think it would be a waste to get a 4th sheet of plywood for rails and styles and have lots of extra sitting around. Although lots of extra nice plywood around is always a good problem to have. I was thinking, possibly get some nicely figured maple or oak and use as the door fronts with the walnut still being used on the rails and styles. Not sure if that would just look strange on an all walnut piece or not though ... thoughts? Here is my current thought .... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Trip Posted July 1, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 I've done a couple of these... Almost all in Cherry+Maple. 10 quick notes, then I've got to get some sleep... 1-you always need more sheet goods than you think. You always screw the pooch on one cut -- well, at least I do... 2-it's a small room -- use light-colored materials - forget walnut -- way too small a room for that. This is where interior design supersedes woodworker preferences. 3-face frames, shelves, etc should be solid stock. Unless you plan to move in a couple years... 4-add base&toekick 5-Zodiaq for the desk surface -- I've done two and it's great. OK, it'll be a couple grand, but hay, it's only money... 6-add electric to drawings so you don't forget it. 7-add cable routing and cable management so you don't forget it. 8-add hvac (if any) so you don't forget it... I did that once. tough retrofit... 9-design-in some task lighting for bookcase area. 10-get Taunton's built-in book. OK, one more.. 11-bookcase shelves all the same size look terrible. If movable, fine. Otherwise use the standard progression -- i'm too tired to post it, so just google it... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Yep, that about sums it up.. The toe kick and lighting were the first thing that jumped to my mind looking at it.. Then I read Trip's post and can't dissagree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenskye Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 With the dark walls, I agree with keeping it lighter. TripleH makes some really good points. Also for the bottom you could trim out with the same baseboard that is in the rest of the room. For the bottom, I would have pull out shelves behind the doors for printer and other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted July 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 I've done a couple of these... Almost all in Cherry+Maple. 10 quick notes, then I've got to get some sleep... 1-you always need more sheet goods than you think. You always screw the pooch on one cut -- well, at least I do... 2-it's a small room -- use light-colored materials - forget walnut -- way too small a room for that. This is where interior design supersedes woodworker preferences. 3-face frames, shelves, etc should be solid stock. Unless you plan to move in a couple years... 4-add base&toekick 5-Zodiaq for the desk surface -- I've done two and it's great. OK, it'll be a couple grand, but hay, it's only money... 6-add electric to drawings so you don't forget it. 7-add cable routing and cable management so you don't forget it. 8-add hvac (if any) so you don't forget it... I did that once. tough retrofit... 9-design-in some task lighting for bookcase area. 10-get Taunton's built-in book. OK, one more.. 11-bookcase shelves all the same size look terrible. If movable, fine. Otherwise use the standard progression -- i'm too tired to post it, so just google it... A Cherry + Maple Combo? Is that what you mean? or just done them in cherry and maple ... 1) very true ... I normally add 25% because I screw the pooch on more than 1 cut 2) ok point taken ... I will switch from walnut to a lighter wood. 3) dont plan on moving for at least 10-15 years if at all ... says "management" AKA the wife 4) added 5) haha i wish 6) done 7) saving until I figure out lighting 8) none to contend with 9) Questions below on this ... 10) Already ahead of you ... ordered while in Japan sitting in a hotel room with nothing but 30 channels of amazing all japanese tv shows 11) I think I changed the design enough to not all be the same ...?? Yep, that about sums it up.. The toe kick and lighting were the first thing that jumped to my mind looking at it.. Then I read Trip's post and can't dissagree. question on lighting below ... With the dark walls, I agree with keeping it lighter. TripleH makes some really good points. Also for the bottom you could trim out with the same baseboard that is in the rest of the room. For the bottom, I would have pull out shelves behind the doors for printer and other things. I am thinking about the trim now ... at the moment the trim in the room just looks like cheap 1/2 x 2 strips haha. So after my first try, and the responses, and a long night support Taiwan ... here is my 2nd attempt Changed the design completely ... added lighting (yellow) and added the 2 power outlets as well in the bottom right and the bottom left. I got my inspiration from this pic I found online ... Questions .... Lighting, I have never had or used lighting in a bookshelf/built in before ... what are some good lights that wont get hot and are bright enough ... 1) Does every shelf need lighting, or could I do something like in my drawing, where just the bigger shelves got the lighting ... 2) I was thinking something like ... I am just not sure the cords and stuff would be long enough to do what I want to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Looks like you have all the cabinets a depth of 15 9/16" to match your HVAC chase. Another option is to make your base cabinets deeper and add a counter top. Your uppers can either sit on your base and attach to the wall, or just hang on the wall. Personally I think it looks nicer to have deeper base cabinets. Your base will jut out from your HVAC chase. You can just leave it like that, our build a faux/shallow base cabinet in front of the chase so it looks a little more finished. Also standard height for base cabinets is 34." Your built in looks a little top heavy to me. Increasing the base height will help. It goes back to what trip said about progressive sizing... basically you want to avoid the grid look. Edit: one more thought... rather than try to make your cabinet frons flush with HVAC chase (which will be a pain, my guess is your HVAC chase is neither plumb, square nor level), I'd build them in standard depths and build out the HVAC chase to be an inch or two proud of the cabinets. It will be a whole lot easier and look built in was part of the house design. Just a thought.... to me incorporating the chase into your design is the most difficult part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 One room may be primarily Maple and another Cherry. I use complimentary accents (usually Ebony, Padauk, etc). You need a big room to go much darker than Cherry... The 3cm ‘D’ series Zodiaq surface is very nice – mine is a deep black with quartz fleck; wife’s is a cream color with some blues & grays... But yea, not exactly cheap... There are other solid surfaces out there... if you’re going to be there for 10+ years, a solid surface desktop is well worth it... Taunton’s book has a section on trim for built-ins... Taunton’t trim carpentry book is also a good read. The new shelf layout is nice, but... When you see these in mags, there are always more open space and knick-knacks than books... My bookcases are for books... If this is you, then you don’t want all the horizontal spaces to be the same... It depends on the kind of books you store (it’s a mix thing), but there are recognized library progressions for different mixes... I’ve got loads of technical and medical texts (go figure), loads of diving books (all around 10”), loads of computer and engineering texts (also around 10”) and some paperbacks, so my office progression is something like: 1 of 16”, 1 of 12”, 4 of 10”, 2 of 8” or some such, don’t remember... there are websites for this. Put in your books, they spit-out a shelf plan... I tend to make my shelves 12” deep due to the bottom two shelves of technical books. Otherwise, 10” deep is fine. Lighting: I don’t embed lighting in the shelving units – my bookcases are for books... I use ceiling-mounted tack lighting and up-firing fixtures hidden by the upper shelf molding... The Taunton book covers all that... Everything’s put on dimmers... Not to say lighting in the shelves isn't nice, but my bookcases are for books -- no lighting required... For others, it's a nice feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted July 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Thanks guys! The HVAC area scares the crap out of me ... I am not sure what to do with it and I am almost certain it is not plumb or square. I could extend it, but I am not a drywall mud spreader guy and I dont want it to look like a dummy did it, which it would have a good chance. On the other hand, if I wrap around the shelf and have like a mini shelf type setup to cover it up, I am not sure that would look all that good either. So right now I am stuck on what to do with that ... not good so far. Ok, so I measure my books ... majority I would say are 8-10" .... So I went a little wild in autocad just trying to spur some innovation with the builtin design ... at the moment I am left with this design: Figured I would go way out on a ledge and then real back in what is needed .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 the Sagulator is your friend... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted July 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 In terms of the HVAC chase, the key thing is to not try and make your shelves/cabinet perfectly flush with the front of it. As long as the HVAC chase is proud but an inch or two, it will look fine. When you can't make something perfectly flush, always go for a reveal that looks intentional. Hmmm I could do that. But would 14"ish built in look funny? That's about 1 1/2" shythe Sagulator is your friend... Crap looks like I am back to the drawing board with about a 30" max length shelf going off the 40 pounds per foot estimate to be on the safe side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 3/4 shelves are fine... 5/4 look seriously better... seriously... you can use real 5/4 (which is what I do), or add a false edge... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted July 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 3/4 shelves are fine... 5/4 look seriously better... seriously... you can use real 5/4 (which is what I do), or add a false edge... Ok. So if I got 5/4 shelves. Can I still do 3/4 carcass or would that need to be 5/4 as well? The 5/4 shelving does allow me to use the 43" long shelf and if I did it correctly the 3/4 shelf with 5/4 false front would also let me go the 43" route. So that's good news Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted July 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 Are you doing face frame or frameless cabinets? With frameless cabinets 5/4 shelving might look funny, because your shelves will be thicker than your cabinet carcass edges. Standard face frames are 1.5". In that case a 1" or 1.25" shelf looks real nice. I was planning on framing it. Just wasn't sure what size I should go yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trip Posted July 1, 2015 Report Share Posted July 1, 2015 ==>planning on framing it You can do frameless, but with built-ins it's best to frame them -- rooms are seldom square --- frames hide a multitude of sin... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjeff70 Posted July 2, 2015 Report Share Posted July 2, 2015 Spread the money around instead of limiting yourself to one wall. Go with 2 narrow bookcases, one on each end and then panel the middle. Wainscot and panel the rest of the room with nice base and crown. Obviously the panels should be kept simple because of the size of the room and to keep costs down. You probably won't get your money back when it comes time to sell. I always liked a stand alone period desk (table style). Get yourself a nice swivel chair and place them between the 2 bookcases several feet away from the wall so when people come into the room they can feel you're the boss. I'm partial to accent, puck lighting in the bookcases themselves as opposed to lighting in the ceiling. You aren't going to need the light to see what books to read and you've got recessed lighting elsewhere in the home I'm sure, so no need to be boring in your special room. Accent lighting is always under utilized. Yea I know, the room is too small to take up this sort of idea. Keep the millwork simple and let the little things make the statement like the draperies and wall hangings and such. You don't want to put a closet organizer on the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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