Wall Unit

Messages
43
Location
St George,Ontario,Canada
Hello
Here is a wall unit that I finished up this past spring, but haven't had the time to post it up on the forum because we don't have a digital camera so I had to wait till I could borrow one. The wall unit is the whole length of our living room on the west wall. When we moved into our new house we realized that we would like to do something inside the house to make it look different then all the other houses on the street. It's a new subdivision and most of the houses are identical outside, and besides I don't have a passion to do landscaping.

The construction started last fall on the wall by picking a colour that the wife thought would be suitable. I think it actually looks good with the dark stain colour of the wall unit. I first built the window seat and then the bookcases on the sides. Since I was doing this project over the winter we decided on a water base stain. The window seat has a lift up top and is constructed mostly of plywood. The front is frame and panel using pocket screw joinery. (Not my favourite.)

The next step was to make a base for the book shelves to sit on. The two tall bookcases were constructed next and then installed. They are firmly anchored to the wall into the studs. The smaller bookcases came next. This is the first large project that my measurement actually worked. There is roughly a 1/8" gap between the wall and the two end bookcases.

The baseboard trim was constructed last and finished before installation. It was then nailed to the base and the nails can't be seen unless you are really looking for them.

We find this unit makes the living room take on more character then just a plain bare wall. Each section is roughly 6 feet in length. The tall bookcases are 74" in height and the shorter ones are half of that.

I am interested in your comments to make myself a better woodworker.

Thanks
Stephan
 

Attachments

  • lsidec.jpg
    lsidec.jpg
    80.9 KB · Views: 104
  • center.jpg
    center.jpg
    84 KB · Views: 106
  • rside.jpg
    rside.jpg
    66 KB · Views: 78
Stephan,

Wonderful job on the shelving and finish work. Looks like a lot of detail went into the whole project. Like the vent on the front. I assume you had to re-route a floor vent.

:thumb:
 
I think the whole thing looks great, Stephan. :thumb: Can't think of any suggestions to make it any better. Thanks for posting the pics. :wave:
 
De'Jevu, all over again, :eek: I made that unit , just like it, Honest, I did... A friend and I were commissioned to build a wall unit, about 20 something years ago, and the results were remarkable even down to the air vent in the window box. Tall units beside short units, (the walls were Pink in our case)

Of course yours looks much better than ours :thumb:

Thanks for the posting and reminder of the days gone past. You did a great job.
 
wall unit

Yes I had to reroute the floor vent through the window seat. I asked a contractor that I know and he explained how it do it. It was pretty easy to do, a 90 degree elbow and a very short piece and it was done. The good thing about it is that it seems we get more heat/cold air into the room now. Inside the window seat I split the area into 3 sections. One for the pipe and the other 2 for storage.

Thanks
Stephan
 
Good use of the space

makes the room look cozy, and the use of the space is very productive, the storage on each side of your heating vent will come in mighty handy.. did you finish it by hand or spray it? looks ike the shine is right on target.. thansk for sharun!
 
The finish is miniwax water based products, applied with foam brush and then wiped off. I find the water base stains dry very fast and instead of waiting 5 to 10 mins before wiping off its about 2 to 3mins. The clear coat helps the stain colour stand out. (If that's the proper terminology). It actually helped the colour look better. I applied 3 coats of stain followed by 3 clear coats.

Stephan
 
Stephan,

Overall I like the look and proportions of the unit. Looks like you made good use of the space and not going full height on the end cabinets is a nice touch.
 
Yes I had to reroute the floor vent through the window seat. I asked a contractor that I know and he explained how it do it. It was pretty easy to do, a 90 degree elbow and a very short piece and it was done. The good thing about it is that it seems we get more heat/cold air into the room now. Inside the window seat I split the area into 3 sections. One for the pipe and the other 2 for storage.

Thanks
Stephan

NICE job, Stephan.:thumb: And about the improved heat/cooling, you probably are feeling the results because by directing the vent horizontally, it disperses the airflow across a wide area of the floor instead of going straight up toward the ceiling and affecting only a narrow area parallel to the wall, until it hits the ceiling and by the time the flow disperses to the rest of the room there is a temp change in the airflow and you don't feel the full effect of tither the heating OR cooling llike you do now. That is one reason I never was very fond of floor mounted vents in comparison to wall mounted vents (either high or low).
 
Thanks Norman for the explaination. I always wondered why the builder puts the vent directly under the window? Doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose of heating/cooling the air? I think the forced air would cool down quicker as it passes in front of the window compared to going along a wall with insulation.

Stephan
 
Hi Stephan :wave:,
Your project is a large job and looks to be well done.
Are those adjustable shelves?
Very nice way to change the look of the whole room.:thumb:
Since we are able to view it completed, I see the window seat with a large vertical flat surface of wood covering the front. That view makes me want to see some other "vertical flat surface" of wood covering the front of some other part of your project, maybe cabinet doors that have the same look as the window seat, or several drawer fronts, just to tie the center to the sides by similarity other than just color and wood type.
The other suggestion is a rather grand one:eek:! Consider a valance across the whole piece.:doh: How about a built up 7" Crown mold from outer cabinet edge clear across the window and over the other cabinet, returning to the wall at each cabinet corner and projecting out about 2" farther where the window is. :D Add as much soffit as possible in the window area to allow the drapery to work and you have tied your project together.
It is very fuctional as is and worthy of praise! Good Job!
Shaz :)
P.S. When you install the cabinet next to the wall, complete your installation of the box itself then cut and fit to the wall all the pieces that touch the wall, ie. the deck top, the stile and that one piece of base. Those are the pieces that give you the built in look. This is where the scribing occurs and the block plane finds good use. Back cut all these pieces to afford you ease in using the block plane.
 
Thanks Norman for the explaination. I always wondered why the builder puts the vent directly under the window? Doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose of heating/cooling the air? I think the forced air would cool down quicker as it passes in front of the window compared to going along a wall with insulation.

Stephan

I don't really know the answer to this, "Unless" their thinking is that the rest of the room is better insulated and by passing the air upward directly in front of the window, it MIGHT heat/cool the air in that immediate area that would normally be a hot/cold spot, even though it would make the heating/cooling air less effective for the rest of the room, (as you suggested). Good question.:thumb:
 
I had thought about crown moulding but I wanted the unit to tie into each other and I thought that the 2 tall bookcases would look out of place. Like only having crown moulding on the 2 tall bookcases, to me would look out of place. The valance across between the 2 cases was shot down by my wife, so that never happened either.

The wall unit is in a large room consisting of our living room and kitchen. It is open concept. The kitchen cabinets don't have crown moulding on them either and again I thought it wouldn't look right. Thanks for the suggestions though. And yes the shelves in the tall bookcases are adjustable except the bottom shelves.

Thanks for the info about scribing to the wall, but thankfully the wall was actually straight and level, or my cases were out and they matched the wall.:)

Stephan
 
Thanks for the info about scribing to the wall, but thankfully the wall was actually straight and level, or my cases were out and they matched the wall.:)

Stephan[/QUOTE]

hey now there is a great excuse for building something crooked:D i did see4 a cabinet while at tods last year that was straight but yet wasnt there was very few sguare sides:) but we know that tod is one for doing something differnt than most:) good job there on the whole deal..next time you can use shaz's scribng ideas
 
Top