After a long break I have re-discovered my Blog – it moved from being a Microsoft service to one provided by WordPress. So far I’m unimpressed with the WordPress editing tools – hope to find something better to use for my next post.
My Christmas 2010 project is to make some built-in bookcases for our “library”. Before cutting some expensive wood I decided to buy two 8×4 sheets of inexpensive plywood from Home Depot (total cost $50) and build a prototype.
The purpose of the prototype was to validate that we got the proportions correct and try out using pocket hole joinery for the case construction. The bottom cabinets are 30″ tall by 18 1/4″ deep. The cabinets will span the entire width of the wall. The wall has a breakfront outline and we shall mirror this with the cabinet layout.
The photo above shows prototype cabinet in (almost) it’s final location. For the finished bookcase I will remove the fake wall trim and this will allow the base cabinets to be pushed flush against the wall. The cabinets have a 1 1/2″ face frame applied to them – I now need to make 9 drawers to fill the empty spaces.
The finished base cabinets will have a 1 1/2″ beaded face frame and the drawers will be inset into the face frame rather than overlayed. Inset drawers are much harder to make, but the end result looks so much better. There will be a 5 1/4″ base moulding wrapping the bottom of the cabinets.
The finished cabinets and bookcases will be made out of 3/4″ Mahogany plywood with a solid wood Mahogany face frame applied.
Lessons learned from the protoype.
1. Pocket hole joinery construction is very quick and incredibly strong. Everything was connected using pocket holes, the cabinet sides, the face frame rails and stiles and the face frame was attached to the cabinet using pocket holes too.
2. It took my two hours to make the small cabinet – that was from a blank sheet of plywood to the cabinet you see in the photo above.
3. I think I’m going to use pocket hole joinery on the drawers too – at least the smaller ones not used as filing cabinets.
4. Very little of the bottom cabinet material will be visible so I won’t bother using expensive Mahogany plywood where it can’t be seen, this should make a significant cost saving.
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Today (Saturday November 28th) I finished the fireplace in the family room. This project has been nearly two years in the making – good job I don’t earn my living through woodworking!
As you may recall the fireplace started life as some old growth vertical grain Douglas Fir beams that were reclaimed from a condemned church in Hoquiam. I used my bandsaw to resaw the beams into 3/4 inch stock. These were then ripped on the table saw to form the rails and styles of the fireplace. A 1/4 inch groove was cut in the rails and styles to receive Cherry plywood panels. The rails and styles where joined together using pocket screws.
I decided to use VG Fir plywood for the mantle as it is much more stable material that solid wood. The plywood was edged in more resawn old growth VG Fir.
Finally I added some base trim that was left over skirting board ripped to a slightly smaller size.
As you can see Kohl likes to lie in front of the fire.
Many thanks go to Penny’s Dad who helped me rip the plywood mantle to size (ripping an 8×4 foot sheet of plywood is much safer if there are two of you doing it) and applied several coats of Polyurethane varnish prior to final assembly,
Now that the fireplace is finished it’s time to start work on the bookshelves in the library. I’m currently thinking that I’ll make these out of Mahogany, but that decision needs final approval from Penny. Unfortunately whilst I still have quite a lot of VG fir left there isn’t enough to do an 11 ft long bookcase. I think I’ll keep the fir for a media cabinet in the TV room. Cherry is another option but I was very disappointed in the quality of the Cherry plywood when I was last down at the lumber yard.
There is a chance that I might be making another fireplace as I’ve decided to look into the option of converting the gas fire in the living room (which I hate) into a real wood burning fireplace – we’ll see.
Just a quick update – the garage remodel is finally finished. The floor has an epoxy coating and lots of “sprinkles” on top. I was apprehensive about the “sprinkles” at first but after seeing the finished results I’m very pleased that Phil and Penny persuaded me to have them.
The Dog Spa is now complete and the dogs crates have been relocated into the garage, this means that our entry way in the house is now crate free. The garage was insulated as part of the remodel and this has proved very effective at keeping the temperature in the garage comfortable for both the dogs and me.
Over the summer Penny’s Dad helped me move the shop cabinets and tools into their (hopefully) final positions.
I’ll post some photo’s soon.
A little more progress has been made as can be seen in the photo’s below.
Here’s the loft ladder in position.
The dog grooming area – just waiting for a dog to show up.
The shrubs have pruned back and the concrete landing area is in place.
The house remodel is pretty close to completion – yes I still need to finish the fireplace but I’m waiting for some warmer weather so that I can apply the varnish and have it cure properly. The temperature needs to be around 70F for the curing process to work effectively – I could do the varnishing indoors but it would be very smelly and Penny would not be pleased.
As most of you know Penelope got a new puppy for Christmas, and now that we have two poodles to keep clean and groomed we need some better facilities. So time to upgrade the garage.
We are going to add two windows and a “man” door to the third drive bay. We are going to upgrade the electrics in the garage (more lights and a two-ways switche), install a “dog shower”, seal the floor, insulate the walls and ceiling, add drywall and paint the inside. Finally a loft ladder and new decking will be installed so that we have more storage.
Here are some pictures of the work in progress.
Here is side view looking west – yes the shrubs in front of the door will be moved! The second photo looks north and shows the other window we added.
Here you can see the insulation being installed. When the work is finished the dogs crates will be moved to the garage so they will be sleeping there. A heat register has been fitted so that they will be kept nice and warm during the winter months.
Yes it’s actually nearing completion. Just a little bit of trim work left to do plus some sanding and then varnishing. As you can see Kohl likes lying in front of it.
The panels are cherry and the rails and stiles are VG Fir. There is a slate tile around the gas fire.
At last we have the professionally taken "after photo’s" – just three of them which I have copied below:
The top two photo’s were taken pretty much from the same location as the "before’s" in the previous post – as you can see there is quite a contrast.
Meanwhile the fireplace is progressing nicely and should be finished soon!
Here are the "before" photo’s taken by the professional photographer (Larry) last December.
I’ll add the "after" photographs when I get them from Larry (or I might have a go at taking my own from the same angle/position).
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Daniels Ranch Remodel 