Don_P and I were carrying on an email exchange about some projects and he reminded me of this old topic.
I've been working on a wall of shelves at our son's place for several months. On and off and in sections and long distance, so to speak as we are located about 90 miles apart. Here's two photos to begin with. I'm getting close to finishing 4 doors that will be sliders in the main section behind the sofa and chair.
The lighting makes the main unit appear less black than it really is. The stain is Minwax Ebony; very black. The finish is Minwax Polycrylic satin.
Another shot, viewed from an upper level that overlooks the living room
My tablet camera doesn't handle the glare from the balcony doors very well; my apologies for that.
The main unit, flat against the wall is 4 separate pieces. Two lower units that are mainly support for the upper sections. They are secured to the wall studs with GRK washer head screws. The lower units have removable 1/4" red oak front panels; removable just in case we have to access things like the phone jacks and power outlets in that wall.
The upper units are 3/4" red oak plywood with solid 3/4 red oak face frames. Shelves are plywood with solid oak front lips. The two uppers are fastened together behind the center vertical face frame, using washer head furniture bolts; black oxide finish. The vertical center face frame section is part of the left half case. It overlaps the left side of the right case when the halves are pulled together. That makes it appear more like a monolith instead of the left and right halves it really is. The upper cases sit of the lowers units and are secured to the wall studs with more GRK washer head screws. It is not going to tip over.
When complete there will be LED strip lights hidden behind each shelf lip. They are dimmable. The center pair of shelves can be moved up or down 1.5 inches; movement is limited to accommodate the LED wiring.
Once those cabinets were in place the corner unit was made. It is at a 45 degree diagonal across the corner. It does not extend all the way back into the 90 degree corner as it seemed that depth was not really needed. The diagonal shelves are about 15 inches deep. Since those pictures were taken a top panel for the corner diagonal has been fitted over the bare plywood seen in the second image. That panel extends into the back corner.
The sliding doors are Japanese Shoji style. They have a wood lattice inside the perimeter frame. Translucent paper is glued to the backside in the traditional style;we are using a laminated paper. The door frames are 3/4 red oak, 2.25" wide and the lattice are 3/8 wide X 1/2 deep. I have some pictures I'll post later. I completed building the lattices today and am almost finished insetting the wood pulls. So I am getting close to being done.
Well, not quite finished, as the triangular corner between the ends of the two sofas is going to receive a table made to drop into the space. It will have an articulated arm to hold a computer table so that wheeled table can be retired.
