I made this last month for a client in the suburbs of NYC. It's pretty straight forward, the design is a mix of what the client wanted and
what I came up with. There were a few details that made it a bit more interesting to work on.
First I had to move an air vent from the wall and rout it down through the toe-kick. I made the toe-kick and extra inch high to accommodate the 4" duct work.
It was not pretty when I was done, but it did not leak  I purchased a wood air grill online, when it came it was 'off' a bit  I had to use it though I had no time to return it and get a new one. It's not too noticeable, but I know it's there and it bugs me.

Another fun detail was making a panel to hang the TV on, with space to run the cables behind it. I made a frame with 2x3's and attached it to the sides of the
bookcase, the mantle top, and the shelf above it. It's not attached to the wall at all. The client was afraid it might not hold the TV. After I had the plywood screwed to the framing I asked him
to try and pull the plywood off by grabbing the hole for the cables. I think he pulled a muscle.

I used Rockler's guide to make the fluted columns. I built everything on site and did not want to lug a router table to the house. I thought the guide worked great,
all the flutes were dead even. I had a few areas that needed some attention because the board was a bit thiner in some spots and the guide moved a bit.
The end of the project became interesting when the clients wife began pointing out minuscule things to fix. I was freaking out, but laughed when she told me she was a technical survey inspector and looked for problems every day. Just who you want to inspect your work 

As for the festools I used just about all of them on this project, and as always they made life easy. cheers!

I need to mention I used a wide angle lens to shoot this first shot with, it distorted the top of the bookcase, it's not wavy in real life.
I did have to scribe for the ceiling, it had a 1" drop from the center to the sides.

It does my head in that the fireplace is off centre ... but the work you've done is very nice.

 

Hows that rockler jig? Did you use it with an OF1400?

Looks good and thanks for sharing the true story of real life customers.

On the shelf holes I used to do everyone then I started skipping a hole. I like it better. About 2" apart. And most people never move shelves after you set um in and it keeps the closet look out of the picture

Love the fluting detail with the plinth blocks. Nice jog !!

Nicely executed large custom work. While I am not a fan of the flute and plinth styling, it looks good. One point of style, the scribe at the floor is chattery. Almost looks like a chopped shim on the right side unit in the left corner. I noticed the shoe on the house baseboard is natural against the painted base, which is odd. Would look strange to run shoe around your plinth details, but might be appropriate to run a narrow one across both bottom rails. That is alot of brush work. What paint did you use?

I like the jig, I used it with a makita 2.5 hp router. The OF1400 would be nice but I don't own one yet.
It's on the list to get. I think the jig is easy to use, once you use it once the set up time is a couple of minutes.
As long as the boards your fluting are even on the sides you'll have no problems making perfectly straight flutes.



Thanks Jmb. When I was extending the vent I was so concerned with it working that I did not even think of where the placement would be in relation
to the cabinets on top of it. I just ran the vent straight out from the spot it was in the wall. In hindsight I should have moved it over a bit so
it was centered.

The doors are mitered, I used the domino to join the rails and styles. Because I did not have a router table on site I used one half of the
door set with the router. I clamped the 8' long boards used for the door parts and just ran the router along them. I know it's kind of cheating the frame and panel design
but the doors are so small I did not think it would matter too much.


Kreg thanks, I agree about the holes, that is a time saver as well as maybe looking better. I've thought about skipping a hole, but when I'm drilling them I always forget and just
follow the jig. I will say using the cxs drill has made drilling the hundreds of holes pretty easy. I used to use a makita and would have to stop from fatigue, now I just have to stop when I get bored, lol.



Peter thanks, I know the mantle is a bit closer than normal. I went over this detail with the client, they said they hardly ever use the fireplace. The firebox is a bit deeper than other fireplaces, we decided the distance was alright. The client was also planning to put glass doors over the front, which made me feel the distance to the mantle would not be an issue. I did tell them to be careful if they use it.


thanks Scott. I asked the client if they wanted to run the shoe around the unit, they said no, they had plans to change the base board. The shoe is natural because whoever put it in was too lazy to paint it, there were parts with stickers still on it  I used Benjamin  Moore's low voc paint. I like their paints they brush on nicely.
I know the floor is not perfect yet in the photos, I took the shots before running some caulk along the bottom. it filled in any gaps that were making shadows.

Steve thanks

Nice work, particularly as it was done on site.
I agree about the clearances, but I also understand the constraints around time and client wishes budgets etc.
The first thing that struck me was the positioning of the handles and well, the weight of the them. In the photograph at least that was the first thing that caught my eye.
The vent and the position doesn't bother me.

Your photo is good. You can correct the lens distortion in the photo.
If you have access to Photoshop or even a version of Adobe Elements which is cheaper, Scott Hargis who is a realestate photographer has a great tutorial on correcting lens distortion.
If you are interested in lighting your stuff his ebook is pretty good too.

As a pro, you (we) need good photo's of our work and yours certainly deserves it.
Tim

NYDESIGN,  again thanks for posting,  just want to add that this is why we post our pictures to get compliments and ideas and concerns and what to do or not to do.. it helps you it helps me and it helps others to do better.

I just wish more people would post their work and share, but they are to thin skinned i guess or whatever,  even it it looks not so good  take the  ideas and do  better next time..

Just from you posting these pictures gave me some ideas like the plinth blocks, they look cool, so thanks

everybody else post pics and share it helps all, my 2 cents worth..

No I don't think they are wrong.
Photo's do change the look of things and it was the first thing I noticed. If the client likes them there they are good.


Well at least you posted...I am too lazy and to post and actually take my own advice and post fix photo's, well I am also afraid of Kreg's vicious reviews too


I well I hope you don't. But don't take our word for it. Measure what you have built and make sure you are in violation of the code. 9 times out of 10 the client won't want you to change it so you are gonna have to make the call.
Good luck and Thanks again for posting.
Tim

Ny design,
I may have come across as a bit authoritarian and dire in my post, but that was not my intention. just trying to pass on info I have learned the hard way. Don't worry and don't get ill over anything like this. You are working with the client's direction. What material is it made from? They may have to line the sides and top( under mantle ) with a stone/ marble/ tile or something. If they used white or black it would fit with the style and design.  Maybe extra work,and a little extra cost, but at least they know that you are conscientious and want to do the right thing. If they don' want it, at least you did your part, and they can't blame you in the future.
Again, don't worry, it will work out.