another painted built-in

[nydesign]

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  [smile] I purchased a wood air grill online, when it came it was 'off' a bit  [mad] 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  [tongue]

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.

 

[duburban]

looks clean! do you finish by hand or with spray?

 

[Kev]

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

[thumbs up] [thumbs up]

 

[nydesign]

It's a brushed on semi-gloss, two coats over one coat of primer.

Kev good eye, the fireplace is off center by about 4". I asked them if they wanted even cabinet's or a bigger fill strip on one side, they went with the larger cabinets.

thanks

 

[ericbuggeln]

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

 

[jmbfestool]

Looks good!  Just the vent is the only thing not fond off.  Be nice if you tried to hide it or did it on the other side to make it semetrical like the rest of it is.

Looking at the doors they look mitred.  Are the styles and rails miterd

Jmb

 

[honeydoman]

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 !!

 

[peter halle]

Interesting project, great execution.  But I have to ask the question - Is the fireplace still a functioning fireplace?  I would have concerns about clearances to combustibles if it is still able to be used.

Peter

 

[Scott B.]

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?

 

[Steve R]

Very nice job.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[nydesign]

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

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.

Looks good!   Just the vent is the only thing not fond off.   Be nice if you tried to hide it or did it on the other side to make it semetrical like the rest of it is.

Looking at the doors they look mitred.  Are the styles and rails miterd

Jmb

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.

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 !!

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.

Interesting project, great execution.  But I have to ask the question - Is the fireplace still a functioning fireplace?  I would have concerns about clearances to combustibles if it is still able to be used.

Peter

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.

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?

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  [unsure] 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

 

[awil66]

Nice work, but you absolutely have to be careful about clearances with fireplaces, and that one looks out of spec. Local building departments in the Nyc suburban area are requiring that houses built before a certain time be brought up to code. This happens when the house is being sold, refinanced, or possibly if the owner appeals their tax assesment. They will not get a C of O. until it is rectified.
If you do a lot of work in that area you wont want your name attached to these kind of problems.
I understand that homeowners can insist on things, but part of being a pro is saving them from themselves.
Again, you do very nice work, including the finishing.
Best regards.

 

[tiralie]

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

 

[Vindingo]

Looks great, I really like the black door pulls.

The photographs are nice as well.      

 

[honeydoman]

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..

 

[nydesign]

Kreg I agree, I know I learn something new from each project I do. Looking at photos and descriptions of others projects is another great way to learn.

Tim, do you think the handles are placed wrong? I put them where the client wanted them.
I debated about placing them a third down from the top, but went with the middle as they requested.
At first I did not like the black handles but after they were installed I like the look.
I know about correcting the photos distortion, I was lazy about it this time  [embarassed] but thanks for offering the info.

I'm feeling a bit ill at the prospect of having to redo the firebox surround, I'm not sure there would even be room left to
make it look decent. I'll have to have that conversation with the client.

 

[tiralie]

Tim, do you think the handles are placed wrong? I put them where the client wanted them.
I debated about placing them a third down from the top, but went with the middle as they requested.

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.

I know about correcting the photos distortion, I was lazy about it this time  [embarassed] but thanks for offering the info.

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 [big grin]

I'm feeling a bit ill at the prospect of having to redo the firebox surround, I'm not sure there would even be room left to
make it look decent. I'll have to have that conversation with the client.

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

 

[jmbfestool]

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..

I don't think it's because they are thin skinned ....maybe a minority.  I post just cus I feel like it not to get advice or anything.  I do ask for advice before I do the job but not after.    I only post projects I find are of interest to others  I have a lot of jobs I have not posted here on Fog mainly because I can not b bothered.  I built some custome built wardrobes not so long ago which could of been posted here in fog but i didn't.

I think a lot of it is people can't be arsed or just don't have the time as they have better things to do maybe.  I don't blame them.  Taking pictures, selecting correct pictures uploading onto computer resizing uploading onto fog doing write up etc    Some people especially if they are not computer literate  it's a bit of hassle.

Also worked on a bought kitchen the other week it all looks nice but people well I know I don't have interest in seeing a bought kitchen from wickes, Howdens fitted by some one.  If the kitchen was made and fitted then I'm interested in it.  Some fog members might do a lot of that type of work soo....

I do wish more people posted projects though cus I enjoy looking at them and learning new designs and methods.

Jmb

 

[awil66]

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.

 

[nydesign]

Covering the mantle sides with stone or tile would be an easy fix. It's a maple ply box and maple solid for the fluting.
That's much easier than ripping out and altering what's in place now.
Thanks for the info, I'd much rather address this now than get an angry call in the future!