Built in mudroom

[Joelm]

I've been wanting to change our entrance for years and finally feel like I have enough projects behind me to tackle a larger project.

A few months ago I ripped out the doors and wall to our entryway closet and have designed a built in mudroom.

I also decided to learn Sketchup and thought this would be a good start. I've been a 3d modeler for years in the TV and video game industry so learning a new piece of software went pretty fast.

What I also got to try out was viewing my Sketchup model inside of VR to get a feel for the size and placement of things. WOW! The VR headset we have is a whole room VR setup so you can walk right up to your model and practically touch it. I was even doing things like squatting down to see how low the seat was and how far back I can lean. My wife also got to try it out and suggest changes like the bottom of the 3 shelves was too low and she would hit her head sitting down. I think for my next project I'll not only use VR but start out with photogrammetry to reconstruct my living room for my next built in.

Anyway, the plans are done and I've got my material list. Next up is to order and have my lumber yard deliver the wood. I'm going to go with mostly 3/4 baltic birch plywood with a 1" face frame out of either poplar or maple. The whole thing will be painted with a glossy off white so it can stand up to abuse from my 2 kids. I'm planning on making the seat our of laminated maple and just do a polyurethane coat on that.

I've also got to get a shopping list going for my local woodcraft. I'm debating on either a 75" guide rail or a 96" hole rail. I also will need to pick up a planer for the seat and face frame I think. Any suggestions for a lunchbox planer? My shop is too small for anything larger and my panel is already completely full so I cannot easily add more breakers for a 220v outlet.

 

[Joelm]

Done.

 

[Cheese]

Interesting...that the VR was that much of a game changer. For most of us VR has been only a gaming thing...or a quirky "I've got 5 minutes to kill and this is what I'll kill it on." Nice to know there is a practical application for the technology.

It kind of reminds me of infrared cameras...they were rather quirky until they were adapted and accepted for practical applications.

 

[ear3]

Came out super.  Nice work.

 

[Joelm]

Thanks guys.

Cheese, yes VR was really cool to try out on this project. We were able to change some heights and sizing by virtually walking around and virtually sitting on the bench. For my next project I'd like to start with some photogrammetry of the area my furniture will fit in. That should give it more context rather than just a model sitting on a grey polygon.

This was supposed to be my stress reliever during the pandemic. Turns out it was a bit more stressful that I thought since we've decided to move and I needed to get it done so we could sell out house!

 

[nicholam77]

Wow, came out really nice! The use of VR is super interesting, I didn't know Sketchup had that. I'm a basic Sketchup user and almost always draw up plans with it before a project. It takes extra time, but I find the planning so useful and almost always figure out something about the construction / dimensions / proportions etc before even making a cut.

For lunchbox planers the DeWalt 735 / 735X seem to be pretty popular. Don't have one myself but that's just what I've heard.

 

[Joelm]

I don't think sketchup can do vr. I downloaded a free video game engine called Unity www.unity.com
It can load sketchup files natively. All you need to do with unity is go into the unity store and download the free vr module. It took just a minute or two to find a YouTube video explaining how to do it.
Once there model is imported into the game engine, you just run the scene as a game and pop your ve headset on.

I ended up buying the Dewalt 735x and it worked out great for this job.

My only issue was somehow cutting my face frame on a skewed angle instead of 90 degrees. After chasing that down I've decide to get a table saw once I get to my new house. No more fiddling with parallel guides for thin stock.