PHASE TWO BEGINS!

So, after the ceiling was done, there was a little lull in the action because the cabinetry we were about to install in the bedroom was still on order.  If I recall correctly, we still had three long and grueling weeks to go before anything would show up.

In the mean time, I took care of the little things that make a big impact - like paint the room, replace the outlets with some cool decora style outlets, install special switches to integrate into our whole house automation system and lighting.  Yes, you definitely need lighting to "make" the room!

The cabinets arrive! Time to set the Bases!

The cabinets arrived early one morning.  I was so excited, I took off work early in order to start the installation.   This was going to be another frustrating moment, because once I install the base cabinets, I needed to schedule the counter top people to come measure and then fabricate the piece.

I started pulling back the carpet and mounting the cabinets.  Of course, I schedule the counter top people to come out and measure the NEXT day after getting the cabinets, so the pressure was on to complete the installation that evening!

Because the cabinets will sit further out from the wall, I had to fabricate "stand offs" in order to mount the cabinets to.  You will see how this takes shape soon.








Here is a picture of the base cabinet mounted to the stand off.  The stand off is mounted to the wall.  In usual TJ fashion, you could mount a truck to these babies and they wouldn't budge.







Another pet peeve of mine is the lack of "level" this newly constructed house of mine has.  Its not off much, but Im kind of a freak about it.

 Now, at the ends of each base cabinet, will be a pillar made out of painted wood.  Because the pillars only come in certain lengths, I fabricated some blocking at the bottom (that will be covered by base molding) in order to raise the pillar to the counter top height.

I learned the hard way that the surface of a table saw can be unforgiving when feeding painted wood through it.  While, I did order certain size pillar stock, I did have to cut it down to size. and depth.

I also had some problems with the pillars and the quality control.  As you can see below, there were some major inconsistencies with the sizes of the pillar stock.  Of course, I needed to modify everything to make sure it was perfect.




One side was 3 inches, which is what the whole pillar should be, but the other side tapered down to 2 3/4 - totally unacceptable.



I cant imagine how they did it, but Im guessing that the jig they put these things in for fabrication must have been off.




A hard to visualize top view of the pillar on the right side of the cabinet. (Below)




















Pillar installed on top of blocking

Now that I have the pillars installed on both sides of both cabinets, I needed to fabricate a wall that the fireplace would attach to - between the cabinets.  I made this out of 2 X 6 stock.

Throw the melamine plywood on the wall, install the base board molding and pull & cut the carpet against the cabinet, Pop the fireplace on and I would call this part complete!

Now we have to wait for the counter top to come in!  Another 2 weeks!!!!

The counter top is in! Its time for Book Cases!

We had Cambria installed on top of the base cabinets to separate the bases from the book cases.  The color is white with a faint ribbon of color through it.  

The toughest part to figure out was how to mount the pillars.  Not that it was that tough, but like everything I do, I wanted to be able to mount a truck to the things and have them not move an inch!  Of course, the exact spots where I needed to mount them to the wall - there were no studs.

So what I wound up doing was mounting drywall anchors to the wall and attaching a piece of 2 X 2 stock to the wall - reinforced with liquid nails.

Those puppies arent going anywhere!

On the right, is the mounted pillar.

Only 3 more to go!

Here are some pictures with the pillars mounted.

On the right, I attached some 1X4 stock to the top shelf.  This will actually act as the top plate for the book cases.

You will see below and to the right how the top plate is mounted.  Screwed and also gorilla glued.

<- The finished product.

Essentially, this is the book cases.  Just add shelves, and we are done!

HOWEVER, we need to add some molding to the top, and bottom of the pillars.  This is where I spent most of my time.  The compound miters and coping I had to do was tremendous.  I had to fabricate an additional 5 inch pillar from scratch for the top of each pillar as you will see below.

At the top of each pillar, there is a buffer piece that will help separate the crown molding  and vertical component that extends to the ceiling.  I fabricated each buffer piece (and carried  this theme throughout the rest of the trim build out). Part of that piece is to the right ---------------------------->

The finished trim for one of the book cases is below.

The final look is below with top plate installed and buffer piece installed.

Next, I needed to fabricate a piece that would look like the pillar is continuing to extend to the ceiling, but also provide a finished edge along the front.  Again, I made this piece in my wood shop and installed it on top of the book case.  Below are some pictures of what this looks like.

The picture below shows the buffer piece under the vertical piece (laying on the floor)

Here is one book case complete

Here is a picture with both complete - All that is missing is crown molding. It will prove to be the toughest and most time consuming (per liner foot) crown job that Ive ever done.... 

... and Ive done A LOT OF CROWN in my life time.

 The complication with the crown molding is the fact that there are multiple cuts on one board.  The fact that it is pre-painted wood doesnt help either!

I wanted to make the crown perfect, but also didnt want to kill myself, so as I did with the other pieces, I fabricated, glued and pin-nailed the crown in my shop and then fit it into place.

The crown molding fits right into place.  Could you believe I actually had the patience to take pictures on this very last cut?  This was really the most difficult crown molding job Ive ever done - Did I mention that yet?

The final product turned out pretty good, but it is Clair's touch that brings it all together.  Without that, it is just a white set of book cases. And make no mistake - I had no design input here - This was all build from an image Clair had that was adapted from a Candice Olsen design.

If you want to see some better, more professional pictures of our bedroom, check out the following websites.  They are on Rate Your Space on HGTV, and on the DIY Network.