Wall shelving - Question on the tools I'd need (or reality check...) [Archive]

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Ryan Swanson

01-28-2009, 10:56 AM

So my new home has a huge (23x21) bonus room. The model home for our community had these shelves in it and my wife and I LOVED them...I am seriously thinking about taking this project on.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/siznimper/PanBonus3.jpg

The unit is basically 5 parts. 2 identical basic bookshelves on either side of the TV cabinet, a TV cabinet, a corner seat, and a desk with shelves.

I am open to (and probably will try to) buying the cabinet portions pre-made and unfinished (TV and Desk cabinets) but build the 2 shelves, the upper for the TV and desk, and the corner seat.

The unit nests nicely into the clipped ceiling, but there is nothing complex about this as the upper back edge of all the shelves is where the clip meets the wall...there is just a wide piece of fascia on the front and the crown which gives the illusion of being built in.

My questions are:

1) What tools would I need, at a bare minimum, to do this? I don't have much or much money, and I am okay with things not being absolutely perfect. Material costs for this are already quite high. When I say I don't have much I mean I have a drill, circular saw, access to a router, and ROS.

2) Am I crazy for taking this on? At first I thought it looked impossible, but once I actually looked at the insides of the pictured unit, it doesn't seem all that terrible.

BTW, the room is completely vacant right now, so that helps.

Thoughts?

Dan Keeling

01-28-2009, 11:23 AM

I would say that if you are going to purchase the cabinet sections that you could assemble the rest with a circular saw. You should get a high quality blade and build/buy a straight cutting guide of some sort. I would recommend building a couple of simple, sturdy work tables to support the sheet goods you'll be using. An inexpensive finish nailer would come in handy for the trim and securing the back panels to the cases. Might also want to consider prefinishing the back panels before assembling everything.

I would go to the model home and take copious measurements and photos, then lay the whole thing out in sketchup or on paper to plan out each section.

Dewey Torres

01-28-2009, 11:27 AM

Ryan Swanson

01-28-2009, 11:30 AM

I would buy the Kreg jig at a bare minimum. It would be much easier with a table saw but with the circulars saw you can get by. Just make a guide for it. When you say access to a router...that tool is an absolute mainstay in most any woodworking shop so if you plan to make a hobby of this you should buy your own.
My .02

Absolutely....I'm sort of on the "one tool per project" plan so that's kind of why I am looking to see what's an absolute. If the consensus is that circular saw will get me by here, the router can be my one tool. If a sliding CMS was a necessity, then I think the router gets borrowed for this project :)

And what if I can't find the cabinets in the size I need? If I have to make those on my own then am I opening a whole new can of worms?

Dave Falkenstein

01-28-2009, 11:47 AM

I have built lots of storage systems for friends and clients. I can see doing a project like yours with a circular saw, a guide for making long/straight cuts, and a square for making cross cuts. You will need a good blade, since lots of cuts will be in plywood. You will also need some clamps or a nailer to attach edging to the shelves and vertical panels. A battery powered drill/driver would be used a lot in a project like this. You will use a router to put a finished edge on all of the front edges.

You can certainly buy cabinets that will work well. If the cabinets are not the exact size, simply modify the plans to accomodate. Lowe's and Home Depot carry extensive lines of prefinished cabinets that are quite nice looking and decently built. I installed a bunch of Lowe's hickory cabinets for my daughter, and they worked out really well.