Wall unit - took two years but finally finished

[Adam Slutsky]

Just wanted to say thanks to all those who gave me advice on this wall unit. It was my first project after a 20 year layoff. It took me 2 years and I made some mistakes but all were fixable.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

That looks really nice. Skill is not avoiding all mistakes, but is fixing and hiding them.;)

[John Keeton]

Absolutely great work! Well proportioned, and I like the outset on the center portion. Really fits the room, and the white finish goes well with the trim/room color. Great job!

[Von Bickley]

Great job Adam......

[Peter Aeschliman]

Really classy!

[Dan Manning]

Those Eye-Lites really set it off. Great work, my friend. Very nice.

[Chris McGee]

Wow, two years, my fiance gets on to me if a project takes more than two hours, regardless of the amount of work involved. "What are you doing out there, whats taking so long?" I cringe whenever I hear the door to the house open.:rolleyes: Great work Adam, I really like the beadboard back panels and am always a sucker for lights.

[Peter Aeschliman]

I love the beadboard backing too. I'm planning some built in bookcases as we speak and I think I'm going to steal this idea!

Edit- I can see that your cable box is sitting on its side next to the TV. A buddy of mine had a similar situation with what appears to be the same cable box (motorola, right?). He learned that you can plug in an inexpensive IR repeater so that you can use it to receive the infrared signal from the cable box remote and hide the cable box inside the cabinet. He actually has his TV mounted on the wall and managed to fit it behind the TV (between the TV and the wall). I'd definitely recommend it.

My understanding is that you just plug one of these infrared repeaters into the back of the cable box and stick it to a visible spot on your TV's outer edge (or some other inconspicuous place near it).

http://www.amazon.com/Channel-Plus-Repeater-Emitter-systems/dp/B001ELDCWM/ref=sr_1_32?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1256882724&sr=1-32

[Carl Heidesch]

Execellent job!

[John Thompson]

Very nice work and befitting the room..

Well done..

[Garth Keel]

It's the enjoyment of the journey and the satisfaction of the final destination. I will also add what a great final result. You should be justifiably proud of your work.

[Mark Grotenhuis]

I also like the bead-board backing. A nice detail indeed.

[Chris Tsutsui]

Looks good and should add value to the house as well.

What's that vent at the bottom for? Did you install a fan to vent the electronics?

[Adam Slutsky]

There was a heating vent in the wall so I had to extend it out underneath the wall unit.

[John Adam]

Very nice!

I'd be curious what materials you used and what finishing steps you performed. I recently built some painted white bookshelves and they are not wearing well....

[Adam Slutsky]

John:

I used 3/4" birch plywood for the carcasses and poplar for the face and door frames. The poplar really takes the paint well. The top face frames are 3/4" poplar. The doors are 1/2" birch plywood with 5/4" poplar frames. The adjustable shelves are solid poplar. The first shelf above the counter is fixed to the sides - I made this one shelf out of plywood edged with poplar (bicuit joints). The counter top is also plwood edged with poplar. I sanded the whole thing and then I just painted it with a good oil primer and then used 3 coats of latex with a brush. I would have liked to have sprayed it but time and money prevented me from doing that. It seems to be wearing ok.

[whit richardson]

That rocks! I'm now inspired to get back to my long term built-in project.

[Mark Boyette]

My daugher likes "i Carly" too.
Mark.

[Michael Dromey]

That is really nice work. My wife wanted me to make similiar wall units for our basement.

[John Adam]

Thanks Adam...

I resisted the iCarly reference as well.