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Gary Groves
12-01-2004, 10:48 AM
I'm in the process of designing my library. I plan on building in 2 sides of the room.

The side I'm starting with is 115 1/2" long, and 9 ft high. I plan on making the depth and absolute max of 12 inches. Since I want the built in book cases to be floor to ceiling, and plywood is only 8' long, How can I bridge this gap and still look good?

Also, I'm thinking of building the wall in 3 or 4 sections in order to ease assembly and moving. That way, I can build the units as I have time move them in and move to the next section. I assume I'd then have to build the face part last to cover the vertical sections and give the illusion of a single built in design. But, with my kwestion about the top, that may mean an altered design for the vertical pieces too? Can I buy moulding of mahagony? Or do I need to buy router bits and make it myself? I've only got a PC 690 router, so I don't think it would handle large crown moulding on its own.

I was thinking of using a 6" base to build up part of it. But was not sure what to do for the top. Perhaps some sort of soffit. I'd like the whole thing to be Mahogany, Cherry or Walnut.

Suggestions design plans welcome.

Thanks

Jamie Buxton
12-01-2004, 11:23 AM
Gary --

To my eye, floor-to-ceiling bookcase look too monolithic. I like to break them up in some way. For instance, make the lower part somewhat deeper than the upper part. This also gives deeper space for larger books.

Building in two sections gives you a natural break to solve your issue with 8' plywood. It also makes installation considerably easier.

Alan Turner
12-01-2004, 5:52 PM
Gary,

Great design question. I have been working on a design for a similar commission, which I think will not come in, so at least I can get a bit of use out of the design work by sharing it here. I have no useful drawings.

Assuming you do not take Jamie’s suggestion of a wider base, which would provide a shelf for opening a book, etc., your baseboard will kill some of the 12" gap, and the crown can kill the rest, pretty easily. A wider section could hold a TV or some such thing. This is a fairly common configuration.

If you just join up several bookcases, side by side, it will be a monolithic structure. But, if you leave a gap between them, and run verticals floor to ceiling, really pilasters, which are proud of the front edge, then you get a bit of movement. They could be fluted. They could be thicker than 3/4". They may eliminate the need for edging the plywood, depending. I personally prefer them set back about 1/4" or less from the inside case edge leaving a shadow line. Use headers at the top, which would be lower than the crown. If the headers are of solid wood, they could be carved. The pilasters at the ends could be scribed to the wall.

Then, for the base and crown, make these moldings follow the face of the cases, and jut them out by mitering to cover the pilasters, and you will achieve much more visual movement, without killing much floor space, which I gather is one of your concerns. Hope you have a good CMS.

My preference for the crown is one that is deeply coved, and this can be done easily on the TS, setting a fence at an angle, and passing the molding stock over it, in 1/16" segments (achieved by raising the blade for each pass). Then, you can either shape the edges to one that pleases you, or make molding pieces to build up the crown. Many articles and books have examples of this sort of thing.

The baseboard can also be a composed piece, with a shoe molding at the floor, and an ogee on the top. For a 9' ceiling, 8" would not be too tall to be visually incorrect.

I prefer to make my own moldings if possible, and you may find that given the cost of custom runs of molding, it will be cheaper to tool up and do it yourself instead of paying a mill shop a set up charge for only 20 or 25 feet of each type of molding. Note that there won’t be any long pieces of molding to deal with, given all of the steps created by the pilasters.

Other possibilities:
– One or more of the bareboard sections could be loose, and be a secret drawer.
– Doors on the end sections for storage.
– A mirror, small or large, as part of one of the center sections. Possible glass shelf across the face of the mirror for display of art glass, or a turning, etc. A light could be incorporated here.

Have fun with what sounds like a great project.

Alan

Gary Groves
12-02-2004, 9:13 AM
I'm going to try and post a diagram of the room:

file:///B:/Office.gif

Yes space is a concern. Originally I thought about the larger bottom/smaller top approach. But with the door only being 14 or so inches from the wall, I'm concerned.

I saw a design (I think) similar to what you were describing in an old issue of Family Handyman. My concern with that design, was that the vertical section was built up with a 2x4 sandwitched between the plywood so for each section you had 5 inches of 'dead space', and I can't afford to loose 15 - 20 inches on the wall. But, I did like the look. If I can scale the look down it's defininately an option.

Thanks for the input.

Steve Jenkins
12-02-2004, 11:04 AM
Check with the local supplier of ply for the cabinet trade. You can probably get 4x10.
To cover the wall like you want I would do it in 3 sections. Attach your stiles to the outside edges of the two outside cabinets then attach the other to stiles to both edges of the center cabinet. That way you can set the two outsides first, scribing to the wall if you want and slip the center one in last. The stiles on the center section would cover the sides of the other two.
Steve

Ted Shrader
12-02-2004, 11:19 AM
Gary -

I built a similar sized unit for a church library from mahogany plywood with solid mahongany trim. The difference is, this one had corner units at each end set at 45° to allow future additions of more shelving.

The basic techinque:
- Ripped ¾" fir plywood down to 4½" wide strips and used those to assemble a base unit that serves as the toe kick. Shim and level the whole platform and attach to the floor/wall. (The front board was painted black.) For your cabinet depth, make the base about 10" deep.
- Built individual boxes for the bookshelves. Each was about 30" wide. Use what ever width works to span the distance evenly - or make the center one wider.
- Place the boxes on the base. (Remember it is already level.) Use ¾" spacers between the boxes and anchor them to each other and the wall.
- Put a flat trim piece at the top, running all the way across. Cover the top edge of the plywood box and goes to (or almost to) the ceiling. Splicing will be required.
- Add pilasters to cover the edges of the plywood boxes and the gaps between and add face frames to the bottom edges of the plywood. The pilasters should be a little wider than the total area they are covering. That is up to you.
- Make/buy some crown molding for the top and install it.
- At the top of each pilaster, put a rosette. Also helps to hide the splice of the top trim piece.

Once you get started with whatever design you decide on, it will come together well. Seems like a big piece, but it is really just several small pieces hooked together.

Good luck,
Ted

Dan Gill
12-02-2004, 3:45 PM
There is no reason you can't build the units in two 4 1/2 foot high sections and stack them, if you want to go all the way to the ceiling. You might also consider making a center section deeper than the end sections. I did that on some bookshelves and it looked nice. I also gave that section wider stiles. Mine aren't floor-to-ceiling, but you'll get the idea. Sorry for the clutter in the picture.



Steve, your idea of having the center section stiles cover the sides of the outer sections intrigues me. I'm going to have to think about that one.

Rich Konopka
12-02-2004, 6:38 PM
I thought I would use your thread for some practice with SU. I did a real quick rookie design and basically there are 3 components 36" wide each which are 8' tall. The middle piece would be 24" and the lower piece can serve as a cabinet.

Most wood suppliers can provide you with the Molding to match the wood you purchase. They would most likely charge you a setup fee of $20-40 plus the cost of the wood.

Rob Strause
12-06-2004, 2:39 PM
Hi,

I have a few more bookcase/cabinet projects in th house as well. Great question. Thought I'd share some info.

I wanted floor-to-ceiling bookcases in my study many years ago. I drew up the design and settled on floor-to-ceiling built-ins with cabinets below and a computer workstation built into the corner. I spend a lot of time in my home office, so it had to be functional as well as pretty.

A couple things I thought made a big difference in appearance are the raised panels on the exposed sides and the fluted columns dividing the book cases. The columns give a good sense of mass and add a nice detail. The panels onthe exposed side add more detail and looks a bit better to my eye than a flat panel. The countertop of the cabinets is also cherry. Its been 11 years and its holding up fine.

Hope that helps foster an idea or two. Here's a pic. Sorry its a little dark.

Gary Groves
12-07-2004, 5:38 PM
Rob,

That's kinda the look we are going for.

My only concern, is the space for the vertical post. How wide are they? And will having this in such a small area, be overwhelming?

I love all the ideas, and thanks for the effort to respond.

Rob Strause
12-07-2004, 9:25 PM
My pleasure Gary. The fluted columns are 4" wide, with a 1/2 inch reveal behind them. The bookcases themselves are made from 3/4 ply with a 1.5" spacer between to provide the 3" from inside bookcase wall to wall.

The total distance along the long wall is 11' I think a smaller area will look just fine. the short wall bookcase is only 21" on center, the corner bookcase a little bigger than that and they look just fine. Most of the furnituer bookcases that you'll see in stores with columns separating the sections are only 8' wide and they look great.

I mapped this our on graph paper. Its simple to do the same and get a feel for how it will look at your dimensions.

Have fun and good luck.

Rob