Completed Pastor's Study

[Rod Dilyard]

Some of you may remember my post a while back showing the cherry bookcases I built for my Pastor's study. About two weeks ago I finally finished installing the rest of them. He's very happy with the finished product but there are a couple of little things that I still want to address just for my own peace of mind - nothing visible, just wish I had done it slightly differently.

Anyway, here's a picture of the first set of bookcases that was shown in the earlier post - now loaded with books.

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This next shot is from the south wall looking north showing the whole room.

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Here's a closer look at the north wall. There's a beveled mirror in the center and three halogen lights (dimmable) in the bridge that spans the two bookcases.

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And the last wall...

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The baseboard was installed after the cases were in place and to my surprise only took two evenings (about 6 hours) to install. The crown moulding took longer even though there are way fewer pieces - mainly because I had to climb up and down a ladder so many times to fit each piece.

It took about ten months of evenings and weekends to go from concept to completion but I'm really glad I was able to do it.

Thanks for looking.

[Kyle Kraft]

Rod,

Absolutely beautiful!! You appear to do excellent work!!

[tod evans]

nice work rod!

[Chuck Trisdale]

It looks like LOTS of work went into those. Congratulations on a beautiful project, except now you are going to have to study in there.

I love seeing all you guys' work. I just finished a workbench (nothing special) to fit my new garage. Just moved up from 2 sawhorses and some mdf :D

[Matt Meiser]

Wow! That is a beautiful study and you should be proud of that job for more than one reason.

[Andy Hoyt]

Well done, Rod. You did good.

Question - the area with the mirror looks a bit sparse compared to elsewhere. Is there another component or element to be placed there?

[Tyler Howell]

What the said.:cool:

[Pete Harbin]

Outstanding Rod! Absolutely beautiful!

Pete

[Jim Becker]

Just a couple 'o books there, eh? :) Very nice job!!

[Tom Jones III]

Wow, great job. It would have been a good job with just one of those nice looking book shelves. All together that is a great accomplishment. I'm sure it will be appreciated for many years.

[Brian Jarnell]

Well done, Rod. You did good.

Question - the area with the mirror looks a bit sparse compared to elsewhere. Is there another component or element to be placed there?
I thought that too,must be something missing,it also occurred to me that if I was making that,how much would I charge.
Nice job indeed.

[Art Mulder]

Very nice work, Rod. I can believe that it took a long time to come together.

But I can't tell you how surprised I am to see no computer on the desk...

[Lars Thomas]

That work is most impressive. Can you explain the finish?

[Darl Bundren]

Very nice work. I like how the design is attractive but nothing flashy or overdone about it, and I like how the arches up top give more character than the typical "room full of rectangles" bookcases that are everywhere. I don't want to nitpick, but you might get rid of that stock outlet cover under the mirror and replace it with a wooden one you've stained to match if code will allow it. It seems out of place in those fine surroundings. Thanks for sharing, too--it gives me something to aspire to!

[Larry Turner]

Great job on the book cases. I am sure your pastor appreciates the work done there. If you want to improve I am open for you to come down to Raleigh,NC and do me a set since I am a pastor as well. again Good job.

[Rod Dilyard]

Thanks for the kind words.

The space in front of the mirror is the designated "seating area". He has a couple of chairs and a small table that fit nicely there but I moved them to take the pictures.

All of the solid cherry (about 500 board feet) was donated by a local farmer who operates his own small sawmill. All other materials were included in the budget for a recent addition to the church and I donated my time - pretty easy if you enjoy woodworking.

It's funny, Art, you should notice the lack of a computer. Our Pastor is the son of an old-fashioned Baptist preacher who understands with amazing clarity his own weaknesses and the importance of his calling. There's no computer because he doesn't want the temptations and distractions that accompany one. I make my living in the IT world installing and configuring computers, switches, routers, etc. so I know exactly what he's talking about. Don't get me wrong, he's not a technophobe. It's just that a computer would not make him a better preacher.

Besides, he can spell pretty well and one of the books on those shelves is a dictionary.

Oh, the finish is just Minwax stain and sprayed (HVLP) semi-gloss poly.

[Larry Klaaren]

Yeah, you can move to Indy and set one up for me. That is just plain beautiful and conducive to good work habits and attitude.

Can't agree with your pastor about the computer though, there's lot's of ways to be held accountable on the internet and you may know how to do it if you are in IT. I've been off a lot lately so I have been on the internet way too much, but I rarely go on off-topic sites or e-mail at the office.

I have some Greek and Hebrew software that allows me to do and publish stuff I just plain could not get done before, and you know the expediency and efficiency of sending files, e-mail memo's, agenda's etc adn searching documents by key-words. We do web meetings also. Saving a trip can free up hours of time on each occasion. That's totally up to him though. My secretary and I e-mail and proofread documents and send them back all the time.

Course if he buys his books on CD-ROMs, he won't need to expand his shelving very soon.

Larry

[Dave Bonde]

Very impressive work Rod nice job. Dave

[Mike Zozakiewicz]

Beautiful room Rod! As said before, the curve on the top make a big contribution to a great look.

Mike

[Michael Pfau]

Rod, its beautifull! Thats alot of work..you should be very proud, and your Pastor should enjoy those shelves for years to come..again..good job!

[lou sansone]

wow .... what a great job... my pastor could sure use a set up like that
lou

[Vaughn McMillan]

I liked the first go-round, but it's even better now, seeing the room complete. Excelent job on all counts.

- Vaughn

[Tom Sontag]

Nice work. should look even better as it ages.

But I can't help noticing that it appears your pastor may have stolen all his books from the library. Or maybe he has his own dewey decimal filing system? What's with the white tape on each binding?

[Rod Dilyard]

My, what sharp eyes you have! Yes, he has his own numbering/indexing system for the books. I know there is a small set of drawers that hold a bunch of index cards but I don't know any more than that.

[Julio Navarro]

Lucky Pastor.

Nice job

[Jerry Olexa]

Very nice work..Love the look of the cherry and the trim and arches, etc Your pastor must be a big reader and serious about his commitment. I'm sure he gave you an extra special blessing or prayer for this beautiful study you made. Thanks fir showing. You should be proud..:)

[Rich Torino]

Now that's what I call a study... That is a great job....be proud.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Rod, as a pastor myself, I know you can never have enough bookshelves! I just picked up 40 titles and I have no idea where I'm going to put them?! So after you're done helping Larry in Indy, feel free to come to the left coast! :p You did a great job on this project! But there is a problem: the desk. I just looks out of place. I think a custom cherry desk is in order now :p :D

Great job!

[John Dingman]

I'd be next in line in Racine, WI. :D I sure do wish my study looked that good! OUTSTANDING JOB! That will be a great space to study in. Keep up the good work.

John

[Thomas Walker]

I really like the arches and detailing at the top too. They go very nicely with the wainscoating.

So you built them a section at a time in your shop, and then transported and installed them?

[Bob Fuller]

I loved seeing the beautiful bookshelves you made, and reading that there are so many pastors on this forum. I have a couple of observations. 1) You should keep your pastor a long time, because he would have a terrible job moving all those books. 2) My experience suggest that a shorter shelf holds the weight of that many books better (less sag). I made an earlier set with three-foot shelves. The most recent set I made with two-foot lengths. Do I detect a little sag in yours already? If it becomes a problem, you could insert uprights at the mid-point from the bottom up. As for the computer, I know he can be a great pastor without one. However, it is also a great tool for Bible study and web outreach.

[Joe Jansen]

Rod
Nice work. As a Pastor I know you can never have enough books.Just like a wood worker can never have enough clamps or routers.

Joe Jansen

[Rod Dilyard]

Yes, Bob, the longest shelves are 48" long and even though I added an additional stiffener to each shelf they are sagging about 1/4" under load. I'm going to do just as you suggest and add some additional support.

When drawing up the plans we both agreed that splitting up the space between the window and the corner into two units just didn't look right so we opted for one four foot span. And of course he couldn't fill that up with paperbacks - no that would be the perfect spot for his heavy encyclopedias and other large hardback sets.

Just for fun, I unloaded one of them after the photo session to see if they had "set" yet and it straightened right up, but it's only been about three weeks since I finished up.

Tom, yes, I built all the components in my basement and installed on site. They stand about 9'6" tall so I wasn't even able to put it together until I was on site. Fortunately they looked just like the drawings I had done ahead of time. Here's another thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=30478) that shows some of the construction details.

Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments.

[Doug Selph]

Rod, that is beautiful work, and selfless service to your pastor.

May I ask what you used for the back of the shelves, and how it is finished? I like the appearance of the backdrop behind the books.

[Richard Wolf]

Great looking job.

Richard

[Christian Aufreiter]

Thanks for the pics. A beautiful project. I do wonder where your pastor has his computer though :confused:

Christian