Craftsman Entertainment Center in Walnut

[Jeffrey Martel]

A good friend of mine saw the walnut coffee and end tables that I built for myself and asked me if I could make him an entertainment center that he was considering buying from Pottery Barn cheaper. Deciding that I needed to replace my old craftsman tablesaw and that he’s helped me enough to justify doing some work at a discount, I accepted. Plus, this way instead of MDF, they received cabinets out of much sturdier plywood. After some brainstorming with him and his wife, we came up with the idea to use a craftsman style instead of the style of the pottery barn cabinets. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, and he and his wife are definitely happy with it. It's not perfect, but the mistakes are small enough that I have to look for them to find them. Put the finishing touches on today (childproofing stuff, backing on one of the cabinets, touching up a couple nicks from installation, repositioning a knob, etc), so I can finally call it complete. It's rather large in their current space, but they plan on moving in a few years and it will be in a bigger room then.

Definitely learned that I'm not a big fan of plywood case work. I'll do it, but I greatly prefer solid wood and using hand tools as much as possible.

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[Peter Widders]

That's a really nice unit Jeffrey - well done!

[Larry Frank]

Very nicely done...you should be proud of it.

[Jeffrey Martel]

Peter and Larry, Thank you. It is appreciated.

[james glenn]

Great unit, looks well crafted. Two questions:
1. are those white squares surround sound speakers?
2. Did you consider extending the crown trim around the side? Might be a personal choice for me, but it would make that side look even more finished. Unless the plan is to enclose it by walls at some point.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Looks great.

James - I took it to be ambidextrous for now, since they will be moving. Just a guess, tho.....

[Jeffrey Martel]

Great unit, looks well crafted. Two questions:
1. are those white squares surround sound speakers?
2. Did you consider extending the crown trim around the side? Might be a personal choice for me, but it would make that side look even more finished. Unless the plan is to enclose it by walls at some point.

The white squares were added by them after the fact. Child-proof door catches. Apparently their daughter liked to open the doors and pull the shelves down. Not my first choice, and I probably would have looked for a black or brown set to blend in more, but it's their furniture now so they get to choose.

I had thought about that, but I didn't want to limit them to not being able to put it up against a wall in the future. Figured this would be the best compromise.

[Jerry Olexa]

Good work..better than the barn..