I recently felt the need to ditch our formal dining room, to make space for a music/game lounge. We're fortunate that our home as an eat-in kitchen where I have a vintage table that can seat 12 so no need for the separate dining space. Part of this conversion included our entrance way. It used to have my grandmother's console record player & a mirror. Really the whole space was decorated with items from our previous house, but it never really felt right to me.
So when planning the entrance way, I decided I wanted to do a built-in, to house our records, family pics, games & chat chis. The challenge of a built-in is the $$$. My goal with the space was to pay for the whole room with the money I got from selling the existing furniture.
My dad agreed to be my carpenter, and he and I designed the encasement for the Billy Bookshelf, with extension on top to make it 93" tall. It was fun to work on it with him, we both were a little rusty on our math trying to figure out the right amount of lumber and cuts. We wanted to lift the unit so that the baseboard would run along seamlessly. We also framed out the top to support the arch & crown.
Our next step was to make a template to cut the arch out on the top. I used the cardboard from the packaging to make half the shape, sent it home with my dad to cut out. Neither of us are pro woodworkers, so it was a bit of trial and error to get the angles right.
To finish it up, we added a full piece of wood to the top to fill in the gap. Covered the seam with a piece of trim & added crown molding. The final step was priming and painting the wood face Sherwin Williams Greek Villa to match the walls.
Scroll down to see the final cost...
This whole project was completed under $400!
Comments