Home office built-in cabinetry and bench drawer

• Project: Home Office Built In Cabinetry, Books Shelves, Drawer/Bench
• Project Category: Built-ins & Cabinetry
• Completion Date: April 2025

Project Overview

• Custom home office built-in cabinetry. Floor to ceiling lower cabinets and upper bookshelves with an adjacent window/seat bench that has one large pull out drawer sized for file folders, if desired. Bookshelves and lower cabinets have all adjustable shelves.

• Note: I installed the flooring as part of this project. 1/2″ solid bamboo. All new trim painted and installed in the room.
  
• Intesting Detail: The window seat/drawer is a separate unit that can be removed if needed in the future and is sized such that a twin bed can fit into the space if the occupants wish to convert the room back to a bedroom but leave intact the other cabinetry. Of course, some of the trim work would need to be tweaked but that would be simple to do.
  
• Project Challenge: The walls in the room were about as out of square and wonky as I’ve ever seen. I had to add cabinet filler strips on the left side of the bookshelf and scribe to the wall, which is all fine, but the wall basically flared out at the bottom compared to the top, such that I had to make a tapered filler for the bookshelf that was about ~5×8″ wide at the bottom and essentially tapering out to nothing at the top. The base cabinet filler was more uniform in width and just needed basic scribing to fill the gap. It all worked out in the end. Gotta check your walls in advance!

Details and detailed images

• Materials
  • Lower cabinets and bookshelves are 3/4″ birch ply with 1″ thick ash face frames.
  • Doors and drawers are all shaker style frame and panel using 3/4″ ash
  • Bench/drawer was built using 1.5″ thick ash rails/stiles and birch ply for panels for the sides/back/bottom (not visible)
  • Tops on cabinets and bench are quartersawn white oak
  • Hardware used: Solid brass pulls; Blum soft close hinges and undermount drawer slides
  • Finishes used:
    • Cabinets/Bookshelves and Doors (exterior): Ecos Paint – Robin’s Egg Blue
    • Cabinet interiors: Three coats dewaxed shellac
    • Cabinet Top and Window Seat/Bench Top: Sutherland Welles Tung Oil Varnish – 3 coats plus 2 sealer coats
• Construction
  • Joinery Methods:
    • Cabinet carcasses were rabbeted and glued/screwed. Face frames attached with biscuits and glue
    • Cabinet/shelf backs were 3/4″ ply rabbeted and pinned.
    • Bookshelf sides were double laminated layer of 3/4 ply.
    • Window/Seat bench structure was frame and panel construction on sides/back/bottom. Bottom panel rabbeted into bottom rails/stiles. Top affixed to base with figure-eight connectors
    • Doors/drawers were constructed with stub tenon joinery and are inset into the frames for a tidy look with an 1/8″ reveal all fours sides
  • Dimensions:
    • Overall Dimensions: 8′ high x 8′ wide
      • Base Cabinets: Each is ~26.5″ wide x 31.25″ high x 18″ deep
      • Bookshelves: Each is ~26.5″ wide x 57″ high x 11″ deep
      • Window Seat/Draw: ~42″ wide x 18″ high x 18″ deep
• Timeline
  • Project duration: ~6 weeks for design/build/finishing. Two days for flooring installation. 1.5 days for cabinet installation and trim work

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