Ok, so we finally started working on our office! As far as paint colors, Jeremy(the other Jeremy), wanted to pick it and decide what direction we were going to head. The color he picked was Cadet Grey....sounds nice and gray right....don't be mislead, it's purple....a hazy GRAY purple...but it IS purple. We were a little concerned about the color when we first put it up, he more than I. I knew once we got all of the other junk infront of it, it would just be the background color and not be in your face. (TIP: Don't freak out with the first swish of the roller, wait until you're finished and can walk away, and come back. By the time you move everything back in, that bold color merely becomes the background barely noticed)
As for the functionality of the room itself, to be an office meant we would need a desk to do work and etc. The room is rather small, and a desk would have eaten up a lot of floor space, so we needed to find another alternative. Fortunately to save space in the room, there was a small neche that was going to lend itself for built in shelves. This was going to test our carpentry skills!
Our concept for the area was a series of 3 floating shelves, the lowest at desk height for the computer. We would then back the shelves with mirror panels. Then adding to this, I always say..."If you're going to do it, do it right" and to do this right, we needed to add lighting to the shelves as well.
So here's how we did the shelves.
(CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO PDF that shows graphics) On the back wall, we found the studs and attached a 1 x 2 running vertical on the stud. These wood pieces would allow us to have extra support for the back shelves, as well as a place to run the wiring later for the lights.
See #1 on pdf or see image below (by the way, this is the other Jeremy standing infront of the wall.The next step was to define the heights that we wanted the shelving at. We then jet railed other 1x2's horizontally on the two side walls, as well as the back wall, sinking them into the vertical 1x2's for each shelf. See #2 on pdf.
After this, we then laid down the wood that would be the top of the shelf on the jet rails and screwed them to the horizontal jet rails. For the actual pieces of wood that would be considered the top of the shelf, we saved money by going with 1/4" MDF from Lowes. You can paint, stain, wash...whatever you want, and it absorbs everything wonderfully! Because I am not great with a saw, and I couldn't cut straight to save my life, we had all of these pieces cut at Lowes. They will cut materials to whatever size you for free! Don't be afraid to ask! See #3 on pdf or see bottom image below.
The next step is very important to the aesthetic quality of the shelves! We took a 1x3 and attached it to the front of the shelf (See #4 on pdf). The 1x3's weren't MDF, but were actually..um...I can't remember, some kind of wood that had a nice grain in it. They were already cut and in a bin at Lowes. WARNING. As for all of these pieces, 1x2's and 1x3's, make sure to take them out and check them individually for straightness! The slightest bow makes everything more difficult! This front piece is added to increase the visual weight of the shelf. Thick shelves read updated and a little more modern, than skinny shelves.
For this same step, we took 1/8" luan and applied it to the underside of the horizontal jet rails. Luan was great to use at this point because it's very inexpensive, and wouldn't be seen to much! At this point, stain all of the plains. I suggest to use a stain that is combined with a poly in it. It saves a step, and isn't as runny and messy as a regular stain. We used a dark expresso walnut stain....3 coats....it looks great!
Now, as stated before, we wanted lighting in the shelving unit. Knowing this, we thought ahead and pre-drilled the holes for the wires, and attached the puck lighting. We found this great package of 6 Halogen lights that all connected at one plug, that came with a touch switch to turn it on. This was very simple and easy to install. Just read the directions, and think before you act. You can see an example of this on #5 on the pdf. You can see there how you don't see the wires because they are in the middle of the "shelving".
We ran the wires down the back of the wall, and then plugged it in at the bottom of the wall.
To hide all of this ugly, we measured the spaces, and ordered some mirror to size from Hek Glass, great people. We then used mirror adhesive and attached these mirror pieces to the vertical rails that were bolted to the studs.
Listen people...this looks fabulous! Just fabulous..and it really wasn't that difficult. ALSO a little side note, if you will notice on the middle shelf, there is a number sign. This was the original house number on the house when we moved. We decided to keep it....just inside the house, I think it's great!!!! By the way, please forgive the shelves not being completely merchandised with accessories, I wanted to hurry up and get this on the blog......!
