*Checks watch* :watch:

IT’S BEEN A MONTH SINCE MY LAST POST! :scream:

Finally time to start getting this bookshelf project off the ground! I’m going to redesign the bookshelves to be standalone, and also make a full-scale mockup of a bookshelf and place it in the room where the real thing will go. It will be very exciting to get a visual of how the real thing will transform the room!

:pencil2: New Ideas, New SketchPermalink

Previously, I had what I thought was a pretty good plan for the console bookshelf. However, the more my wife :woman: and I talked about it, the more we thought it would be better to make two standalone bookcases to fit on either side of the already existing TV console, instead of the originally intended wall-to-wall solution which would act as a new TV console. This is mainly so that we can take my first semi-large project with us when we eventually move one day. Yeah, we’re sentimental like that!

So to that end, we come up with a new sketch for each of the two standalone bookcases. We make sure to take into account using the wood that we just bought at the lumberyard, since we don’t want that to go to waste.

console bookshelf new sketch
The new sketch for each of the two standalone console bookshelves, but decorative routed profiles not pictured

:hammer_and_wrench: Mockup Time!Permalink

I’ve been pretty nervous as to how the actual size of the originally planned console or the newly planned standalone bookshelves will look in the room. We taped off the outer dimensions of the bookshelf on one of the walls with some blue painter’s tape, but it is still hard to visualize a 3D object with this 2D solution.

So, I decide to make a quick mockup out of some cheap construction lumber to see how it will look in the room. It will just be the outer frame dimensions, but should give us a very good indicator of how it will feel in the room!

console bookshelf mockup base being clamped
Clamping the rectangular base of the mockup together to square up everything, then nailing it
console bookshelf mockup base vertical supports being nailed
Nailing the vertical supports to the base of the mockup, with a 2x2 nailing pattern for good strength
console bookshelf mockup top being nailed
Nailing the top of the mockup to the vertical supports, where the top rectangle of the mockup looks exactly like the bottom rectangle

:framed_picture: Final RevealPermalink

My wife :woman: and I lug this behemoth up the stairs and put it in the room exactly where the real thing will go. We’ll live with it for a few days and see how it feels in the room. But I think we’re going to like it!

console bookshelf mockup in the room
The mockup in the room, where the real bookcase will eventually go

I took the opportunity to make the top and bottom portions of the frame in such a way that I’ll hopefully be able to reuse them as the bases in the final bookcases—but I’ll replace the nails with screws, of course! Trying to be efficient with my wood :smiley:

Speaking of efficiency, I also made the vertical supports a little shorter than pictured in my sketch above. This allowed me to use the entirety of each piece of lumber I used, and reduced the amount of lumber I cut into by 4! The resulting mockup height is only a few inches off, so I don’t think it will affect our opinion of this mockup size by too much :sunglasses:

:next_track_button: Next Time!Permalink

We’ll make the final design decisions on the bookshelves, and then get to jointing and planing some of the lumber we bought to make the final bookshelves. I’m excited to get started on the real thing! It’s going to be a lot of work, but will be very rewarding!

Until next time,
:space_invader: Pixel

Updated:

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