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You are here: Home / Renovations / Office Renovation / Office 5: Built-ins Are Almost Finished

Office 5: Built-ins Are Almost Finished

January 18, 2014 by SmartGirl Leave a Comment

Yup, the built-ins are so ALMOST finished.  There just always seems to be more painting or more trim to add.  This is what it looks like right now.  I still need to add doors (or a curtain), add trim to the bottom of the bed (I need to buy more trim), secure the ducting within the bed (it doesn’t currently fit and I need a plan B), put another 1-2 coats of paint on the bed, add shelves to one missing section (they are too big and need to be cut down and it’s damn cold in my garage).Smart Girls DIY - office built-in bookshelfBut instead of focusing on what’s NOT done, let me show you what I’ve done since I left off in part 3, when things were looking like this.  (You might also like to read part 1 and part 2.)Progress on the built-ins

This is kind of random order, but let’s see, I finished painting everything I already built. Painted built-in storage

Then I added trim to the sides of the  middle section and I added a piece of (nice scrap) wood to the front.   I also covered the framework for the venting and created a bottom shelf, which will be behind closed doors.Adding vertical trim to shelves

I attached the bottom shelf in the small  sections,Adding bottom shelf of built-in wall unit

then added base molding.  Adding trim to bottom shelf of built-in

Things were starting to come together.Bottom shelf of wall unit

Vertical trim was added to the corner section.  Trim still needed on the front of each shelf and across the top.More vertical trim added

and all the trim was really starting to make the wall unit look presentable.trim already starting to make a difference

More vertical trim down below.Trim added to center unit

Well, things were looking good until it came time to add the base molding here, oops, that’s a big gap!  I also had to measure where to cut the hole for the vent.Gap between shelf and trim

So I added a piece of trim to the gap (and later caulk) and built out the lower portion so I would have something to attach the baseboard to.Fill in gap and build something to attach baseboard to

Then I glued and nailed the baseboard in place.glue and nail baseboard

It was functional, but still ugly.Attached but needs holes filled and lots of paint

And it looked damn good after lots of caulk, spackle, sanding and paint!  Now that the vent was extended through the base of the cabinet, it was time to attach a new vent cover.Attaching vent cover after re-routing vent through toe kick

But no time to enjoy that victory, I had to finish up the window seat day bed from part 1.  I added plank paneling to the side (I ran out and had to buy a 2nd pack), then added trim to the top.  Hubby was nice enough to cut the trim for me because it was damn cold in the garage.Adding trim to day bed window seat

I can’t say it enough… trim makes a huge difference.  BeforeBefore molding

and after.After molding

The top trim is finished, but I need to get another piece from Lowe’s so I can do the bottom.  And the left side/transition, still haven’t decided what I want there.window seat day bed needs paint

I added trim to the front of all 8 of the large shelves, but didn’t take any pics of that in progress.  You’ll notice that the fronts of the shelves look much better now.  I cut some of my shelves from scrap “wood” from the original wall unit I bought off Craigslist, and the edges needed way more than paint.  I also added a large piece of molding all the way across the top.Trimmed out shelf fronts

I painted the smaller shelves in my family room one night, finishing at 3am.Painting small shelves

I’ve only attached the ones on the left so far, the ones on the right need to be trimmed.  Boo.  Here’s a tip for installing adjustable shelves — if you want to make different height options for your shelf pins, use a piece of peg board to mark the holes.  I circled the holes I used first, then drilled right through the pegboard.  It’s hard to see through the pegboard to see your hole, that’s why I mark it on the pegboard.  This way all my holes are in a nice straight line and all 4 pins are level.Using peg-board to mark shelf pin holes

So that brings me to where I am now.  Still not finished, but getting there.Window seat day bed and built-in bookshelves Smart Girls DIY - window seat day bed and bookshelves Smart Girls DIY - office built-in bookshelf

I can’t wait to be totally finished so I can load all my junk onto those nice, deep shelves.  The paint on the shelves is still curing, and then I’m going to seal them.  And CLEAN OUT MY OFFICE!Office built-in project

What crazy, never-ending project have you taken on recently?

Catch up on the other posts in this series:

  • Part 1: Building a Window Seat Day Bed
  • Part 2: Getting Started on Built-in Bookshelves
  • Part 3: Progress on the Built-in Bookshelves
  • Part 4: Office Built-ins Still NOT Finished

Office Door Redo

Office 1: Window Seat Day Bed

Office 2: Built-in Bookshelves

Office 4: Progress on the Built-in

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Filed Under: Office Renovation, Renovations, Woodworking Tagged With: built-ins, office

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