Glad to see all of the new and familiar faces at ORC. So many awesome projects and CLEARLY these weeks fly as a guest participant of the One Room Challenge! Week 2 takes us through a view of our library unit construction, a focal point of our office/gym makeover.
Progression: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6
If you came here from the ORC site, hello! I’m Sanju Patel. By day, I work behind a desk, typically crunching numbers. By night, you can find me in a garage. My wife and I purchased a home in Texas 3 years ago – a quick close without costly bells and whistles. As lifelong fans of DIY, we’ve decided to invest into our home as our family grows with an open invitation to see our process from start to finish.
Library design & build
Alrighty, so the library unit will cover the entire span of our northern wall up to the ceiling. It’s a classic design decked out with simple trim work.
The existing baseboards were removed and the carpet pulled back for an even, flush surface. To accelerate build, 4-30″ x 30″ unfinished wall cabinets were purchased from Home Depot, primed, and set on top of a frame constructed from 2″ x 6″ yellow pine. These wall cabinets are extremely economical with a solid wood frame. Plus, they are light enough to carry for an able bodied person.
The frame was secured in place with 4 1/2″ screws to existing wall studs (marked by blue painters tape). A few outlets were also transitioned away from the unit – an element to keep in mind if planning to build a library over an existing wall.
Shims were added under each unit so that the top of the units were aligned. This part can get a little tricky, but play around with it before securing the units on top of the frame and onto the wall. Cabinet screws can be used to secure the cabinet to the wall – these screws are unique and arrive with a built-in washer. Ease up on the torque if using a power tool as the backing is made from engineered wood particles (you wouldn’t want to drive through it).
Not bad for a week’s worth of work! Next, we’ll discuss the upper portion of the library using 2×4’s and blond wood plywood, one of our favorite plywood’s available at Lowes for this type of project.
As always, send us any questions and don’t forget to follow our Instagram stories. By the way, there are SUPERB featured designers participating in the One Room Challenge with Better Homes and Gardens as a media partner. These artists totally rock and will not disappoint. Check it out!