Next Project: William's Room

Now that William is a teenage (15 months old), he's been clambering for his own room. And, we're very receptive to the idea. Only problem, his room is not trimmed yet. So, that's the next project. In addition to the usual baseboards and casings, I'm going to add a built-in bookshelf and built-ins for the closet.

First step was getting some more lumber. I got 4 sheets of cabinet grade 3/4" white oak ply (4x8), and 200bf of variable width 1" white oak boards. My careful calculations determined that I would need 2.835 sheets of plywood for the shelving, so I got 4 sheets because my careful calculations are usually wrong... No, I don't need 200bf of oak just for William's room, but I will definitely use the rest when I redo the casings downstairs (next next-project).

Since I'm just now getting geared up, here are some "before" photos. Let's hope I have some "after" photos before the end of the year.


Yes, that's a standard sized door. Although this room is only 10ft wide, the vaulted ceiling is 12ft high. The blue tape to the right of the door represents the bookshelf that I plan to build. It will be 4ft high and 6ft wide.


This bank of windows will get the usual Craftsman style casings like the rest of the house.


This is a modest closet at about 3ft wide by 5ft deep. I plan to put a simple system of drawers, shelves and hangers similar to those in our closet.


That's what 200bf of 1" oak and 4 sheets of oak ply look like. Btw, Crosscuts delivers for free in the Portland area, which is great considering I don't own a giant flatbed truck.