box shelves phase 1 & 2 L-racks book shelves upside down shelves marshmallow







CD shelves plan (pdf, 184 KB) with dimensions (This is what I gave to the guy who built "phase 2". You'll notice that I had a few units made that were slightly less deep than the others. That was to compensate for the protruding baseboards on my apartment's walls, while otherwise trying to make things look like they were flush with the wall.

Planning file (pdf, 1.2 MB). Any PDF application will open this file so that you can at least see part of my planning process, but if you crack it open in Illustrator, you will see a lot more. Show and hide layers, move stuff around, play Tetris. The file is made to scale, so selecting an object in Illustrator will tell you the object's dimensions (you do the math, 1 mm = 1").

I'm not sure if the dimensions in the above file are exactly what we used on the LP sized units shown, so here they are:
31.5" x 15" x 15"
The longer unit is 46.5" x 15" x 15"

The LP sized units were constructed from MDF, which I do not particularly recommend. The units are very heavy...empty!

The fellow who constructed the LP shelves (aka phase 1) decided that they needed braces. If you decide you need braces too, do 2 braces per 31.5" unit. That way you'll have the option of setting 3 stacks of 7"s there instead of 2.

The CD units were construced from pine.

All units have white maple veneer on the front edges. The veneer was stained "pickled oak" (slight white pigment) to get an even lighter color.

I recommend applying and trimming the veneer (but not sanding) before painting the insides and outsides of the boxes. Whatever paint you accidentally get on the veneer can be removed when you get down to the fine sanding of the veneer afterwards. Oh, and a bit of touching up (paint, veneer stain) is inevitable. I would further recommend that you hire someone who can do the veneering and painting in addition to the box construction, instead of ending up with a big finishing project for yourself. Surely the pros are better at it?

We used pegboard with more of the "pickled oak" stain for the sliding doors (good for keeping dust out of hard to reach spots that you won't need as frequent access to, for example the corner partially blocked by my speaker stand).

The units are free standing, for the most part. On the floor, everything is resting on some thin strips of the MDF which were left over from the LP shelves. A few wood screws have been judiciously put through the backs of some of the higher CD shelves to anchor things to the wall (California, earthquakes, you know...).
 


L-racks for LPs


The rack holds the LPs at a 6° angle, just enough to keep them from tipping forward while allowing nicer flip-through access (and display) than you'll ever get out of a crate. Sorry, no PDF plans for these units, as they were built about 20 years ago. I give the dimensions for these particular units below, but I'd be very interested in seeing anyone else's version—I'm sure that improvements could be made. Drop me a line by way of this page on the regular Radio Khartoum site.

Overall dimensions:
W14.75" x D17.75" x H13.575"

LP storage (linear): 15.375" (though I recommend you only use 15" to leave yourself a little breathing space). This translates to about 100 LPs per rack.


Empty bookshelves, inspired by Kerf and Thomas Wold, built by Philippe Ames. The shelves are Finnish ply covered with plastic laminate from Abet Laminati. The shelves are appallingly heavy.

The three squares on the far wall are carpet samples ("toy poodle") that I got in a $5 sample pack from Flor. Uncanny how good the colors match, no? One of the cats has started using them. Two cats to go.




Upside down office shelving, inspired by yet another article in Readymade. Execution and installation yet again with the assistance of Philippe Ames. The shelves are simple 12" wide pine, attached to the wall with upside down shelving brackets. I'm on the look out for cool ambient lighting for the corners and better housekeeping habits.


Now, the next project would be the glorious Marshmallow, image courtesy of a 1970s DIY furniture book. With the padding, this thing would rock for killing unwanted acoustic reflections…