Building a Recessed Shelving Unit

Our home is small and there wasn't really a designated area in the living room for the TV.  The way the living room is laid out, you would think you'd need to put the TV area on one of the side walls.  Well, to us that would have made the room even smaller, so we decided to hang the TV over the fireplace.  Problem was, there wasn't anywhere for all the little black boxes to live.

As you can see just to the right of the fireplace, my honey created a space by building a recessed shelving unit.  Now all the little black boxes and a few pieces of decor have s spot to live!

Here's a blurry picture we snapped while touring our home before we bought it.  We knew right away that paneling had to go!  It was covering every wall in our tiny living area.

This is after we took all the ugly paneling down and my honey's Dad textured and painted the walls.  Ah, fresh and clean and no ugly paneling left now.  Also, still no storage for much at all either.

First we decided on the size that the shelving unit needed to be.  Our space allowed for 25 inches wide and 5' 7" tall.

This is a shot of the demo taking place to install the new unit.  FYI...cutting into dry wall with a power saw created LOTS of dust so wear a dust mask and be prepared to lots of cleaning up afterwards.

Here you see the freshly built cabinet installed into the space which happens to butt up to a tiny little closet in my craft room. This little closet is what allowed us to add the shelving unit for some much needed organization.

Using brown paper and painter's tape, we taped it all off and used the same paint color as the walls to finish it out.  The paint color is called Thin Ice.  Its hard to tell in these pictures, but its a very light color of gray.  The completed cabinet is 5' 7" tall x 25" wide x 13" deep and is constructed from 3/4 inch plywood and screwed together with 1-1/2" wood screws.  The shelf cleats are 1 x 2s cut to fit and spaced about 10" apart except for the top one and its slightly smaller.

Then my honey added the rough cedar trim which I stained to match the existing beams and trim already present.

Lastly, he added the trim on each shelf to hide the shelf cleats.  Perfect!  It helps us out tremendously and keeps all the little boxes neat and tidy!  He used his hole saw to drill holes in a few of the shelves and set it up to where all the electrical parts are accessible in the tiny closet in the other room.  The tiny closet also houses our internet network as well. Fancy huh?! :)

I can't tell you how proud I am to have my honey be able to create these awesome projects in our home, he's the best! :)

Here are two more projects we've done in this area:

DIY Perfect Baseboards

Builder Grade Door Makeover

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:

These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
The Dedicated House  - (I was featured)