Media Niche

norwei

Hi folks, I need some advice. I just bought a new house and there is an empty recessed space beside the fireplace. It's about 8 ft high, 5 ft wide and almost 2 1/2 ft deep. I want to build a built in media niche in it just like what they have in the model homes. The top shelves will hold decorative items. The bottom shelves will hold the electronic stuff like receivers, dvd players with doors covering some shelves. And at the center would be a 46" LCD tv that will rest at the top of the bottom shelves. The questions I have is whether I should build the frame of the unit as one piece or should I do modular.

What I mean by modular is build the top piece and bottom pieces separately. I would then install the top piece resting on some strips of wood screwed to the studs on the wall so it will have support. The bottom piece will rest on a base frame. Then I will install plywood to cover the exposed wall between the top and bottom units.

What I mean by one piece is I would have two long side pieces running the entire height of the wall and then attaching the 5ft wide shelves to these long sides. My concern is that this approach might not be sturdy enough.

Any suggestions, ideas and lessons learned from your experiences?

Thanks.

beer_geek

Here's one of my projects.

My first 2 projects in this house.

I built the base cabinets first. I then built the shelving unit and slid it into place. I then built a face frame to fill in the gaps because the one thing you will find is your walls aren't straight and your corners aren't square.

__________________
It takes less time to do a thing right than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

norwei

Hi mate, VERY NICE built ins!!! Some follow up questions:
1. Did you remove the carpet where you put the built-ins? I am thinking that placing the built-ins on carpet will not help in leveling.
2. What material did you use? plywood, mdf, wood?

Thanks for your help mate.

beer_geek

Yes, I removed the carpet. Once you cut it, there's no turning back.

I used plywood for all of the structural pieces. I made the door panels out of mdf. I made the stiles, rails and face frame out of alder.

__________________
It takes less time to do a thing right than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow