A built-in stereo cabinet.

I've been spending some time catching up on a few house things this week.

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent building a stereo cabinet. I'm lucky enough to have a closet in my family room that backs to a storage area, so I've been rebuilding the closet to be dedicated to holding my audio/video equipment.  I'll be triming it out to match the design of my A/V center.

(as an aside, who does the design for A/V furniture, anyway? Ours has a 20" by 30" space on each side of the TV, but there is no provision for ventilation, and if your components don't all fit on one side (mine wouldn't), you have to run cables across from one side to another. No thanks).

So, the closet is done, but I now need shelves to go into it. I don't like any of the premade racks you can buy (and they're really pricey), so I decided to build my own. I started with two sheets of 3/4" shop-grade birch plywood, ripped to the proper width on the panel saw at Dunn Lumber (If you need plywood cut, this is a great way to do it). My tablesaw is up at the cabin (more on that later), so I built a jig to cut the top and bottom and shelves to the right side using my circular saw. The cabinet carcass is together now (using glue, biscuits, and screws), and I've started putting the hardwood fronts on the shelves (they'll be painted but you can't get a good finish on the front of plywood).

Next is to finish clamping up the shelves, sand up everything, stain and finish the carcass, and prime and paint the shelves black (to match the way the entertainment center is finished). Once I get that done, I can install it and move the components into it from my current cabinet. Then, I'll build a face frame and door with smoked glass to go on the front, and attach it to the carcass.

I'll post pictures when this is all done.