Woodworking Tips, Tricks and Techniques

Pro Woodworking Tips.com

Recent Project

As the owner of a general contracting business we often do major interior renovations in addition to cabinets and furniture. One such project, although small in scope, which we recently completed was the renovation of a living room. The designer of the project was one we often work with, K Gallery Art and Design.

This is a husband and wife team, with the wife, Tommi, doing the interior design and the husband, Nick, who is a seventh generation stone carver, doing the stone, marble and onyx. Both are extremely talented, each having a huge amount of natural artistic talent in addition to the formal training they've received.

The renovation work consisted of minor demolition, basically gutting the majority of the room, which was handled by the designer's crew, as Tommi, was acting in the capacity of general contractor on the project.

The construction work consisted framing a double trayed ceiling, with both levels having large crown moldings and accent lighting mounted behind it. The majority of the framing was done with 3/4 inch plywood, ripped into 2 1/2 inch wide strips. Normally we would use metal studs for this type of framing, but the owner didn't want to lose the 2 inches at the side walls to allow for the metal track. Also, the existing ceiling was about 2 1/2 inches out of level for one corner to the other, and the walls had some wave to them, so we were forced to stick build the frame work, instead of being able to mass produce the miniature trusses. While the plywood provided considerable strength and a means to nail the moldings easily, it did require a considerable amount of extra time. The ceiling also has a 10 foot wide recessed T.V. screen.

We also built niches, or small particans jutting out from the wall. These would form the recesses for the arches, as well as the glass display shelves.