Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Denver MCM garage expansion

[kwyjibo]

Thanks for the comments! I'm hoping that this update signals some project momentum.

A friend had to come over to help position the long sheets, but we got them glued down on the countertop. It looks pretty good unless you look too closely. The plywood joints aren't telegraphing through, but...

The joint between the two sheets is a bit off, but that was because of my routering job not from the glueing. It's nice and tight in the middle but the gap grows towards the edges.

The double 3/4" BB ply countertop came out reasonably straight. We'll have to see how it does in the long term. You can see in the photo the high-tech 2x4 to temporarily support the center of the span.

I need to commit to the pull design so I can hang the sliding doors and get back to building cabinet boxes.

 

[smschriefer]

The counter top looks great. You always have to remember that you are your own worst critic and 99% of people looking at your work will never notice those small imperfections.

Instead of door pulls, why not do the magnetic catches that you push on to pop a door open? I can't remember what they are called, but they were always on glass stereo cabinet doors.

 

[smschriefer]

Like these..

 

[TahitianGreen]

The edge of the countertop looks great. Reminds me of the edge of my coffee table haha

 

[kwyjibo]

The counter top looks great. You always have to remember that you are your own worst critic and 99% of people looking at your work will never notice those small imperfections.

Instead of door pulls, why not do the magnetic catches that you push on to pop a door open? I can't remember what they are called, but they were always on glass stereo cabinet doors.

I always try to be my own biggest critic and learn from whatever it is that I'm not happy with - hopefully that means that my work is always improving. The good side of my wife thinking that I'm crazy with all the nitpicking is that she must be happy with the quality of the work.

I thought of those openers for the doors - they even make drawer sliders with that type of mechanism built into them. But, I want all the handles (or lack of handles) to match and I didn't think there was a way to have them on the large sliding doors for the desk/bench.

The edge of the countertop looks great. Reminds me of the edge of my coffee table haha

Funny you should say that. I'm thinking of making a coffee table with any left over laminate. So, at the end if you see a ply and laminate table, you'll know that I didn't make too many mistakes.

I discovered when test fitting the sliding doors that the floor has a hump about midway across the opening. I need to trim the bottoms of the doors now - my fault for basing the size on measurements from only the ends of the opening. No big deal, but a delay to wait for the polyurethane.

Here's a close-up photo of the handle. The color of the laminates is closer to the left side of this shot. The orange shows up a bit redder in photos than it appears in real life.

 

[LaCorski]

Bremerton Ferry?

I also see that you're one of the few that doesn't park using the Braille method!


The photo was taken from the middle of Lake Union. My MiL did a great job hitting up her network of friends to set us up with a condo near the Space Needle and a vintage boat to cruise. We did take the ferry to Bremerton to meet up with the FiL for Father's Day brunch in Union. Also made it to the LeMay Museum:

btw, I noticed that every other plant in PNW landscaping is either a Japanese maple or a rhododendron... this explains a lot about our landscape design.

Since I live only a few hours away, I got to watch them build that museum every time I visited an old girlfriend who lived about 1 mile from there. We toured it not long after it was complete. Quite the design the way you walk deeper into the bowels of the building through the ramped isles on both sides. One thing I thought was weird though is from memory, both sides had the same ramp unlike a car parking lot say where one side went up, the other down. You have to walk through, then back-track to go to the next level. Ah well!

Were you able to see the original museum? It is south about 15 miles in a town called Spanaway. Funny, I heard of it from a colleague years ago but never really looked into it. Come to find out, it was about 4 blocks from my grandpas house at the time!! I still haven't gone but plan on it as long as its still open. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your trip out west!

 

[kwyjibo]

LaCorski - I thought I was losing it when we were at the museum. I was very confused when we got to the "end" and realized when we started going back up that we somehow missed entire hallways.

Here are a couple of photos after I hung the recut and re-poly'd doors.

 

[anth]

I visit your thread often but have not posted until now. This is looking amazing! A beautiful period-correct addition, looking forward to more.

 

[TurtleValley]

Those cabinets are turning out awesome! Really like the expansion overall and your attention to detail is inspiring.

Keep it up!

 

[sakurama]

Those cabinets are so nice. I really wished I'd done that but my better half wasn't a fan and now I am very envious. Just perfect.

Gregor

 

[kwyjibo]

I visit your thread often but have not posted until now. This is looking amazing! A beautiful period-correct addition, looking forward to more.

Thank you for posting. I still have a long way to go so I hope you don't lose interest before its done!

Those cabinets are turning out awesome! Really like the expansion overall and your attention to detail is inspiring.

Keep it up!

Thanks! Its' been quite the learning experience. I hope the smoke is clearing from your area.

Those cabinets are so nice. I really wished I'd done that but my better half wasn't a fan and now I am very envious. Just perfect.

Gregor

Thanks, Gregor. I was getting some resistance too, but then I found a website for a cabinet company, Kerf in Seattle, that makes exactly what I was imagining. When she saw their photos the hesitation about exposed ply ends went away.

Here's the only update for now. The short cabinet is finished but the taller one still needs a door and a couple shelves laminated. I've decided that the blue doors will get silver aluminum pulls instead of the black that caps the orange doors. So that also means that I'm now waiting for my order to arrive.

 

[kwyjibo]

Short Friday evening update: The tall cabinet is done and I got some siding up on the wall where no cabinets are planned. The siding will also act as a small ledger board to help prop up the upper cabinets.

 

[smschriefer]

I really like your cabinets and think they are really going to look great when you complete and install the counter top. Have you given thought to painting the garage door rails the color of the counter top? I'm doing mine a dark gray to match my man doors. They just fade into the background once painted.

 

[polexican23]

Penofin oil is like buying a bottle of Johnny Walker. I saw a red label 5 gal for 250? Do you have one you recommend? We are staining some red cedar fencing as well.

 

[shortykorte]

Wow, what an awesome place to work.

Not sure if you have finished the counter tops. I was wondering about using a strip of the Baltic Birch edging on the lower plywood instead of a full piece.

Anyway, you have a really nice space being built out.

Jumped to the beginning. Love what you are doing with your mid century. Are you using SketchUp or some other drawing package? Sorry to read about your pup. They do bring us a lot of comfort.

 

[sfanale]

Love that you are spending for all BB construction. SO MUCH NICER especially when you want to leave the edging exposed!

 

[M-technik-3]

Beautiful E9 in the first pages of your post have not read all the way through it. E9's are increasingly rare due to rust. I too have been infected by Munichen's toys.

 

[stsmytherie]

Really terrific work here. Keep it up.

 

[kwyjibo]

I really like your cabinets and think they are really going to look great when you complete and install the counter top. Have you given thought to painting the garage door rails the color of the counter top? I'm doing mine a dark gray to match my man doors. They just fade into the background once painted.

I haven't thought about painting the rails, but that sounds like a good way to help make them disappear. Thanks!

Penofin oil is like buying a bottle of Johnny Walker. I saw a red label 5 gal for 250? Do you have one you recommend? We are staining some red cedar fencing as well.

The local Ace only sells the red label so that's what I started using. Luckily they send me coupons pretty regularly (20-25% or $5-10 off) so I usually pay about $35/gal. I've been using "transparent clear". The samples I tried all gave the cedar a fake red color that we didn't like.

Wow, what an awesome place to work.

Not sure if you have finished the counter tops. I was wondering about using a strip of the Baltic Birch edging on the lower plywood instead of a full piece.

Anyway, you have a really nice space being built out.

Jumped to the beginning. Love what you are doing with your mid century. Are you using SketchUp or some other drawing package? Sorry to read about your pup. They do bring us a lot of comfort.

I thought about using strips instead of a full piece but when I asked around, I was told that I should use a solid piece for strength and to resist warping because it was spanning a greater distance than recommended. But then, this came from guys working at the lumber yard who's job is to sell me wood....
You're probably referring to the professional quality rendering? That is from an architect we had to hire to get the building permit. I only hired her for the blue prints so I was pleasantly surprised when she showed up with a 3D rendering so that we could discuss the building's details. Sorry, I don't know what the program is called.

Love that you are spending for all BB construction. SO MUCH NICER especially when you want to leave the edging exposed!

Thanks! Because the back area with the large bench is also going to be used as a home office, I wanted to make it feel like an extension of the house as much as possible.

Beautiful E9 in the first pages of your post have not read all the way through it. E9's are increasingly rare due to rust. I too have been infected by Munichen's toys.

The rust-free e9 is quite the rare bird. I was pretty lucky: I found mine in NH but it was well taken care of so it survived with only minor rust in the front fenders.

Really terrific work here. Keep it up.

Thank you!

Here is an update on the cabinets. The book shelf is up and I've started on the next base cabinet.

Not really garage related but I'm excited about this. I got bored one day and designed a shirt based on logos found on car part boxes. We had a limited run made up for a few friends.

 

[rmchrgr]

Huh, nice job. Like orange you say? Half my house is orange.

Our entire kitchen/dining area and my wife's office is exposed edge, birch ply cabinetry with cutout finger pulls. It's a like a Kerf Design rip off contest in here!

 

[wasfast]

really nice cabinet edges!

 

[kwyjibo]

Huh, nice job. Like orange you say? Half my house is orange.

Our entire kitchen/dining area and my wife's office is exposed edge, birch ply cabinetry with cutout finger pulls. It's a like a Kerf Design rip off contest in here!

Did you make those? Nice job! One question: What do you do to keep the slab doors from warping? The Colorado climate is low humidity but I can see the doors moving almost daily.

really nice cabinet edges!

Thanks!

Photo of a quick test fitting of the folding countertop and the newest base cabinet. I decided on a 3-drawer cabinet (actually, 4) to hold AkroBins but now I'm waiting for the aluminum J-channel before I can finish them.

 

[rmchrgr]

Did you make those? Nice job! One question: What do you do to keep the slab doors from warping? The Colorado climate is low humidity but I can see the doors moving almost daily.

Ha, no I didn't make them, our cabinet guy did. I am an MCM guy through and through and had been aware of Kerf Design's cabinetry for some time through magazine ads etc. I really like the look and aesthetic of their stuff, just speaks to me on many levels.

I called Kerf for a quote and to be expected, it was expensive. Not out of this world expensive but a little beyond our budget. The shipping was the killer since it would have been a large cross-country freight order.

Additionally, our builder did not feel comfortable with 'mail order' cabinets since there would little to no recourse if something got screwed up. Our architect introduced us to a cabinet guy who we met with and showed him what we wanted. He agreed to build them and did a great job. He was actually really into it since it wasn't your every day NYC area trendy bourgeois kitchen. Still a 100% bourgeois kitchen just cooler.

In regards to warping - It is in fact punishingly humid here what seems like all the time so if there was ever a place to be concerned about it, it's here. Thankfully, the cabinetry is all indoors so I don't think it will be an issue. The laminate faces are essentially non porous and the edges are sealed. It's also only two months old so perhaps over time but I don't see any evidence of warping yet.

I am wondering how these types of cabinets would hold up in a garage environment though. I am rough on my junk, I'd probably destroy them in short order. I haven't even fully moved into my new shop yet and it's already a disaster area

Keep up the good work.

 

[Transcraft]

Nice build is the orange and blue Gulf racing colors

 

[kwyjibo]

rmchgr and Transcraft - Thanks for reading and the comments.

Short weekend update - My mother in-law came to visit last week and my wife suggested that I take a break from building cabinets. OK, no cabinets. I made this:

Actually, this cart for the jack stands is made from a miscut door and scraps. The door happened to be exactly the size of the tray in a design I drew last winter. It rolls under the large desk so that the stands are out of the way but can be easily rolled out when needed.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Perfect! Therefore it is no longer a mistake, you just happen to cut it early!

 

[TahitianGreen]

That looks super nice.

 

[kwyjibo]

Perfect! Therefore it is no longer a mistake, you just happen to cut it early!

. Yea, I tried to explain that to my wife, but she wasn't having any of it.

That looks super nice.

Thanks! I appreciate your encouragement.

The clear anodized aluminum C-channel finally appeared. I wanted the aluminum to disappear in the blue, not stand out like the black on orange. Here's cabinet where you can see the difference

Also, the J-channels were in the same box, so I could proceed with the Akrobin drawers. The J isn't exactly the profile I was looking for (I wanted narrower) but it was close and 1/3 the cost of the closest match.

It's a bit tight with bins that are almost as deep as the drawer and non-over extending slides. I might swap out the slides anyway because the self-closing mechanisms and the pull at the top of a tall drawer make it a little awkward to open.

 

[stsmytherie]

This is really, really slick. Thanks for sharing.

Also, the J-channels were in the same box, so I could proceed with the Akrobin drawers. The J isn't exactly the profile I was looking for (I wanted narrower) but it was close and 1/3 the cost of the closest match.

 

[kwyjibo]

This is really, really slick. Thanks for sharing.

No problem, sharing ideas is what this place is all about.

No real updates - I was out at Rennsport Reunion "researching" racing liveries.

 

[kwyjibo]

I don't have any actual garage updates this week, but here's a couple photos of what I've been up to. I made a limited run (two) of kidney-shaped coffee tables for a couple friends.

Here's a close up photo of the pattern

 

[Brian R]

I don't have any actual garage updates this week, but here's a couple photos of what I've been up to. I made a limited run (two) of kidney-shaped coffee tables for a couple friends.

Here's a close up photo of the pattern

Those are really nice and cool. Say, how does one get on your friends list?

 

[TahitianGreen]

I can dig those.

 

[Pbindesign]

Amazing work. Your attention to detail is bringing the mid-century back to life. As a professional in the design field, I commend your dedication. Please keep up the great work and keep the pictures of progress coming. Great thread!


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[kwyjibo]

Those are really nice and cool. Say, how does one get on your friends list?

Come on out! We meet most weekends for breakfast and/or auto-related events. But remember that someone will hit you up for help moving, rides to the airport....

I can dig those.

THanks! Someone suggested boomerang laminate a while back and I said that I would try to work it in somewhere. Although I didn't have an immediate plan for it in my garage, when I saw that the Home Despot site had the boomerang pattern listed as deliverable, I ordered it. I have to admit that the whole process went well and, as long as they list what I need in stock, I'll use them again.

Amazing work. Your attention to detail is bringing the mid-century back to life. As a professional in the design field, I commend your dedication. Please keep up the great work and keep the pictures of progress coming. Great thread!

Thanks for reading and congrats for having your build featured on the front page.

I've been back to making cabinets.. Here's a photo of the newest carcass being test-fit on the wall.

This may be the last cabinet for a while because I need to get some wiring through the wall and over to the other garage before I can close it up with cabinets. This is why I started at the end with the garage door and worked towards the back - the front section of the wall was done so I could permanently mount the cabinets and siding.

 

[kwyjibo]

More fitting. I made the drawer fronts, shelves and cabinet doors for the new base.

I took a break earlier in the week to actually do some automotive work. First, I finally got my re-stuffed interior back for the e12. I needed some help positioning the rear seat bench so I drove it over to a friend's place who needed my help to get his rebuilt engine going in his turbo 02. Both tasks were completed quickly so we went out on a quick test/lunch run. This is the same car that won its class in the local concours a couple years back. The other car, on the left, is the same one from a post a few pages back.

 

[kwyjibo]

Here's a late update for the weekend.
After months of trying to get the roofers to come back and install the downspouts, I gave up on them and tried calling others. It took another five months to find someone that was willing to do the job, which was done last week. Yes, the "temporary" drainage pipe has finally been replaced with an actual downspout. So, I was also finally able to finish the soffit on the backside of the garage. If the weather holds, I should be able to paint later this week.

I checked out a local cyclocross race on Sunday morning. If you're not familiar with cyclocross, think of it as a steeplechase on road bikes. Or, its like something between mountain and road biking. The photo shows an unknown rider running over a set of barriers that are placed on the course to make things more difficult. I went to recon the local scene and to get myself excited about racing again. I stopped about 10 years ago because of work but I'm starting to pay attention to the races again.

 

[wasfast]

Check out the World Cup cyclocross for elite men on YouTube. Van Aerts and Van der Poel. Watching them navigate the carry sections and sand etc. are just magical. Cross is it's own thing......spoken from a roadie.

 

[kwyjibo]

Check out the World Cup cyclocross for elite men on YouTube. Van Aerts and Van der Poel. Watching them navigate the carry sections and sand etc. are just magical. Cross is it's own thing......spoken from a roadie.

I agree, cross is absolutely unique. I've been around cyclocross since the mid-80s but it wasn't until 2002(?) when I saw Erwin Vervecken destroy the field in Gloucester that I really understood how important cross-specific skills are. He seemed to effortlessly float over the barriers and his remounts were flawless. When I got home, I made barriers and practiced for hours.

Because I still have the base cabinets mounted on the wall, I started working on the upper section. I still haven't decided on the layout.

Having the downspouts installed means that I could also finish the wall by the master bedroom deck. You can see the magnolia plant isn't happy about the surprise snow and freezing temps from a couple of weeks ago. In fact, most of the trees in the neighborhood didn't go through the normal fall color change. The leaves just died on the branches.

 

[kwyjibo]

I decided on the shelving layout on the new upper cabinet so after a few cuts it was time to laminate again. I also decided on the color scheme that you can see in its early stages in the photo.

I routed one ply too deep!