Recently I wrapped up a Custom Theater Room Transformation. The end result was a huge success. The total project was spread out over the course of three and a half months. We had some prior, ongoing commitments and the client was saving up the funding as we went along so, in this situation it worked out for all parties.
The existing space was an unfinished 10'x16' basement room with 4 concrete walls and one door opening. Per the clients specs/vision, the space was to be transformed using decorative columns, custom woodworking/moldings, an elaborate lighting plan and too many other details to even wrap your mind around. I'll do my best to explain.
Before we began the client had an HVAC contractor come in and raise the existing duct work so it was less of an obstruction.
One detail that had to be worked out before we began was to figure out who-what-when-where-how we were going to come up with all of the moldings we would need. The client had some specific, one-of-a-kind capital and base moldings that he wanted produced. Well we couldn't find them anywhere, nor could we find someone to mill them at a reasonable price. Having exhausted all other options the client provided me with a disected breakdown of the molding details, so I figured I would give it a try. Success. I started by making up a couple sample pieces, we made a few tweaks before production, and the end result speaks for itself.
Our first step was to build the platform for the upper sitting area, we built a bulkhead around the new ductwork, installed 1x4 slats 12"o/c for the ceiling tiles, installed 2x6's around the perimeter as 'beams'. I then installed 2x12's and 2x10's(corners) for all of the columns. As mentioned, all of the walls were concrete so all of the electrical lines were recessed into the backsides of the columns and beams. So, at this point, we mapped out all of our electrical, removed all of the columns and beams and routed out tunnels into the backsides of the columns and beams.
The baseboard trim went in next, basically just a 1x8 with a detail routed into the top to match the trim in the rest of the house. We layed out the louvered lights and cut the holes.
My next step was to route the fluting into the columns. This was another 'skill builder' as I had never done this before. But I knew with careful planning and accurate calculations that I could pull it off. I started by building a 2 part jig. One part sat on the column, like a saddle, and the other piece nested into the 'saddle' and was adjustable. There is much more explaining to do but maybe that should be anothe blog post.
We also had to route out for the rosettes at the tops of the columns, which required another jig. So, we removed the columns, one at a time, and routed the fluting and rosette recesses and reinstalled each column.
With the electrical buried behind the columns and beams and all of the routing done I patched and filled all of the holes and put a coat of primer on all of the woodwork.
At this point in the project I was not on site much, we had a family vacation, and I spent a great deal of time in the shop creating the capital and base trim for the columns. I think, out of all that I did on this project these moldings are what I'm most proud of. I never imagined that by simply disecting the moldings thta you could make them, piece by piece, laminate it all together and it turn out as good as it did.
I think that is it for now, I'll pick up where I left off soon.
Thanks for reading.
To see before, during and after photos follow the link below.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.237501969634059.77265.132384660145791
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