About 6 years ago I wrapped up making 2 walls of 10' tall bookcases with cabinets on the bottom and a window seat that went into the corner of our family room. They are made from oak ply with solid oak trim and I stained them and was going to spray the final top coat on them. Other stuff got in the way so they were sitting in the garage for awhile, but my wife insisted on having me install the bookcases as we were going to have a big party for her dad's 80th birthday and we would have a bunch of people over. We had a bunch of boxes of books and knick knacks sitting in the family room and she wanted to get all of those on the bookcases for the party. So I put up the bookcases and books and planned on taking eveything down when it was all over and spray on the finish.

Well now it is 6 years later and those bookcases are still up with no top coat. After much discussion my wife and I decided that we would re-paint the family room in Arts & Crafts colors and paint the bookcases in place as opposed to taking them down and putting finish on them. I will also build out another bookcase/media unit as well and paint the same color. I know that it will all look good when it is all done, and I know this is the most logical solution all around, but it just feels so wrong painting those oak bookcases. Just got done putting on the primer so there is no turning back now. Oh well, at least my wife is happy and that is what is most important.

Here is a quick cellphone photo. The bookcase will be painted an ivory color while the lower half of the walls will be a muted green and the upper walls will be a shade lighter than the current wall color. You can see the paint colors over on the right side as I put a small amount on the wall and bookcase to test them.

YEEEGADS! Allen! I completely understand though, in my opinion oak has worn its welcome out in the furnishings industry a long time ago. But we had and have some die hard woodworkers who still love it! Walnut is back in a big way, cherry and of course maple are still the darling of the American woodworker. I know it'll look great Allen, one thing for sure is you'll have a high quality painted cabinet that's for sure!

Allen, those pictures should have a warning attached! But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. 

I must say, the color scheme is truly pleasing, though.

 

Count me as one of those "die hards", John. But then, I'm a Luddite, too. 

Allen, those pictures should have a warning attached! But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. 

I must say, the color scheme is truly pleasing, though.

 

Count me as one of those "die hards", John. But then, I'm a Luddite, too. 

I had to look that one up Gene, Luddite, interesting!

Allen you are such a pleaser! I know she will love it and I too had to paint any wood, but I have done it, there I confessed! Can't say it makes me feel better but it is out there now.

 

I am sure it will look great and you will still have some really nice cabinets.

Glad that I wasn't taken out and hung or drawn & quartered or whatever Luddite's do to woodworkers who paint over wood grain.   

One of the reasons for this change of heart is that we are looking down the road about 5 years or so when my wife retires and we move out of California and have to sell our house. Oak appeals to woodworkers but not necessarily to non-woodworkers who are into a more contemporary design that they can paint to match their tastes. So we are looking at everything in our home in that light as we go through and do upkeep and renovations. It will be good when we get this family room all completed and tied into our kitchen area as well since they are both open and essentially one space all tied together. We will have to paint over the oak cabinets and put on all new hardware so that will be fun, but we already have the flooring and countertops all done. So just paint and trim for the most part in there. Now the master bathroom is another subject all together and that will get ugly!

Getting the house prepared for a sale. Now, that makes sense, Allen. 

 

You can rest easy. Phyllis and my Luddite-ism only extends to electronic gadgets. But, we are getting better. We now have a flip phone. Our sons are dragging us into the 21st century. Rumor has it that they are getting us an Amazon Fire tablet for Christmas.

And, the last time we employed hanging and drawing and quartering was when we last butchered a steer. That was many moons ago.

 

And, I still like oak. 

Whatever a Luddite is I must be one.

I'm the guy who cusses out whoever painted the wood I'm stripping to reuse.

Ohhh, the humanity......

Well, I got all the painting wrapped up yesterday on the bookcase so we can start working at putting all the books and knick-knacks back up. I still have to deal with the drawers as I they need to be painted. I also have to put in drawer slides which means that I have to add some pieces of wood inside the drawer openings. I never did make doors for the lower cabinets, so those will get done in January (hopefully). We have a Christmas party at our house this Thursday night for my wife's "Autism Team" so once that gets done I can move forward. I am happy with the way the paint turned out. It definitely makes the room a lot brighter which is a very good thing.

 

That does look really nice! You're forgiven for the paint.

 

I really like that window seat. I hadn't noticed it in the previous pictures.

Great job Allen, yes, you are forgiven! What kind of slides do you need for those Allen?

I will put in full extensin slides. I just did the measuring and found that I will have to make new drawers in order to accomodate the slides. No big deal as these are simple drawers. I may do single bottom slides as opposed to two side slides as it would be easier to do just the bottom ones. We will see.

Maybe these folks might have something you can use-

 

http://www.cshardware.com/

Allen,  They are easy to install, just cut, and screw, I use them in my projects with drawers, and they last forever, they slide well forever. I have visited a home many times where I have installed these slides over 15 years ago, and they are trouble free, and slide great still.

In the mechanical world we live in, I really love putting these into my cabinets, it also adds a flavor of old timey. For the ones I have installed I went with the center mount configuration for the narrow drawers you'd see in a vanity etc, wider drawers you'd want to use the side mount config.

Allen,

That case looks really nice and it does brighten up the whole corner. 

For our kitchen, we used Blum's under drawer self closing glides. They work nice after 10 years of daily use. But, they are somewhat of a pain to install and adjust. 

They do save an inch of drawer space, though. 

Nice Job Allen. I may have some painting for you the next time you are here.!!