How to Build a Large DIY Entertainment Center

hey guys this is sheriff from woodshop Diaries and today I'm gonna show you how I built my mom this entertainment center so if you're ready to get building let's go my parents built their house about 20 years ago and while dad isn't different mom is having like a 20 year house crisis and everything must be repainted and remodeled and restyled so you can imagine that I keep getting roped into it but this time it was a fun project and I didn't mind tackling it for her for her living room I built her an entertainment center with some extra storage and some shelves to make it look a little bit more substantial in her large space versus the little antique red dresser cabinet she used to have for a TV stand dad got a big TV mom got a big entertainment center and I got a big project to build so it's just a win-win for everybody so I'm gonna show you how it came together right here this project used three and a half sheets of 3/4 inch plywood so the first thing that I did was cut these down to manageable pieces so that I could more quickly assemble everything I provided a link to the plans with a plywood cut diagram in the description below and also in the blog post linked below as well once I had my plywood ripped down I trim these pieces to length to start assembling the two tall skinny side cabinets of this Center in order to move it and get it from my shop to my parents house I built this in three sections two smaller side cabinets in one large Center cabinet I assembled the cabinet carcasses for the side cabinets identically using 3/4 inch pocket holes in one and a quarter inch pocket hole screws [Music] once the two carcasses were together I cut quarter-inch plywood backings to staple onto the backsides I purchase underlayment plywood for this because it was cheaper but it was much rougher than the quarter-inch birch plywood that I've used in the past so just a helpful hint splurge for the birch it'll look like it'll look a whole lot nicer once it's painted live and learn I guess but now that the cabinet's had a back I began trimming one by three and one by four boards to put the face frame for these cabinets together I use pocket holes and screws again to assemble the face frames for these cabinets and you can find all the dimensions in the details of this project in the downloadable plans linked below [Music] I attached the face frames using wood glue and Brad nails em in place if you wanna you could also use the recorder into pocket holes and screws to attach this from the inside of the cabinet or simply screw them in on the front and just putty the holes if you plan to paint it now it's time to decorate them up with some fancy moldings also if you ever wonder why I don't leave the shop sounds in my video this is why it's mostly just singing [Music] [Applause] anyway I attached some crown molding on the tops some baseboard around the bottom and some cheer rail molding along the middle since these cabinets will butt up against the middle cabinet sides I only wrapped the molding around the front outside corners of these cabinets and I left the chair rail and baseboard ends where it will meet the middle cabinet beveled at 45 degrees you'll see while in a later step I also wanted the chair rail molding to match up between all three pieces of this project so I made sure to measure from the floor and line up the molding on each piece at the same distance from the floor to make sure they will all be on the same level does that make sense at this point in the plans it's time to add shelves and a door but I did things a little out of order and I moved on to the middle cabinet and just made all the doors and shelves at the same time later in this project the side cabinets were 12 inches deep but the middle cabinet is 16 inches deep so I cut my 16 inch wide plywood pieces to lengths to start building the middle cabinet carcass this thing was huge so I couldn't fit it in my k5 pocket hole jig because the pieces hit the ceiling so I used my 320 jig instead I drilled holes as needed in order to assemble this carcass [Music] since this cabinet was so huge I had to assemble it on the floor and maneuvered around between my husband's tractor and my workbench clearly I need a bigger shop once the cabinet carcass was assembled I stapled a back onto the bottom cabinet portion of the piece if I put it back on the entire piece there would be a seam and I just didn't want to deal with a seam so I only put it back on the lower portion once we got it in place in my parents living room I don't think it's noticeable but if you wanted to put a backer on the whole thing feel free now just like with the side cabinets I symbol to face frame next and attached using wood glue and Brad nails this wasn't so bad except again I had to assemble it on the floor and now I know that when I get a new shop I need more floor space and taller ceilings maybe one day once the face frame was attached next was trim because I wanted the molding on all three pieces to line up close to each other I thought that it was easiest at this point before attaching the trim on the middle cabinet to put the side cabinets next to at the middle cabinet like it will be when we get it in mom and dad's living room I attached crown molding along the top of this cabinet on the front and on the sides then attached baseboard and chair rail molding notice how the ends where the cabinet's meet were left at 45 degrees so they fit snugly together when the entire piece is in place the crown didn't need that since the cabinets are different heights so they don't actually meet at the top now that all three cabinets were built and trimmed out I moved on to making the doors I won't go through the entire process of door making since I've got a separate video on that but I symbol the doors just like I did for my sister's kitchen cabinets with 1 by 3/4 inch plywood wood dowels mitered corners and a round over on the inside of the frame [Music] while the glue dried on the doors I cut the shelves for the cabinets and prepared to paint the shelves for the small cabinet were just 3/4 inch plywood pieces cut to fit but the shelf that will go above the TV was really long so to give it a little extra support to keep it from bowing in the middle I use pocket holes and screws to attach a piece of 1 by 3 to the front of that piece of plywood then I painted I didn't take a video of that it was awful terrible I hate painting but I did it for my mom I used the roller and a brush to apply one coat of primer to the cabinet's doors and shelves then applied two to three coats of regular latex paint once that insanity was finished I drilled shelf pin holes to place the shelves inside the cabinets you could totally drill these before painting but I think it's cleaner to do it after because then you don't get paint into the holes after you drilled them the last thing was adding the doors I used a concealed hinge dig to drill the holes into the doors to screw in the hinges then I attach the door pulls mom let me pick out the poles that I wanted and I may have gone a little overboard finding the biggest ones that I could [Music] he oh we probably shouldn't have brought the big ones is what it is now these doors were designed to be in set but insect concealed hinges for face frames are really hard to find and very expensive so I cheated a little and I used inset hinges for frameless cabinets and used a spacer block inside the cabinet it's not exactly pretty but I didn't realize these hinges would be so hard to find until after I'd already made the doors and the cabinet I screwed these blocks in place so that I could mount the doors to these instead of the face frame it works but in hindsight I may should have just made these doors overlay instead live and learn [Music] lastly I added some scrap wood stop blocks to the bottom of the side cabinets to keep the door from folding into the cabinet too far once it was finished dad came over and we loaded it up and took it to their house we got it set in place and I screwed the three pieces together in a couple places just to keep them nice and tight then we added the shelf pins and shelves where mom wanted them and once the TV was finally hooked back up dad was happy too this was a huge project but it was really fun to put together nothing too complicated just really large in size I think it looks great in mom and dad's living room much better than the tiny old cabinet they used to have plus it gives them plenty of storage for books DVDs whatever and mom has more surface area to display her decor so if you're interested in building your own be sure to check out the blog post tutorial linked below and the downloadable plans as well I hope you've enjoyed this video and if you aren't already subscribed be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on what's coming next thanks so much for watching and until next time happy building [Music]

Channel: Shara Woodshop Diaries

Views: 127,488

Rating: 4.9444137 out of 5

Keywords: diy entertainment center, diy entertainment wall, how to build an entertainment center, how to build an entertainment center wall unit, entertainment center building plans, entertainment center diy, entertainment center diy plans, living room entertainment center ideas, tv entertainment center ideas, tv entertainment center how to build, how to build a tv entertainment center, living room furniture diy

Id: RrNF5LxuxHg

Length: 10min 45sec (645 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 27 2019