Built-ins Complete

Our family room has as decent sized fireplace right in the middle of one wall. It looks nice but does limit our use of that wall for furniture placement. The previous owners of our house had a pair of pre-fab bookshelves on either side. They were functional but didn't really fit as each one left a weird gap between the bookcase and the fireplace. A couple months ago, I started down the path of replacing those bookcases with built-ins. They are the biggest project I've had in a long, long time and certainly the most complex project in my limited woodworking career.

I'm happy to say I wrapped up the last of the bookcases this past weekend. We even started piling on the books (they still need organized). I could easily point out mistakes but I'll hold off on that. Instead, I'll just say I'm very happy with the results. They're sturdy, functional, and I think they look good.

Some construction highlights/comments:

1. The openings on each side of the fireplace were not the same size so the bookcases had to be slightly different widths. Both are the same height with the bottom cabinet being 36" high and the top cabinet being 48" high.
2. I knew I'd paint the bookcases so I used birch plywood and poplar for the construction. Both of which paint well. Stain would've been nice but I don't think it would've gone with the room as well. Also, paint helped hide my mistakes.
3. I should've gone with a glossier paint. They already have a few scuff marks.
4. I bumped out three electrical boxes (2 outlets and a light switch) to be flush with the bookcase. Easy enough to do though difficult to get the holes cut just right.
5. I think hanging the doors took nearly as long as constructing the doors.

And many thanks to those who allowed me to borrow tools.