I recently had the opportunity to build a media console that finished off a client’s living room. The media console sits below a wall-mounted TV and will hold all the electronics, pictures, chotchkies(sp?), etc.
Plan and Materials
The overall dimensions for the console is 56″ L X 24″ H X 16″ D, give or take a bit. It has two doors on the either side and a fixed shelf in the center. At the time of making the plan, we were still figuring out the door design.
The cabinet carcass is made from maple veneered plywood with dados and rabbets. The cabinet back is some 1/4″ plywood, nothing fancy there The face frame, side panels, door frames are made from poplar. The door panels and decorative details are made from MDF (1/2″ and 1/4″). The top is made from oak.
YOUTUBE Video
Cabinet Build
The cabinet portion started out as a full 3/4 piece of plywood that was cut to manageable sizes on the ground. I use 3 chunks of rigid insulation to support the pieces getting cut. They are easier to store than a full sheet.
The next step is to cut all the pieces to size on the table saw. 4 vertical pieces, top and bottom, fixed shelf are all cut to the same depth at once. From there, I started on cutting the joints with the dado stack on the table saw.
In order to align the face frame to the cabinet, I decided to try biscuits. So, I figured out which surfaces need to align with the face frame and made biscuit slots by using my workbench as the reference and clamping the pieces to the bench. On the top and bottom, I also drilled some pocket holes to “clamp” the face frame to the cabinet.
Pre-Finishing and Glue Up
I really went back and forth on finishing the internals before glue up. It adds a ton of work and time, but I have nightmares about being unable to access one of the internal corners after glue-up and it looks like crap. So I pre-finished the internals. I started, by priming everything. I have been on the hunt for a good primer that sands up nicely and finally tried shellac based BIN. Boy, does that make a giant mess. It is super thin and dries super fast. I bet it is great when sprayed, but not for brushing. It rolls okay as long as you are quick. So, I masked the joints and got to priming.
Overall, the painting process went really poorly on this project. The primer dried kind of chunky at spots, so I had lots of sanding to do. Then I had really poor adhesion, so more sanding. Then, the top coat didn’t flow well and left a lot of brush marks, roller marks which resulted in lots of sanding multiple coats/days. I have always had good luck with BM Advanced, but this stuff seemed extra thick. After diluting it with water, I was able to get pretty good results.
After all the painting and drying, it was time to glue up the case. Some glue, some glamps and there we go.
Face Frame
The face frame and side panels for this piece will also act as the legs to support the entire cabinet and top. That doesn’t really change much other than the component dimensions. During all of interior painting, I was also milling the face frame material.
After the case came out of the clamps, I was able to start laying out the face frame pieces and cut them to size.
After I laid all the pieces out, I marked where the bicscuit slots had to be and also labeled each piece. I cut the biscuit slots using the work bench as a reference again. It took me a bit to make sure I was putting the biscuit in the right spot, but I got it eventually. I will say that it is very helpful to make your biscuits slots at the same spot on similar pieces. Like the top and bottom of the case. I screwed one up, but could luckily move it to the top without issue. Note that the face frame is flush with the inside of the cabinet case, so I can use simpler hinges for the doors.
After getting all the components laid out and slots cut, I glued and pocket screwed the face frame together. I also cut, glued, pocket screwed the side frames together. Simple piece of only 4 components. I had to check if all my biscuits lined up and get a sense for the overall appearance, so I dry fit the face frame. You can also see I made some progress on the top, but I will get to that in a moment.
I primed and sanded the front and side frames before glue up.
Console Top
The top started out as some 5/4 ish oak and was cut to rough length and milled up
I also used the biscuit jointer to keep each piece aligned during the glue up. After the top came out of the clamps, I ran it through the drum sander a number of times.
The top was cut to final dimensions, sanded again and then received some stain and poly.
Cabinet Back and Doors
The cabinet back was a 1/4 plywood and will be screwed onto the back. I also wanted to have some cable access holes cut.
The doors were a pretty significant chunk of effort. They started with the frame parts cut to size, grooves cut to mount the panels, and mortises cut for the loose tenon joints. The door panel was cut to size and then a rabbet cut, so the 1/2 MDF fits inside of the 1/4″ groove. I have done a better job explaining the cuts in previous posts if you want to check those out.
Now comes the tricky part, I need to add a pretty intricate design to the front of these doors. The raised sections will be 1/4 MDF ripped to about 1 3/4 wide. Then cut to a bunch of weird angles and glued/nailed into place. I draw centerlines on the small strips and mark the door centers to get everything laid out symmetrically. After gluing the pieces on, I have to fill all the nail holes/gaps and sand. I also drilled out the hinge cups and confirmed all the fitment before moving on. Then it is finally time to prime the doors
Like I mentioned before, I had a tough time with this project and was having some adhesion problems. I also didn’t do enough surface prep and a pretty poor surface. So after spraying my first coat of paint I had to do some serious sanding and the door got 3 or 4 coats until I was happy.
Finishing the Rest
At the same time of painting the doors, I was also painting everything else and I also mounted an additional foot on the bottom of the cabinet at some time. I also figured out that I could fit my spray gun inside of the cabinet, so I didn’t have to mask everything off that was already painted. Unfortunately, that meant I had to sand the internals to prep the surface for the next coat.
I drilled shelf pin holes, mounted a door stop and added the hardware. The top is held on with 6 screws through elongated holes to allow for movement.
