Shelves and niches

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been building the shelf units to go each side of the fireplace. They’re essentially the same design as those beside the stairwell except for being 4ft wide instead of 3ft. Oh, and one unit is narrower because it has to join up to a built-in window seat sometime. I was very lucky to get a couple of days (in December, already!) dry and warm enough to spray the shelves outside; much better than messing around with a brush. It still takes a dog’s age to get all the sanding, filling, spraying, sanding, re-spraying etc done.

Kitchen side view; note shorter shelves on right to match up to window seat
The trim around the side panels of the centre box was interesting to make because it has to match up the shelf trim, the breadboard panels, the tiling at the front of the fire and the mantel shelves that will go atop the firebox. There’s still the tops to make but they will have to wait until the chimney chase is drywalled next week; before then I needed to get some niches framed up and installed. They will break up the large otherwise flat expanse of the chimney on the kitchen side.

Living room view, centre box trim added.

Tricky trim pieces

Niches framed up, wires for niche-lights installed.

Oh and lastly - Happy NIgelmas!