3R HomeWorks

3R HomeWorks is a blog site to show off remodel, renovation, and repair projects that I have done. I am Ralph Guenther, a home improvement contractor, working mostly in Eastern Kansas. I have been known to do projects in other states. I mostly work alone, but have on occasion contracted with others to assist in projects where an additional set of competent skills were needed.

You can contact me by telephone: 913-488-6811
or by email: rguenther01@everestkc.net

Each of my completed projects is listed below under the "Projects" heading. Clicking on any "Project" will take you directly to a description of the project, complete with photographs. You may need to scroll below the Project Listing to see the project you have selected.

Enjoy the reading.

The Home Office

This project involved building a home office in a house with lots of oak stained the same color. Kitchen cabinets, window and door trim, and wainscot in the main floor of the house are all consistent. The oak flooring is also stained with a similar color. The home owner wanted the new home office to look like it was original to this 18 year old home.

Access to the office is through double French doors visible from the front entry foyer. The room featured oak wainscot with 8’ tall bookcases flanking a twin double-hung window with half round. The walls are 9’ high and the ceiling in the room is vaulted adding to the volume of the space.

The home owner wanted a built-in, cabinet look to the office furniture. The cabinets needed to form a “J” shape. The base of the “J” is 13’ 7” long, the back leg of the “J” is 7’ long, and the short front leg of the “J” is 3’ 3” long. The design also called for two workstations to be incorporated into the arrangement, one in the corner and the other in the center of the long base of the “J”. All exposed wood needed to be oak, stained to match the existing woodwork in the home.

The existing bookcase on the left side of the window configuration was carefully removed so it could be relocated in the family room to serve as a flat screen TV hutch. The oak wainscot on the remaining walls was removed to permit the new office to be attached directly to the wall.
Four base units were designed and constructed. Two bases on the 13’ wall feature a vertical computer tower bay with rollout shelf, a lateral file drawer, and two pencil drawers. The base on the 7’ features a lateral file drawer and two pencil drawers, and the base on the 3’ wall has three drawers.

The work surface, 30 inches above the floor, spans the four base units and appears as one continuous surface. The surface depth is 25 inches deep. It is edged with oak trim routed to form an eased edge. The work surface juts out an extra six inches at the center workstation to provide additional “desk” space. The surface is covered with three coats of floor grade polyurethane varnish for added protection.

Resting on the work surface are six custom bookcases. The overall height of the base units together with the bookcases is 96” tall, the same as the remaining bookcase flanking the window. The design of the bookcases is consistent with the remaining bookcase, hence the scalloped top rail on the cases. Topping off the project is crown molding consistent with the crown on the remaining bookcase.

To facilitate the installation of the computer tower bays in the base units, the existing electrical outlets needed to be relocated to line up with the bays. The owner also decided to place the cable modem and wireless modem on top of the bookcases which necessitated moving an electrical outlet 100” off the floor. The upper duplex receptacle is split into an un-switched receptacle and a switched receptacle. The modems are plugged into the un-switched receptacle and accent lighting is plugged into the switched receptacle. Just above and also just below the bottom fixed shelf of the bookcases over the corner work station and the center work station are two receptacles as well, to provide a convenient power location for desktop devices.

The location of a return air duct grill needed to be adjusted to permit the end bookcase to fit properly on the wall.

To complete the project, the original wainscot was reinstalled to the left of the cabinetry and under the work surface at the two workstations. Shoe molding was added to cosmetically tie the base units to the floor.

The bookcase removed from the office space was reworked prior to installation as a flat screen TV hutch in the family room. A fixed shelf was added 36” above the floor and two doors made to cover storage area for videos, DVD’s, and the DVD and VCR players. The entire case was refinished to give a fresh new look.

In preparation to install the revamped TV hutch, electrical and TV cable were rerouted to the space where the cabinet would be attached to the wall. The existing oak chair-rail and baseboards were removed. After the hutch was attached to the wall, the oak chair-rail and baseboards were reinstalled. The hutch was finished with new crown molding surrounding the top.










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