Hi All!

Before we kick off, I just want to say that this was a nice project. For me this was a big project but not extremely complicated. This project was for a customer and they were happy how it came out.

If you are interested in the exact dimensions and specifics I have a set of plans available here.

Step 1: Design

The project in total looks quite complicated but you can easily devide it in different assemblies or projects if you would. The customer came to me with this design, they envisioned this and it they were making prepartions for a long time.

The trick with this design is making the part and elements go together nicely. The standing cabinet stands on its own. Just as the hanging cabinet has it's own determined position. In between them three shelving boards are hanged. The desktop is resting on one side standard Ikea file cabinets, table legs would work fine as well, and on the other side attached and hanged to the standing cabinet.

In total 5 full sheets of plywood were used. And 4 glue laminated kitchen countertops. For the desk and shelves.

Step 2: Preparing the Plywood

The first big step is cutting the plywood to size. For the long pieces I use a parallel guide on the circular saw. The weather was very nice at that time so It came out handy doing the work outside.

Most of the pieces are long pieces so half of the material was cut very quickly. The long cross-cuts were made with a track saw and the shorter ones with a chopsaw.

I made sure the internal shelving of the cabinets were made slightly under size so they could easily fit and don't give problems if they were not cut exactly perpendicular or straight.

Step 3: Priming and Painting

The panels were painted glossy white. The edges for the plywood were filled with wood filler and then primed. The panels came in primed from the supplier. This makes my life a lot easier and quicker. For the painting I needed a lot of space so I used my complete garden to do this. and still some parts were painted on a later moment. The doors for instance. The cabinets are made from poplar plywood, nice and lightweigt.

The doors are made from MDF. This provides a nicer finish because it is more homogenious. In total it were about 25 panels and for me that is quite a number for a project.

Step 4: Base Assembly

The next thing on the list was assembling the base were the standing cabinets is going to be on. This base consist of just four strips screwed together with a piece of wood in the corner.

Step 5: Adjustable Cabinet Shelving

Next I assebled the hanging cabinet but before that I made holes to make internal shelves adjustable. This is perfect If you are unsure about the exact contents.

Step 6: Hanging Cabinet

So the hanging cabinet was assembled in my shop. For this process I use pin nails as a third hand keeping the panels together. After that I used screws and then glue with dowel pins. The cabinet will hang on a french cleat. This cleat also provided stiffnes in the corners because there is no backing on this cabinet.

The screw heads and dowels were filled and sanded to make it blend in the surface. This will not prevent imperfections in the paint layer but because this is the side of the cabinet it is not critical.

Step 7: Cutting Shelving

After that I could saw the oak shelving to size. These panels are actually Ikea kitchen countertops. The price is quite decent for the size and quality of these panels.

The panels are glue laminated and very heavy but they look nice.
The cat was happy me spending so much time in the garden ;)

Step 8: Assembling the Standing Cabinet

The installation for the big cabinets was on site on the first floor. There was no good option to do the assembly beforehand. Again I used pinnails, screws and dowels to join the parts together.

Step 9: Standing the Cabinet

After the sides were put together I put the backing on and I could lift the unit in place.

I made a little square recess for the outlet in the cabinet. This is a lot easier now than on a later moment. I made careful measurements and make the recess oversize.

Step 10: Assembling the Shelving Cabinet

So the second part of the standing cabinet leave room for the desktop and shelving. The assembly process went as the others and when it was placed in position I could attach it to the other standing cabinet. With metal corner brackets.

Step 11: Hanging Cabinet

Then the hanging cabinet could be placed on the wall. I made a measument were i wanted it from the standing cabinet and then attach one of the french cleats. The cleat was kept short so the cabinet could slide side to side fro 50 mm or 2". This was important for the shelves.

Every house is a bit crooked, so I needed to attach a spacer to the back of the cabinet. This way the cabinet was in a good spot, in relation to the standing cabinet.

Step 12: Placing Doors

I used furniture hinges for the doors. And with a wooden template I could neatly determine where the holes needed to come. It takes a bit of practice to get this perfect so I even made a little mockup before I installed these exact hinges.

Step 13: Shelving

After that I marked out with a level where I would want the shelving. And with help of clamps and screwing in metal corner brackets I could place the shelving. And after that I permanently screwed the shelves in place, with help of four corner brackets per shelf.

Step 14: Metal Rails

As a decoration, two steel strips are attached to the front of the shelving. After screwing them down the it did add some stiffness apart from the good looks.

Step 15: Finishing

So finally I could finish the home office. The overall project was not only big but the instructable itself was sizeable :p.

As last steps I made several holes to feed wires through. And hooks not to let them hang on their own.
I am very proud I made this and make it work because it looks very nice and it was a lot of work.