Danish Modern inspired stereo cabinet with lighted puffer fish

[Nocturnaloner]

Most of the furniture in my basement rec room is vintage 60s. It's not so much a tiki bar as a tiki home theater. One notable exception was the Target bookshelf that served as an equipment rack, and it had been bugging me for some time. Danish modern stereo and record cabinets are beautiful, but they tend to be low and wide, and space is limited.There were features that I liked in various bookshelves and record cabinet pictures online: beveled front frame, indented H leg base, tambour doors.


My first thought was the brass capped straight legs, but then I saw a record cabinet with the H base, and fell in love with it.

Not sure where this display area idea came from, aka 'the dry aquarium', but I thought of it, and stuck with it.






I drew some sketches, figured some dimensions, even did a quick 3d model and tested the leg base idea in pine, then set it aside for almost 2 years.

About 6 months ago, I got around to getting started. The challenge: combine several distinctive features from those inspirations, and make a cabinet that suits my space.




Lots of carpentry firsts for me in this project: dado joins, dowel joins, tambour, routing, and freehand jigsaw cuts, plus stain and clearcoat.

The tambour doors for each shelf are made from half-round red oak dowels, glued to a cut up pair of bluejeans. Everything I know about making tambour, I learned from Sandor:

Making Tambour - YouTube

(I think the Nosferatu fingernails are optional.)

The leg base, front frame, and shelf fronts are red oak, cut from one piece of S2S lumber from a local hardwood lumber yard. The rest of the case is 3/4 birch plywood from Lowe's. No screws or fasteners other than glue and dowels were used in the case itself, just in attaching the rope light and the pull handles. The pull handles are cut down wood ring mandrels. None of them match.

The tambour door tracks had to line up from shelf to shelf as closely as possible, so they would open and close smoothly. The template for the door tracks was a big nylon cutting board purchased on Amazon.

The bottom shelf has a taller front and a false bottom with space to run cords for the puffer fish, which are on a dimmer circuit, along with the string lights around the perimeter of the room.


The doors have front and back stops, so they can't open too wide, and can't close past the centerline.


I've got a thing for colored lights. Naturally, in addition to the puffer fish lights, the waves design in the lower display part of the case, ended up with LED rope lighting. You can get RGB rope lights from China by way of ebay, that come with a controller and a remote control.

This allows you to set different custom colors, or pick a large number of preset colors, and fade from color to color.


Removable inner panels conceal the back of the tambour doors. The RGB rope light also runs around the back of the cabinet.

(Sorry about this huge image)

Equipment: My table saw is a portable job site saw on a DIY stand between two picnic tables. This allows me to rip full size sheets of plywood with no problem. All cuts were done with the table saw or a jigsaw. Sanding was done by hand or with an electric mouse sander. Doweling jigs were a must, one for end joins, and one for corners. Cordless drill. 8 corner clamps, 5 bar clamps, and a couple of wood clamps. Lots of Titebond II wood glue.


Challenges: Almost every large piece of wood in this project warped to some degree after cutting, sides and front frame especially. I got most of it out through clamping, but rest assured that it doesn't suffer from being excessively straight or square in any dimension. Call it Danish Modern Primitive.









Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out. It's stable, sturdy, maintains the tiki asthetic, and keeps the tech gear hidden within reach.

[ This Message was edited by: Greg_D_R 2014-06-13 11:49 ]

[Mahatma]

Can't believe I'm saying this,but I like it.Keep up the good work.Usually I hate that 50/60's look,but you pulled it off,good sir

[fun2game]

I applaud you! Your craftsmanship and creativity is priceless. In fact, please put that cabinet in your will cause I can imagine it will show up on Antiques Roadshow, circa 2114, and be valued in the tens of thousands. Bravo to you!

[Nocturnaloner]

Originally Posted by Mahatma

Can't believe I'm saying this,but I like it.Keep up the good work.Usually I hate that 50/60's look,but you pulled it off,good sir

LOL, thanks! If I can win over a confirmed mid century hater, I'm doing alright

My personal preference runs against modern home theater seating and sound system logos with action figure displays, but a lot of people here seem to like that, so it's all good!

[Nocturnaloner]

Originally Posted by fun2game

I applaud you! Your craftsmanship and creativity is priceless. In fact, please put that cabinet in your will cause I can imagine it will show up on Antiques Roadshow, circa 2114, and be valued in the tens of thousands. Bravo to you!

Much appreciated! Yeah, I can hear the antiques expert now: "This was not made in the 60s, yet every one of my priceless 2010 era amplifiers fits in it perfectly!"

[onyxbfly]

Talk about back to the future, very timeless yet modern. I love it!!! Don't be surprised if you start getting orders. Very High WAF!!!

[Nocturnaloner]

Originally Posted by onyxbfly

Talk about back to the future, very timeless yet modern. I love it!!! Don't be surprised if you start getting orders. Very High WAF!!!

That's a good wife! Mine digs it too. One thing about this project is that if you're handy at all, the tambour is pretty easy to make granted that you buy the half round dowels. You could easily simplify or modify this idea, with the goal of minimizing the tech look.

[Spurrier Sucks]

That's awesome! We need more pics of your room now! Can never have enough tikis.

[Johnny Vinyl]

How cool is that, eh? Way cool....that's how cool it is! Most excellent job!

[BigAl87]

This is pure great crafstmanship.

Beautiful piece. , I agree with SS, we need to see more pics of your room.

[Nocturnaloner]

Thanks gents! I will finally put together a Blu-ray.com gallery for Tikibasement, where many rum-fueled movie nights have been enjoyed by the usual suspects.

[Villiam Hayes]

Yeah that look's great,fantastic job,it's finished to a very high standard.
Your very lucky to be skilled and able to put things like that together....well done.

[Nocturnaloner]

Originally Posted by Villiam Hayes

Yeah that look's great,fantastic job,it's finished to a very high standard.
Your very lucky to be skilled and able to put things like that together....well done.

Thank you so much, but I promise you, my skill level is highly debatable I have one positive attribute: I am incredibly stubborn, and I have a very high frustration threshold. I'm willing to do and re-do stuff until it looks like I want.

[Badas]

Wow,

You are amazingly clever. Well done. I take my hat of to you.

[Villiam Hayes]

Originally Posted by Nocturnaloner

Thank you so much, but I promise you, my skill level is highly debatable I have one positive attribute: I am incredibly stubborn, and I have a very high frustration threshold. I'm willing to do and re-do stuff until it looks like I want.

I can assure you that I could try that as many times as I wanted but it still come out looking like someone danced on my woodwork....you have a skill my friend...enjoy!

[chip75]

Originally Posted by Mahatma

Usually I hate that 50/60's look, but you pulled it off, good sir

They did make a lot of crap during that period, especially the stuff we had in the UK. But the quality furniture was good stuff that lasted.

It looks great Greg_D_R. You've done yourself proud.

[Nocturnaloner]

Originally Posted by chip75

But the quality furniture was good stuff that lasted.

It looks great Greg_D_R. You've done yourself proud.

Those Danish and Swedish furniture craftsmen... they were not like you or I.

Thanks! I'm frankly surprised to see this many positive responses on blu-ray. It's greatly appreciated.


You know what time it is! First movie in 2 months or so, since I blew up my viewing area to make a wood shop out of it. The movie casting light on the cabinet is The Life Aquatic, recently released on BD. That was an excellent drink!

[MifuneFan]

That looks so awesome

[Badas]

Originally Posted by Nocturnaloner

Those Danish and Swedish furniture craftsmen... they were not like you or I.

Thanks! I'm frankly surprised to see this many positive responses on blu-ray. It's greatly appreciated.

You deserve it bud. I really like different things like this.

I have a Marantz / Oppo setup as well. How do you like your gear?

[Nocturnaloner]

Originally Posted by Badas

You deserve it bud. I really like different things like this.

I have a Marantz / Oppo setup as well. How do you like your gear?

Love it. Oppo 103D through a Marantz SR7005. The region-free mod is a must. I am good to go with this setup, and the Epson 5030UB projector on an 8ft x 5ft screen, for a couple of years at least.

Btw, is this site having serious CDN issues this morning? Loads slow, no images loading, or very slowly?