Master Bathroom Display Shelf

This page describes one of the phases of the multi-year Master Bathroom Remodeling Project.

Overview

Curved Wall and Display Shelf Area

In the master bathroom, there is a recessed, built-in area with glass shelves that is mostly for decorative purposes. Having done the curved ceiling/wall design for the recessed sink area, for design consistency it would be best if this recessed area matched. This meant putting wooden slats on the top and sides with a curve transition between the top and sides.

The construction of this was a simpler and miniaturized version of what I did around the sink area. There would be 1/2'' plywood backing boards, with mahogany slats mounted on the backing boards and the backing boards being mounted in the recess.

Trickier Angles

For the sink area, the curved arc was much bigger and had 8 slats in the curve. This made the angles between each slats 10 degrees. For the display shelf area, being much smaller, I had to make the 90 degree turn using only 3 wooden slats. This made the angle between them much larger and thus trickier to cut. I had to make some fixtures to get the table saw to cut things are the proper angle.

Layout for Curved Slats

Setup for Cutting Backer Board Angles

Backer Board Angle after Cutting

Curved Top and Backing Boards

Layout for Cutting Supporting Rib

Dry Fitting Shelf Ceiling Pieces

Rough Assembly of Ceiling Piece

Test Fitting Backing Boards

The important part of test fitting the backing boards was allowing me to mark exactly how the walls curvature would translate to the backing board and slat lengths. I never did get this curve as good as I would have liked, but with the help of some spackling I was able to hide the imperfections.

Installation Test for Ceiling Piece

Installation Test for All Pieces

Curved Slat Installation test (close-up)

Slat Cutting and Assembly

Side Wall Slat Assembly

Slat Layout for Side Walls

With one exception, cutting the slats and laying them out was simple. The exception mimicked what I had to deal with with the sink area ceiling. The span of the ceiling was what it was, so if that is not an even multiple of the 1x3 slat width, there would need to be some trickery to provide a visually appealing look that did not have slats of varying widths.

Similar to the sink area ceiling, I needed to adjust each slat that ran across the top part. In this case, they had to be slightly large than a 1x3. I used a 1x4 and made a rip cut to make these faux 1x3 slats. This made them all look even, despite the fact that they were slightly wider than the slats on the side walls.

Sanding and Finishing