I gotta ask:

1) Did you do all the painting, too?
2) Did you do all the drilling for the little pegs, or did you use store-bought?

I can barely figure out which end of the stone axe is the holding end, so this is impressive. I've got a wall I tried to do that to, and I failed so horribly, I can still cry if I look at it.

I did all those things. It helps to have gadgets like a spray gun, and a panel saw...

Shelves! Shelves! ::droolslaver::

It's gorgeous! You do very very good work. (I wish you lived here, or I there.)

The convergance of cabinetry and architecture. A thing of beauty.

*sigh* Wonderful.

Damn, you're good.

I think my brother-in-law, who's no slouch at woodworking, could take a lesson or two from you.

What type of wood/sheet product was used?

The sides of the cases are made of 3/4 Trupan Ultra-Light MDF, and the backs are 1/4" MDF. The cases have 1/2" spacers between them, so the width of the verticals is 2" (and there's an extra panel at the left end, so that vertical is also 2"). The shelves are 1" U.L., with 1/4" x 4"-high backs, to prevent sagging.

The outer edges are covered with Poplar trim. The verticals have fluting, cut on my router-table. The top of the lower section has some nice Italian egg-and-dart molding--you can just barely see it in the second photo. At the top is some molding the same as the rest of the room. Boy was that a pain to fudge up--me no trim-carpenter.

The holes for the shelf-pins have metal sleeves, from Lee Valley-Veritas.

Interesting. Thanks again for the SketchUp tip.

Have you tried it? It's not a very difficult program, but awkward, even maddening at first because it doesn't work like other software--all your instincts and habits are wrong...

They have a great User Forum, and I'm happy to give out some tips...

No, not yet. But I did watch their video tutorials. Impressive. I'm a woodworker and had been looking for some quick modeling software. And then I saw your post.

Question:
I know a linear dimension appears in the bottom right corner. Can SketchUp track "board feet" on a cummulative basis? Thus, after the sketch you can approximate a lower bound on project cost.

Have you used the "model from picture" function?
In other words, converting a digital picture into a 3D model. It looks extremely powerful as a design shortcut.

Any other features you find useful?

No and no.

There are a number of things I wish it could do. One would be to "lock" one dimension on an object, so you could keep your panels 3/4" thick while scaling a cabinet.

The SketchUp team is quite ruthless in keeping the program simple, and focused on design. On sketching.

Some woodworkers on the Forum have mentioned doing interesting things with Ruby Scripts, but I haven't followed this like I should have.

My usual practice is to design by pushing and pulling shapes without worrying too much about how they will be built. Once the design is approved I re-do the plan, creating pieces that are exactly to size and putting them together.

How long does it take to put a project like that together, from sketch to clean-up?

And hour of consultation & measuring. Sketching maybe 3-4 hours, spread over many weeks, with e-mails going back and forth.

The rest about 4 weeks, though it might be less if I could work without distractions, such as being the one in my family who drives the kids around and makes supper, while my dear wife works downtown and makes the real bucks. (Orrin Judd would make some joke about Zamboni men at this point.)

Thanks John. That sounds about right, and makes me feel better.