Entertainment Center from Starbucks!?!?! – Viewer Project
A project that ties home theater, coffee, and woodworking together?!?! Now that’s a project for me! Let’s hear Kevin’s story:
Hey Marc. I just finished a project I’ve been working on for a while. It’s an entertainment center designed around a top my customer bought on Ebay from a closed Starbucks coffee shop. The top also had a hole right in the middle where a garbage can used to be. Talk about a design challenge!
Anyway, based on the tones of the top, I chose maple and black walnut for my materials. The construction is all loose mortise and tenon joinery. Since this unit houses home theater equipment, the back of the right side has a false panel to hide all the wiring behind. All the shelves are adjustable.
Now…about the hole in the top. After visiting the customers home, I noticed that the throw rug in the living room where this piece was going to live had circles randomly placed in it. Also I found a 7.1 channel surround sound system waiting to be installed. Based on the room layout, I devised a small stand that sits in the hole to hold the center channel speaker. The stand is basically two plates. The bottom plate rotates in the hole allowing the speaker to be aimed left or right, while the top plate pivots in grooves cut into the lower plate allowing the speaker to be aimed up or down. Cool, huh? Anyway, here’s the pics. Hope you like it!
Kevin put up a series of blog posts over at Lumberjocks.com describing the entire process. So if you want more detail, check it out!
Comments
8 Responses to “Entertainment Center from Starbucks!?!?! – Viewer Project”Speak Your Mind and Maybe Win a Prize!
Leave a comment and you could be a winner in our Wood Whisperer Giveaway!And if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Check it Out!
Premium Membership
Keep Up With TWW!
Shop our Affiliates
Latest Video
Proud to be Sponsored By:
Support our Advertisers
There is a closed Starbuck’s? Where was it; the moon?!?
Seriously, what a nice project!
Cool idea. I love the eccentric top – not for everybody, but I dig it.
Wow wow wow wow wow wow wooooow! I like the lighthouse afghans too.
garbage in — artwork out
outstanding work and process
rock on
I love it!
So I later went on eBay to see if there was more Starbucks flotsam out there. Found that there’s a whole culture of people who must collect those Starbucks city mugs… some ‘rare’ ones were being sold for >$300! Nuts… but if there’s a nut out there who wants to buy my Beijing mug bought at the Starbucks IN the Forbidden City (since closed by the cultural minister), well they can have it for several bills. I’ll even throw in a pound of coffee.
Yeah, I know of a couple of Starbucks that closed in my area.
The project looks awesome. I love the look of the walnut. And I never thought of including a false panel in an entertainment center for wires, thanks for that idea! Man, that statement really shows how new I am to this woodworking stuff.
I would have been tempted to make the hole/swiveling platform where the TV sits, just for the irony of having “Garbage goes here” circling the base of the television. ;-)
Seriously, beautiful work. It can be a real challenge to design something around a pre-existing piece like that and have it look natural. You nailed it.
The design process is always a puzzle to be pieced together. The tilt-n-turn speaker holder is and excellent idea, I know it’s also not easy figuring out what to do with all the wires. Nice piece looks like it will hold up well over time as well.