I use three half-size (106cm tall) Ikea Billy bookcases in my home office, which left me with approx. 1m of space left. Another Billy would have been an option, but would have covered the light switch and a power outlet, and would have wasted about 20cm of space. I also wanted a place where I could put my guitar amp, and my small collection of CDs and LPs. I first wanted to raise the amp and make room for my FX pedals below it, but then decided to reverse this. This would mount the pedals at a convenient height for changing settings.
This is the basic design, to be built from 18mm plywood:
The top compartments (I heightened them to 14cm during the build) are for CDs. The two taller compartments on the left can fit records or books. The shelf for the pedals is not shown here.
The cabinet was made 28cm deep, the same depth as the Billy next to it. All panels were cut with my track saw. I used a bit more than half of a 4’x8′ sheet of plywood that I had cut into two 1m sections plus the remainder at the hardware store, for easy transport. The top panel was mounted to the upright panels with dowels, the other panels were mounted with pocket holes. I also added routing for base boards at the rear bottom of the vertical panels. I used a Billy as template, free-handing the route on the first panel and using a copy bit on the two others.
Not shown is the shelf for the pedals, which is mounted in the 65cm-wide section. It consists of a 15cm wide panel and a 6cm wide panel, mounted at a right angle to each other with a few screws. The 15cm wide panel was prepared with pocket holes. I then tested a couple of mounting positions before fixing the shelf in place.
Here’s a picture of the result. There’s room for approx. six normal-sized tablets (depending on the cables/jacks you use), at least 50 CDs, and a number of LP records or books.There’s also room on top for unused pedals and other stuff. I’m really happy with the result, considering that it is the first piece of furniture I’ve built in 25 years.
