[Macklessdaddy]

looking to get a built in entertainment center,can anyone recommend a company?

[WestieJeff]

Wooditis.com - Custom Woodworking by Jamie Ann Yocono - Specializing in Tables and Benches - I've taken classes with Jamie and in addition to teaching she runs her own shop and builds custom pieces of all different types. If she can't do it herself, she will point you in the right direction.

[ScoopLV]

This is basically the same as the custom cabinet thread. The answer is unfortunately, "Learn to do it yourself or pay through the nose."

If you like oak or maple, you can get the pre-made, unfinished cabinets at the big box store and use that as the bare bones for the entertainment center. Again, this isn't going to save you much compared to hiring someone to do it all from scratch.

Considering that cabinets are mostly empty space, they cost a TON of money.

And again, this and the staircase is why I learned how to do this myself. (The one company that bid on my stairs gave me an estimate of $50,000. I did it myself for $2,000.)

[hotjambalaya]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

And again, this and the staircase is why I learned how to do this myself. (The one company that bid on my stairs gave me an estimate of $50,000. I did it myself for $2,000.)

How long did it take you to learn to a good enough standard that you could make a stair case?! Thats very impressive.

[ScoopLV]

I learn as I go.

The stairs took months. And mistakes were made -- so those pieces were discarded and redone until it was right. (I may be an amateur woodworker. But I'm a professional perfectionist.)

I was still able to buy an entire cabinet shop full of tools and do the cabinets, the entertainment center, a house full of furniture and the stairs for less than half of what the stairs would have cost me. (I bought the shop full of tools from a shop that went out of business during the crash.)

I learned by reading, watching New Yankee Workshop and Wood Works.

This isn't something that I enjoy. It's just that I cannot abide paying $10,000 for a dining room table when I can make it for $1,000.

I've found that the two main reasons people don't do this in greater numbers is fear and economy. They're afraid they might screw up so badly they they do permanent damage to their house. Or they're afraid they might lose a finger (or worse). Or they cannot justify buying quality tools for one single job -- and that one is absolutely valid. It makes no sense to spend five figures on tools to knock out a $5,000 job.

Luckily, I always have projects going. So the tool expenditure has saved me a ton while I've lived here. And when I leave, I'm packing all the tools in a shipping container and taking them with me. I have decades of woodworking still in me.

[Macklessdaddy]

definitely something I wouldn't attempt to do,so guess I'll be throwing my life savings at this project lol

Hopefully it won't go over 5k

[SportyandMisty]

DM sent.

[tiger08]

Funny this thread popping up now, because just this morning, my wife is removing our large entertainment system.
My brother owned a custom cabinet shop a few years ago and did many custom built in entertainment systems, wine cabinets, libraries, etc.
When my Mom let her house go a few years ago, we removed her built in entertainment system that my brother built into her house and we moved it to our house. I was at one point supposed to wall it into our house and never got around to doing that, besides it looks too big for our living room. it's made to hold a large 70" TV and that's what we have in it now. We decided to just hang the TV on the wall and mount speakers into the wall instead.
I'm going to give the cabinet away if anyone wants it. It removes in several large sections and is heavy.