It's been a little slow going, mostly in the time leading up to starting the work. Right now I've got all the wooden panels up on the wall (the brown background) and I've got all the hollow components made for constructing the shelving units.

The paneled background was made with 3/8" fir plywood which I ripped to 6.25" and then stained in an espresso/chocolate finish (dark brown). It has just the right balance of visible grain and matches amazingly well with my sectional. The staining took one day and then another two days were spent on two coats of clear satin finish. It came out fairly well, but given the instability of 3/8" ply, I'm not sure it's something I would do again. It would cost a lot more to use something like pre-finished flooring, but the results would be better and make it a lot easier to work with the material. I had a lot of struggles getting the planks to fit together on the wall due to slight warpage/shrinkage/expansion in various dimensions. The panels are held primarily by construction adhesive and tacked with brad nails to studs. That said, it does look very nice on the wall - it was just a shit-load of work.

To get the shelving unit constructed with 1.5" thickness all around, I've made some hollow components instead of actually using 1.5" thick material. This saves a ton of weight, which is super important, considering even the hollow panels are quite heavy overall. They're constructed (faced) with 1/4" MDF with edge and internal ribs made of 3/4" MDF ripped to 1" width. Everything is glued and tacked together using brad nails - the pneumatic nailer was a lifesaver (especially for the wall paneling).

This was all done over the past two weeks. It took me a day and a half to get the paneling on the wall - longer than I expected, but mostly due to the issues I had with panel deformation, plus the many cut-outs I had to make.

Next week, I'm finally getting my biscuit joiner, so I should be able to finish the shelving units and start on the base cabinet. Over the next two weeks I also have to go interview (and get quotes from) two painters I've gotten recommendations for to decide who will be finishing this stuff.

We're also pretty sure we know what kind of artwork we want, so now I just have to produce it - unless I can find something pre-designed in the next three weeks. Funnily enough, I got the inspiration for the artwork from "Mother's" office in the animated series Archer. Basically an abstract water color/staining on canvas. I'll produce a few more complimentary pieces which will be used as art elsewhere in the room. This other art will actually be insulated acoustic treatments to cut down on sound reflections and hopefully dramatically improve the sound in the room.

Some updated Sketchup designs. You can see how the components will fit in place. I've also made some small adjustments to various dimensions, including the width of the center panel that covers the TV.