Something I'm Considering

[Leon]

Since moving into our new home in 2010 I have wanted to do something to the big pony wall separating our kitchen/dining area from our living room. The whole wall is about 12' long and has an opening that is 10' wide. The top of the pony wall is 36" and it is open form there 6' on each side and has a large arc that goes up to 10' and then the ceiling is another foot up from there.

Anyway I did not want to close that off but wanted to create a little more separation.

The beams over that pony wall and the pass through on the end of the pony wall is something I came up with several years ago but I had some concerning thoughts as to how to the support the beam, especially in the middle. And it is/was not going to be a real and heavy beam, just give the appearance of one.

Anyway my wife and I kicked around some ideas, inspired from, Fixer Upper. Yes that DIY show. They remodeled a home and made a solid wall into a pony wall. The original wall was only 8' tall. They built shelving on top of the pony wall all the way up to the ceiling. It separated the two rooms but not so much as a solid wall and a bit more than a pony wall that stops in height at 36".

Soooo, I drew this and I think it is going to be a go.

The large beam will actually be supported in the middle by that black pipe/bar in the center directly over the middle vertical shelf support.

Also our wall corners are not square, they have about a 3/4"radius. I had to deal with that so that the round corners would not look unfinished. The shelf unit, brownish grey in color, will be wider than the pony wall so that it will be useful. The wall is just over 8" deep. I will frame the shelf unit with natural oak trim to cover the rounded wall corners and to give it a finished appearance.

The jury is still out on the beam color, I might leave it natural white oak to match the shelf unit trim.

All shelves are adjustable and removable to adjust for seasonal and wife mind changes.. ;~)

Those black steel looking beam brackets will probably be made out of Baltic birch and painted flat black. They will give the appearance of heavy support brackets.

Anyway, Thoughts?

What it looks like now.

[John Grossbohlin]

That could work, especially if you have art that could be displayed there (turnings, pottery, etc.). I'd have gone with divided lights in the big opening and a transom window over the pass opening if that were my home. This as it would go with my décor and overall home design. Does the shelving fit in with your overall home design and décor? Would it be jarringly different? Would it drive you to down the dangerous path of having to change other things in the house?

We had book shelves in the kitchen of the home in which I grew up... with books on them. I'd estimate the unit was about 8-9 feet long with two shelves. It was located along a wall near the table. They were below the counter height and under a window. Useful for cook books, big reference books, etc. It was not intended as a display shelf. The counter top over it worked well for my mom's plants and bowls of fruit, and when we were young an aquarium. That said, how do you see the shelves being used?

More questions than answers to be found here!

[DerbyDad03]

Your SWMBO called. She said she was looking for something like this:

[Leon]

The expanse that the beam is spanning is pretty long and the posts on each end, covered in sheet rock and painted, are pretty massive. The beam fits right in IMHO.

The natural oak trim around the shelf unit closely resembles the oak doors on the pantry unit in the kitchen, a few feet away. And the dark FF on the pantry would resemble the contrast on the shelves in the pony wall.

On the living room side the entertainment center caries the same type lines, long and narrow and again the natural oak trim is close in size as the walnut doors in the cabinet. The dark wall outline behind the floating walnut panels on the wall also resemble the same shape as the perimeter natural oak trim around the shelf unit on the pony wall.

Would

Noooo. LOL I have built almost everything in the house and I'm hoping to not do that again.

[Leon]

The natural oak trim around the shelf unit closely resembles the oak doors on the pantry unit in the kitchen, a few feet away. And the dark FF on the pantry would resemble the contrast on the shelves in the pony wall.

On the living room side the entertainment center caries the same type lines, long and narrow and again the natural oak trim is close in size as the walnut doors in the cabinet. The dark wall outline behind the floating walnut panels on the wall also resemble the same shape as the perimeter natural oak trim around the shelf unit on the pony wall.

Would > it be jarringly different? Would it drive you to down the dangerous path > of having to change other things in the house? Noooo. LOL I have built almost everything in the house and I'm hoping to not do that again.

[Leon]

On 2/13/2018 7:53 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote: Snip

Uh huh.... ;~)

[Sonny]

What is the purpose of the beams? If the wall is sufficiently supported, already, the beams would have no function other than looks/aesthetics.

To me, the proposed beams and pipe supports looks out of place.

Rather than a beam over the shelves (and no beam within the pass-through), hows about the top of the shelf unit being arched, to match the "ceiling" a rch. Possibly, whatever trim would be on the top of the shelf arch, a sim ilar trim would be applied to the upper "ceiling" arch, so as to connect th e two elements design. The proposed beam, to me, does not connect the two elements in a visibly appealing way. .... Matching arch trim over the pas s through, to connect that element, also?? .... but then again, all this m ight be too "busy", of design elements, for it to be visually effectively c onnected.

*Maybe I'm missing something in the overall appearance, for this opinion, b ut the proposed beam seems to look out of place, for the whole scenario. Maybe some element of thought, from the Fixer Upper show, that I'm missing.

As to matching arch designs, I've liked the arches you've made on other pro jects. You've been nicely creative, that way, with those other projects. I'm tempted to trust your creative thinking, more so, than some recommen dations of these DIY TV shows.

Sonny

[Sonny]

And the thinking of your wife, also. ....after all, you are "Bonafide" (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou).

Sonny

[Leon]

Correct, strictly aesthetics, like the arch and all of the rounded corners on the walls.

Possibly but I'm kinda going for the old ware house look.

No, the beam has always only been my thought, While pictures and drawings do not translate the height of the ceilings very well, I want to draw attention to the height of the 11' ceilings. The only Fixer Upper influence is the shelves on the pony wall.

The only Fixer Upper influence is the shelves on the pony wall.

[Leon]

Ahhh, one of my very favorite movies. ( we though you was a toad.)