My Office Showroom Build (Display, Lighting, Mod Tips & Service)

I broke a lot of the image links with a recent update to my Flickr publish collection - Just click any broken images to go directly to Flickr until I find the time/effort to fix the links here (it's a lot of work).


My other threads: My Display/Diorama Backgrounds -- My Hoth Diorama -- My Brother's Worker -- My Photostream

This thread is meant to show the development of my displays & lighting, and share DIY tips and information. When most of the shelves are "complete" I'll start another thread to show them off.


Shelves as of June 2014

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Wall-mounted Besta unit above my desk:



One of three modified and stacked IKEA Klingsbo units, dedicated to vintage toys of my very early childhood:



This unit will be dedicated to Fisher Price Adventure People and (mostly vintage) PVC figures:

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

Here's an elevated Ikea Detolf. The base is 28" tall and made from an IKEA Akurum kitchen wall cabinet (15x30) cut down. It's paneled out the left and right with pieces cut from an Ikea Nexus tall kitchen door bought in the AS-IS section for $10. The door in the front is an Ikea Harlig, their lowest-end and lowest cost kitchen door line. It's push-to-open with the mechanisms I obtained essentially free in the AS-IS section ($1 for a bag of whatever you want). The Detolfs were originally bought used and their bases tops painted black from their original beech.




I have three of these in the office, the other two flank each side of my (currently very messy) desk. Every cabinet is wired for light, which will be provided exclusively from LED sources, operating at 12v. Mostly ribbon/strip cut to size, with some custom and some scale lamps and spot lights to provide dramatic shadows.



You can easily add a lock to your Detolf. *The best place to grab these locks is eBay - cheapest price, plus you can get multiple locks all keyed the same. *It would suck to have 10 different locks all using a different key. Search for "glass cabinet door lock" - without the quotes.




Above the desk is an Ikea Besta wall cabinet with glass doors. I've removed the shelves and instead will insert acrylic display cases to hold rows of die cast cars.



In order to maximize on the usage of space in this room, I really had to get creative with the furnishings and make a lot of modifications to Ikea-sourced pieces. This is the central display case I made out of 3 Ikea Klingsbo units. I cut the legs off every unit and then bolted their frames together. I've omitted the back glass on each as well as the top and middle sheets of glass on two of them. They're sitting on an Ikea Malm 6 drawer dresser which I cut down on the right side to match the width of the Klingsbo.



The Klingsbos above are lit with LED ribbon light - 3 strips placed along the top horizontal frame of each cabinet section. This is the only cabinet that will be lit in a mostly even flood manner. Wired in series, with the wiring going back to transformers hidden behind a wall and operated by a standard wall-mounted light switch. In fact, the bottom switch to the left of the first Detolf image in this post.

I thought of using more Klingsbo units for another cabinet, but these things are expensive. Instead I decided to really maximize on space usage and use a customized base cabinet and two glass sliding doors that go from wall-to-wall in a nook I created by removing some closet doors from the room.



The glass sits on top of an Ikea Malm 3 drawer unit which I've also custom-painted. The unit is only just over 30" wide, so I've extended it to the right and made a cupboard there, using more Ikea Harlig door panels. I removed the top of the cabinet and installed my own top that spans the width of the entire nook (MDF, painted).

The glass was made to order, 6mm thick 30" x 64" and slides on rails from Knape and Vogt https://www.knapeandvogt.com/?page=details.458 purchased from McMaster Carr (by far the lowest price around).



Above and below, I'm the process of figuring out some additional shelving heights. The wooden shelf is only being used in this spot temporarily, it's actually the bottom-most shelf. All the other shelves will be glass, made with the left-over panels from the Klingsbo units.



I had originally intended this entire nook to be for Star Wars items exclusively. But in ordering the Hot Toy Tumbler I had to quickly make a change. The bottom-most shelf will now be Dark Knight and everything above it SW. This means I'm losing out on a lot of SW space, the collectible I have by far the most of. I'll be left with shelves of approximately these heights, from bottom to top: 17", 20", 9" and 18". The 9" has to fit a bunch of 3 3/4 figures and the top 18" the Hasbro 12" line Taun Taun and Dewback, plus as many other Hasbro 12" as I can fit. Not sure if I'm going to put the vintage (70's) 12" somewhere else yet... Above the Dark Knight stuff and below the other SW is the 20" tall Hoth shelf, mixing vintage, POTF and newer 3 3/4 items within a diorama.

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

There's some artwork set up in this space as well, but believe me, space is so very limited I had to get especially creative with placement/mounting. There are a few other pieces I can't put up due to lack of wall space or alternative options. An original limited print by Godmachine of Agent Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks, titled Black as Midnight :



Here are two Stormtroopers by Christian Waggoner, (reproductions/modified) varnished giclée on canvas, mounted to 18x30" Ikea Harlig doors, hinged on top. They're mounted on Ikea Expedit shelving, the 2x4 cubby model, and work as horizontal cupboard doors. The units flank the Klingsbo glass display mentioned above. Each 2x4 Expedit sits on top of a 2x2 Expedit, giving just over 7' of height.

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

Here's my first shelf in progress. The texture here is the top or ceiling of the Batman (1/6) display, the other side will be the ground for the Star Wars Hoth (3 3/4") display.



The white "girders" are decorative only and still need paint - this is a test fit of the shelf board.





The back wall of the Batman display will receive a similar faux-rock texture, made of rigid expanded polystyrene insulation foam, glue and paint, with the side walls and floor getting the digital treatment. Photoshop design printed to vinyl banner.

Here we go with the first application of of papier-mâché to the top side of the same shelf for the Hoth scene. Made from wallpaper adhesive, water, flour, salt and financial documents from my cross-cut shredder.



Testing the top shelf of the big cabinet for my Hasbro 12" collection. I just took these bad-boys out from their sealed boxes for the first time since I purchased them in 1999/2000. The Dewback still smells of fresh paint if you can believe it. They're relatively new, all things considered, but I've still had them longer than I've been married and they're 10 years older than my oldest child. Wow.

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

I was wondering why you had shelves on top of the detolf, then I realized the pictures were upside down. Now I get things

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

Needed a little more headroom on the top shelf of the two Ikea Expedit cabinets, so I made some 6" extension blocks - painted them black and brown to try and match the Ikea finish somewhat.





So now I can fit this (June 2014):



This is the left-side Expedit, while the one on the right (shown above empty) will eventually hold a Hoth scene with Taun Taun.

CTO15 said:

I was wondering why you had shelves on top of the detolf, then I realized the pictures were upside down. Now I get things

Click to expand...

Pictures were appearing upside down? Argh, more Photobucket lameness. Everything has always appear right-side-up from this end when browsing the forum. I've seen only the photo of the Cooper print appearing upside down when I browse to the direct link in Safari.

[All photos were moved to Flickr]

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

Very creative, cool stuff!

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

Those ikea detolf risers are sweet. I plan on doing something like that when I finally do set them up.

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

This is going to look so freaking cool once it's done. Nice work PP!

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Nice job and can't wait for it to get done. I need an inspiration to start .

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

Some setbacks with the shelves for my big custom cabinet have slowed my progress. The top two didn't work out the way I planned so I had to start them over. They'll be finished within the next couple of days after a few coats of paint.

The bottom shelf has diorama elements on both top (Hoth) and bottom (Bat cave), so it's still going to take at least the rest of the week as I try to make some time to work on it. Picked up a few parts for the bottom cave diorama and have also completed some Photoshop work to print as backgrounds for a few of the Detolf shelves.

Thanks for the positive comments and for checking out the progress.

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

Thanks for sharing!

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

A lot of "special modifications". Nice work. It seems you are pretty handy. I'm curious as to why you don't go a cheaper route and just make everything yourself instead of modifying store bought units? Should be easier to get a consistent look that way as well.

I dig that TP print. I don't see a lot of TP love on any of the boards I visit. Great show..."black as midnight on a moonless night".

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

How do you add a lock to a Detolf? I think that would be great to keep my future children and all the kids I babysit away from my figures!

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

BoboFatt said:

It seems you are pretty handy. I'm curious as to why you don't go a cheaper route and just make everything yourself instead of modifying store bought units?

Click to expand...

Because it's winter here in Canada and I don't have a (heated) shop. When I bring my table saw outside to cut, I don't want to be doing it in the snow. I also already had the Expedit units from my old office setup. Buying as much stuff used saved a ton of cash, including the Detolfs. Even with my decently-priced glass supplier, I couldn't buy all the GLass in a Detolf for the $79 that Ikea asks, let alone the $40 that I paid. Also, premium-quality veneer or pre-veneered MDF/particle board costs more than Ikea stuff too. And painting furniture is a bit of a pain to do even semi-well, especially without a booth and low-pressure equipment. And of course, the biggest and most important factor, time. I did custom-build all the all-furniture for my family room/theater. I'll post pictures some day.

K07 said:

How do you add a lock to a Detolf?

Click to expand...

You buy one or more locks on ebay and.. You put them on. That's really it. The picture should show pretty clearly how it fits on, but I'll take another one with the door open so you can see the strike plate. The lock itself just screws onto the glass the same way the hinges do. You can put it on the bottom or the top.

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

I typed in "Detolf Lock" and it came up. I thought you did something much more innovative than that. And your description helps me understand the photo better. I'd definitely put it on the top of my door. Are these official Ikea items or somebody threw the word "Detolf" into the title knowing they're compatible? I just went all out with LEDs and backgrounds. Might as well get a lock!

Your innovations for your display are great! A lot of people devote so much time into collecting or into customizing their figures, the displays can be boring and sloppy. This section really is great to get creative juices flowing to improve our own displays. Look forward to seeing the end result!

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

The locks are not from Ikea, they're one of a few types of standardized locks for glass cabinet doors. Ikea does use the same locks, in black, on some of their other cabinets, but as far as I know you can't buy them separately, however you can probably get them by going to the service counter and asking for the lock part for that other cabinet. The benefit of buying them elsewhere is you can get multiple "keyed alike."

Let me look for the ID of the person I bought from on eBay, they used to be the lowest price.

Here it is: https://stores.ebay.com/Panda-Colle...90209017&_sid=993928587&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

dang.. a true Ikea DIY hacker!! Where are you located if I may ask?
I placed an order for custom cut glass before and they quoted me contractor price by mistake making a big difference so ask for it if you didn't have already..
But very creative hacks, just make sure it is all structurally sound

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

Bumpity bump.

Added some images of the Batman display ceiling, aka shelf #1 of the big display case to post#2 of the thread.

Re: My office "showroom" build-out.

Some additional papier-mâché features drying...



This slurry is easy to make, easy to work with and easy to clean. The down side is that it takes a super-long time to dry/harden. I figure I'll need at least up to a week before I consider adding paint to it. If it was summer and warm outside I'm sure I could cut that down to 48 hours.

Those two cubish-looking things in the middle are parts of the packaging from a Hasbro 12" scale Dewback that I'm trying to use as moulds - I've applied a 1/4" thick coating of the papier-mâché slurry to the inside and fingers cross, I hoe I can pop the results out when it's dry. When modified a little bit and painted, I hope they'll come out looking somewhat like the sculpting on the Kenner/Hasbro Hoth playsets.

The new slurry is darker not only because it's still drying, but also because it's made of mostly newspaper, unlike the first batch.