Carved Wood Wall Panels

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Carved wood panels

Hello!

I have a 770 sq ft condominium in Southeast Michigan. I really want to cover my living room walls with carved wood panels, in whole or part. The kind of like the Reading Rooms of the University of Michigan Law School and Clements Libraries. I also want to have my personal library in the living room (incorporating/integrating the bookshelves into the wood panels. I guess the carpenter would do that). What are your thoughts on this? Would it be nice like it sounds in my head? And how much do you think it would cost?

Attached picture is of the University of Michigan Clements Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Thank you!

in woodworkingby Yacobiana

90%

Sad-Independence2219

I built a very similar 12x14 walnut library in my house. Walls, ceiling and floors are all wood with a window seat, desk, and bookcases. Materials alone were close to $20,000. It took me 6 years to complete this project in my free time. I would expect it would have cost $80,000-$100,000 if i hired this out. Here is a picture of one corner

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Yacobiana

So beautiful and mesmerizing! 😍 $80k-$100k? Christ, that’s double my budget 😭 there’s has to be some workaround, I can’t just scrap this idea altogether 😭😭

The_psychotherapist

Do you have any more pictures of this project? I’m looking to do something very similar in my study.

Sad-Independence2219

What do you want pictures of?

The_psychotherapist

I’d love to see the whole room. Maybe some progress pictures?

Sad-Independence2219

I just made a separate project post with a bunch of pictures

Custom_Craft_Guy

I think it would look spectacular! And I would love to see the finished product! But if you have to ask for a price quote, you can’t afford it. Not trying to be a smartass, but to replicate this properly is extremely expensive. For a ballpark estimate, add up the entire area of all the walls, ceilings, doors and trim, then multiply that number by a minimum of $75 per square foot. A more realistic number would be around $100 per square foot. That’s an all inclusive price point, and you would be hard put to find a carpenter who is capable of doing the job for any less than $75 per foot.

Yacobiana

Thank you so much for your advice! Let me see how much is the square footage and I’ll multiply that by $100. I hope to god it won’t ridiculously exceed my budget 😭

Custom_Craft_Guy

This is only what I would estimate per S.F. if you wanted the absolute highest quality workmanship in both labor and especially in materials. Authentic reproductions of work like what you see in spaces such as the law library is almost as expensive as you can get. Now, if you’re not willing to go to that level and are willing to use veneers on a lower quality substrate rather than solid wood panels, the price will drop considerably. But the observant eye will quickly spot the difference between “looks like” and “IS like”. It just depends on how far you’re willing to go to get that unique ambiance that you only get from the real thing

Yacobiana

Thank you a lot for chipping in! I am going to have a draftsman to come out and create a blueprints for my condo as I couldn’t get my hands on one anywhere. I want to see how much precisely is the square footage of the living room and all the details you mentioned re the square footage so I could have a better sense of how much this project would cost. I am not willing to let go of it

Custom_Craft_Guy

I wish more people would embrace the traditional look and style of that period of woodworking. The attention to detail combined with proportions that give it an air of grandness and, well, let’s face it, of wealth! Keep posting updates so I can keep track of this project!!

Yacobiana

Thank you! ❤️ I definitely will keep you all updated :) Every little detail of this project will be imbued with well thought out symbolism of significance to me personally and my family’s legacy.

Custom_Craft_Guy

As the curator of my own family history, which goes back to 1754 just since emigrating to the States, I’m absolutely thrilled to meet someone who also values their history and legacy! The farthest back we’ve been able to verify is to the Stewarts and the Campbells in 15th century Scotland, which includes Mary Tudor. I’d really enjoy hearing about some of your history since it’s clearly something you value very deeply.

Yacobiana

Chief, I just took measurements of the walls and the ceiling. To make an estimate with the help of this calculator. It appears the square footage of the 3 walls of the living room is 231 sqft. So multiplying that by $100, it is in the neighborhood of $23,000. Does that sound like a fair estimate? Bear in mind I plan on covering the ceiling with plasterwork, not wood.

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Custom_Craft_Guy

All things considered, and depending on the species of wood you want to use, which we never talked about, for the high quality work you’re looking for that’s a damn fair price! Please do keep in mind that this is not something to use as a set-in-stone accurate formula to calculate your actual potential cost! There are a ton of different variables that come into play here! For example, I’ve done a few decent sized, and highly detailed libraries in old growth Black Walnut in one case, and another in Honduran Mahogany that were both six figure rooms by the time they were completed.

LaraCroftCosplayer

You are definitly a man of culture, i hope the costs will be not so much that you have to scrap your idea.

I think that with modern routers and other tooling the panels wont be as expensive as the handcrafted back in the days.

Yacobiana

You’re so kind! Thank you for your encouragement! I’m definitely “shopping around” to see how I could best approach this. Gosh, I, too, would hate to be forced to scrap this altogether 😭

callmedata1

Remember, it's a 770ft CONDO

Yacobiana

VERY much aware of that. But if I can’t afford building my dream home to my very specific architectural taste, then this is possibly all I could ever do — and I want to have my own lil haven of a space, y’know?