# Trim woes w/ built-in bookshelf



## mgiuliani (Jan 18, 2017)

So I ripped out an ugly looking built-in in the corner of our basement, and built a bookshelf to fit in its place. All smooth sailing....until I realized after pushing into place (and having the electrician wire everything up, I know, I should have had this all set prior) that the walls don't meet up as I expected.

The result is that the bottom and right sides are totally flush. But, the top left corner protrudes about .75", and tapers down to the respective corners. That makes the baseboards easy, but I'm stuck on the trim.

Is there anything I can do with this to make it look decent when it is trimmed out, without taking this all apart and seeing what I can do with the left wall? My first instinct is to trim it out as-is, shove some foam backer under the gap, and spackle the edges so it just looks like deeper trim. But.. I have a feeling that is going to end up looking pretty bad :frown2:

Thanks for any tips or tricks..


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## J_L (Apr 22, 2014)

You'll need to build out at the wall the same thickness the cabinet sticks out. You can rip a piece of 1x down for this. You can then cover the new piece and part of the frame of the cabinet with a piece of trim. I'd use some flat stock and add flutes with a plinth block at the bottom and a stop block at the head that the flutes die into. I'd then run some smaller crown molding around the top of the entire assembly. It will look like it was always supposed to be that way.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Id probably move the right side out to match the left side, then get fancy with some molding to hide the gap and make it look intentional. Course, this assumes you can move the right side out and you dont mind the entire unit sticking out of the wall that way. If that isnt an option, either build out the wall or cut down the case


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

I would use a stepped mold using two Boards stacked on top of each other. 
Rout the edge on the first board 2 1/2" wide X 1" thickness and nail to the wall. 45's at corners. 
Install the shelving into the hole. 
Rout the 2nd board 2" wide X 3/4" thickness with a decorative mold and lay over the edge of the book case, across the split and overlaying the 1st mold. 
Paint all to match the bookcase. 
It will look fine.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

I would be inclined to un-install the cabinet and see what was behind the cabinet and if it was something that could be moved out of the way. It's not that big of a job to remove the sheetrock and route the wire either above or below the cabinet. If the problem is with the wire the electrician should have known it was in the way.


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## mgiuliani (Jan 18, 2017)

Thanks all for the suggestions. After thinking over all these options and realizing my skill level is pretty low, I opted to take the thing out of the wall. After restructuring the supports behind the drywall, I was able to pull the wall back and now i'm within 1/8th of an inch at the worst spot. Thanks again!


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