2014 Wood Diamond Award

Main Category: Game Room
Sub Category: Best Overall
Dollar Amount: Over $25,000

Briefly describe your business and the type of products manufactured.
Keith Smith Builders, LLC has been a custom homebuilder, in Upstate SC, since 1969. Keith Smith Builders, LLC has built over 750 homes. With over 43 years experience, in addition to custom homebuilding, Keith Smith Builders, LLC does remodeling and renovations, commercial tenant improvements and commercial and residential land development.

What materials/species were used in this project/item?
Clear and Knotty Alder is the total finish wood for the whole project including the cabinets and custom built doors.

Describe, in detail, the project/item’s construction.
This project is approximately 700 square feet. It began as a part of an unfinished basement. The owner asked us to design and build his man cave. He gave us a picture of him, his wife and his brother and sister in law sitting at a bar table in New York City. The picture only showed a tiny bit of a bar wall behind him. He said can you do this? I looked at the picture and said do you want these panels on the wall and he said everywhere.
I took the picture and began the design that included putting in 2 fireplaces, 2 wet bars, man toilet ( I started to say powder room but that would offend the owner) 3 TV’s, surround sound and a poker table, that sits in it’s own special place. Coffered ceiling, indirect lighting and a hidden door behind one of the panels.
We began the construction by laying out all the coffers on the floor. The one criteria was that the Stagg chandelier hanging over the poker table was directly in the middle of a coffer. We used this location as the bench mark for all the coffers and panels in the room. We first chalked off all the coffers and then marked the inside and outside corners with permanent markers. The room had 2 offsets so it was a challenge to make this all work out. The owners threw in another challenge, they wanted one of the beams to center the large fireplace and TV. We ended up using a wall offset to make this work out. All the coffers and wall panels are the same width. We lined up the wall panels with the coffers so that we could start on one panel and carry the grain up the wall, across the ceiling and down the other side width wise. After we did the plumbing, HVAC and wiring and installed the fireplaces we covered all the walls and ceiling with 7/16 OSB. Now we were ready to begin the actual application of the panels and coffers. The panels and coffers have approximately 22,000 cuts and over 30,000 fasteners. (my 4 guys just could not resist trying to keep a count).
We built the cabinets in our shop. The upper cabinets are back lit with lighting behind amber glass and clear 1/2″ structural glass shelves with pencil edging. This effect shows off the owners many liquid filled bottles. Not only are the shelves glass, but the bottom of the upper cabinets are glass, so that you can also down light or up light as well as back light. The cabinets have 3 trash can drawers (we do not use a kit but prefer to build our own).
We added a pocket door to enter the man cave by building another wall beside a load bearing one. We placed the pocket door dead middle of the jam.
The owner named the project “THE CRAWL SPACE”.

What is the most unusual aspect or outstanding characteristic of this entry?
The vision, craftsmanship and overall collaboration of the homeowner and contractor. The intricate detail is so unique that the homeowner is constantly calling to tell me he has found a new detail he had previously missed.
This project is rare in the fact that we were allowed to show off our craft in all aspects of our business and trade. We were asked to use our experience and talents to create a room many have said does not exist anywhere in our area.

List any items that were outsourced (not produced by you or your shop).
Items outsourced:
Solid Surface Tops
Tile Back Splash
Plumbing
HVAC and gas piping
Electrical and sound system by owner
Fireplaces
Stone Work
Etched Glass in the door, amber glass and shelves
Door with etched glass and bathroom door
This was a turn key project. All the design, planning and scheduling, as well as all the carpenter work, wood work, cabinets and detailing were done by 1350 and my 4 employees. The etched glass and the fireplaces were also installed by 1350.
To see a virtual tour of the finished product, see the link below:
http://www.visualtour.com/show.asp?t=3059838&prt=10003&sk=29

Please offer a brief explanation of how being a member of the CMA has benefited you and/or your business. 
CMA sets us apart as a company, different form the normal shop. We have been building custom projects and cabinets for 40 years but yet we are not known for our cabinets. By promoting our membership in the CMA, the community has responded by calling on us for more kitchen remodels.