What is the tallest Harbour Light?

I am building a full wall curio unit (12 ft long X 7 ft tall) to house the many lighthouses that are stuck away in a storage closet. But before I can finalize my plan drafts I need to know the spacing that I should use between shelf's. If I use the measurements for the tallest Harbour Lights made, I should be good for all of them.

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

That's an easy one, Barking Rocks at 11 inches.. Hillsboro Inlet, Pharos of Alexandria Egypt are probably next at 9 1/2 inches.. Liberty, Ponce, Colossus of Rhodes and La Corona all come in at 9 inches each..

[While I was writing all this prose, Paul popped in and gave the answers to the basic questions...]

If I had that ambition, Stephanie, I'd make the shelves adjustable (and glass). The tallest is approximately 10" in height as I recall. (Unless you have one of those David Winter ones?) Among the tallest: Hillsboro, Liberty Enlightening the world, -- any taller ones guys and gals?

If you're going to use fixed shelf heights, then in a 7' height, you could probably get 8 shelves (counting the base of the unit. Figure putting the tallest on the bottom shelf, make that one 12" and move up to 10" for 4 shelves and 8" for 3. That will put the smaller ones up at eye level and the big ones down low.

---- top height approx 84" assuming 1/2" glass shelves
10"
--
8"
--
8" <-- approx eye level if 5'5" tall
--
8"
--
10"
--
10"
--
10"
--
12"
--
4" -- base height
-- floor

If you use wood shelves, you should probably go with 3/4" wood, and would need to adjust accordingly.

8 display levels x 144" in length should allow you to display approximately at least 200 pieces without crowding them.

You'll need more professional help that I can provide. Good luck with the project; take lots of photos before and after.

Thanks !

Stephanie, please post some pics once it's done. I'm thinking of building something similar.

Stephanie. If you choose to use wood-use oak or another hardwood such as blond mahogany. If you choose to use pine, the shelves will sag. Should you choose to use pine, let's say on a 12 foot wall, split the shelves into 2-6 foot widths. This will prevent sagging. I used a 2x6 for the end pieces and 1x6 for the shelves. Use screws to attach the end caps to the shelves. You can join the 2-6 foot sections together with screws.
It's very important to use a 2x3/4 inch piece attached to the end piece and shelf, both on the front and back. This will provide stability and take the shelf away from the wall a half inch. I used a white wash stain by Cabot to seal the wood(I used pine) and prevent the knots from drying and cracking and gives the wood a weathered look. Good Luck. I used to store and swap-out my HLs but with the shelves, I can display all 367. Fortunately for me, I have a wife that likes HLs also because they are in 2 rooms.

Here's the plan as it is now (could have minor changes, that always happens!)

I will be using clear white pine (no knots) to build the structure framework (backbone of the unit). It will be attached to the wall (built-in, not free-standing), therefore it will actually become a part of the room. It will have glass shelves and mirror backing, wood framed glass doors and a glass end cap where the unit meets a doorway. For lighting it will have overhead built in light units. And I am going to grove out tracks in the front parallel support structures to inset rope lights, which will give me lighting from the front of the unit that will go all the way to the bottom shelf.

The first 20 inches from the floor up will be a solid closed unit with doors, for storage of things that I don't want to be seen. This will also bring the lighthouses up off the floor level so you don't have to bend over to see what is on the bottom shelf. The unit will only be 10" deep (that's shelf depth), so that all the lighthouses are side by side and I'm not tempted to over-crowed by putting one in-front of another.

Per the height measurements that were given above by Paul and John. I think I'm going to space all shelf's at 10 inches high (I don't have a Barking Rocks). Although I may add just a little to the overall height of the unit to add a little more to that top shelf? All shelf's will be set at a fixed height to allow for more support. I will be cutting groves in the front parallel support structures to inset the front edge of the glass shelf's and use solid strips of wood along the back edge for the glass to sit on (the strips will be attached to the wall studs).

The unit will be painted white to match the trim work of the room


Any commits or suggestions welcome!

Whoa!! I'm impressed. Be careful of Ponce de Leon and the off-shore lights (wire jobs), and out of the country lights (Pharoahs). I reserved the top of the casing (between top shelf and ceiling.)for the odd, extra high (Flying Santas).

Stephanie, I hope you are shooting pictures as you go along building your curio unit. It will be interesting to see it in different stages of development. I made the mistake of now shooting a picture of our garage before we got it cleaned up, it still isn't quite done but the transition from what it once was to what it is today is almost shocking!

Thanks Paul, Yes I am.

However the project has been put on hold. I'm actually tearing out what I have already done and will re-do later. All pieces and parts will be replaced just as they were. Thank goodness that my husband stopped me at a point where I had almost all the wood cut, but only about 10% installed.

You see I'm building the curio unit as part of a total remodel of the living room. After painting the ceiling, installing French Doors, repairing and painting the walls, I ripped out the 30 year old carpet and started on the curio. It was my plan to install Hardwood Floor after completing the curio so that I could butt the flooring up to the curio. But my husband said that I should do the floors first, and build the curio on top of the flooring. That way if later on... somewhere down the road, if we (or a new owner) want to take my curio unit out, the flooring will continue to the wall.

At this time I'm still waiting on the flooring. It's on order, but the dealer was out of stock!

Remember thought that this is no rush job, in fact it will take several months to complete. Because I'm doing all the work myself, solely by myself and I've not been in good health. I've had a lot of days where NOTHING gets done!

But I am in hopes that the wait will be worth waiting for!!! And will be sure to post pictures of the completed project.