The household shrine is an in-the-wall niche to display a personal treasure -- maybe great-granddad's sterling silver baby cup, or the last of grandma's set of six antique Murano wine glasses.  Smaller items can be placed on a riser block to center them visually in the available space.  The shrine at left is in cherry wood.

I have two shrines in a narrow stairway that presently hold carvings of my kids.  Because they are tucked in the wall they're less likely to get knocked down, (like when the cat jumps up on the hall table).

I make the shrines in my one-man cabinet shop.  They are constructed of various solid and laminated woods and have a clear satin finish.  So far, I've made them in cherry, mahogany, walnut, and tiger maple.  It is a very labor intensive process involving many tools and jigs and I get to use very nice pieces of wood that would otherwise be unusable in a larger project.

Description

The inside dimensions are 8 5/8" high, 5" wide, and 4 1/2" deep.  The shrines are specifically designed to fit in a standard 2" by 4" stud wall with 1/2" sheetrock surfacing, although they can accomodate a wall surface of up to 7/8" thick.  Screws under the column caps cause toggles to swing out from the sides of the shrine and tighten to grip the wall surface between the toggles and the shrine's face frame.  (See photo at right, a mock-up of an inside-the-wall view of an installed shrine.)

If you consider yourself a handyperson and have the tools and the ability to use them, you may be able to install a shrine yourself.  Otherwise, a carpenter could do it in a half-hour or so.

Installation

The critical first step is to determine whether or not your walls can accommodate a shrine.  The easiest way to check is to remove a switchplate on an interior wall.  There will be a gap around the electrical box, which is why God created switchplates.  (Photo at right shows an exceptionally sloppy example.)  Here you can see a cross section of the wall covering.  Any exposed wiring will be inside the electrical box.  Don't stick your fingers or anything else in the box.  However, a bamboo skewer or thin strip of plastic can often be used to gauge the wall depth outside of the box.  (Something non-conductive, please.)  With 1/2" sheetrock covering a nominal 2" by 4" stud wall, the depth from the surface should be 4"

Interior walls are best for shrine placement, though exterior walls can be used if you are willing to move a bit of insulation around and lose that much thermal protection.  Walls above or below plumbing fixtures are likely to contain piping runs and should be avoided.

An electronic stud finder, (at left, $10 or $15 at the hardware store), will locate studs behind the wall surface and let you know where placement is possible.  (I put a strip of masking tape on the wall and mark the edges of the studs with pencil.)  Check vertically within the denoted space as well, to locate any possible fire blocking.  A shrine must be placed at least 1" away from any stud in the wall to leave room for the gripping toggles.

Now you can hold the shrine up against the wall to find where it looks right.  When you have it where you want it, level it with a small spirit level held on the front step, hold the shrine firmly against the wall and trace the back on the wall with a pencil.

Cut out the profile with a wallboard saw, (photo at right).  To start the cut, put the saw tip somewhere on the profile line and hit it with the heel of your hand (or something else) and drive the blade in.  Cut along the line as closely as possible, making your cut perpendicular to the wall surface and barely removing your pencil line.  The right angle at the bottom of the profile requires that you start a new cut to keep your line crisp.  If you've left a bit of the pencil line, you may need to trim a bit more off.  (You can practice your cuts well inside of the profile to refine your technique.  Also, a small practice hole is easier to repair if you miss-step in the placement of the shrine.)

The photo at left shows the shrine with one toggle extended and one in its recess.  With the caps off, you can see the holes for access to tighten the shrine against the wall surface.

Check that the toggles pivot freely, tuck them into their recesses, and center the shrine in the hole.  See that it sits level and there are no gaps visible around the perimeter.  (If your sawing strayed too far outside the line, shift the shrine to cover them.)  Use a Phillips-head screwdriver to tighten the toggles, which will swing out from the sides and snug the shrine firmly against the wall.  Do not over-tighten the screws,  which could cause the screws to strip out.  (If you use a powered screwdriver, use the lowest torque setting and then check tightness with a hand screwdriver.)

The last step is to cover the screw holes with plinth and capitol caps.  The larger caps, (plinths), go on the column bottoms, tight to the horizontal step.  The smaller ones, (capitols), go on the tops of the columns and should just cover the line between column and arch.  The easiest and best way to attach them is with a small amount of hot-melt glue from a glue gun applied to the inside of the caps in such a way as to avoid squeeze-out.  Hold the caps in place until the glue cools and firms up.  Double-sided tape would work as well, but the foam-type tape should be avoided, as it is too thick and will leave a visible gap between column and cap.

The installation is now complete.  The only thing left to do is vacuum up the dust and fill the shrine with something you like.

Please send questions and comments to me at:  jedahlborg@gmail.com