I finally started building my hood to cover up my lighting rack. It’s anchored to the wall by 3 sets of door hinges to allow it to swivel upward. When it’s down, there are wood blocks that stop the side of the hood from rotating to far. In fact, the hood doesn’t sit on the tank at all. Also, my light brackets prevent the hood from falling down, in the event that the hinges fail. The hood was designed to be as light as possible. 3″ x 1″ boards were used to built the frame, 1/8″ paneling was used to cover it and standard baseboard trim was used to overlap over the tank edge. Everything is painted gloss white, with a bunch of liquid nail and silicone used to seal things up right. The top is open to allow air circulation and prevent heat buildup.
The stand uses the same baseboard molding and will blend right into the wall baseboard molding. I added a 5″ lip to finish the top and allow drinks to be placed there. Since the stand cover literally slides out from the steel stand, no doors were needed. I’ll add a waynes coating type treatment on it to make it look like there are panel doors on it. I used pocket holes to screw the 3/4″ mdf boards together, along w/ liquid nails glue.
I still need to add a crown molding, up top, to complete the look I’m after. I’m happy with it so far. Just need to add some more trim pieces to finish her up.
