So yes, it's been awhile since the last post. But it's not because we haven't been up to anything, it's actually because we've been up to so much! Well, and also because I'm not making an effort to post as often, so... yeah. Let's pretend it's mostly the first one.
Our most recently completed projects are these nifty bookcases! Well, I say bookcases, but let's be real... these were never made to hold any books (although I'm sure they'd do a fine job with books too). These were made for our movie collection. Remember when we did that work on our rec. room and got it all spiffy? One of the things we said we'd get around to eventually was carving out a nice spot for our movies. Well, we finally did it! Only took a year to actually get around to it...
The last unit we bought was cheaply made, didn't make efficient use of its size, and was overflowing. So, instead of buying another overpriced piece of junk, we decided to make our own. Since I'm awesome, I started off by making a plan on SketchUp. Remember when I did that for the loft bed? Yep, same sort of thing. I only sketched up half of it, since I just needed to know how it would go together and not see the final product. So yes, the drawing below might look a little silly.
After getting it all designed it was time to buy wood and get started. We decided to go with some nice pine boards because, well, they were pretty cheap. This is just for movies, not Faberge eggs. We got all the supplies and then Leslie cut them all per the plan dimensions. Yep, she used the miter saw and everything!
We then set to putting it all together. Most of the connections are made with pocket holes (can't pass up an excuse to get the Kreg out). We put all the small pieces together to make a bunch of larger pieces, then stained and poly'd them. A few coats of everything later and it was time for assembly. We got everything together and they ended up looking pretty great. Not bad for a couple of people who don't have tons of woodworking experience! They easily hold our collection, and with room to spare. Guess that means it's time to expand the collection even further.
We actually got through this project pretty quickly, once we actually started (so not counting the year since the rec. room revitalization). Everything was finished up in about two weeks, and that's with only working in the evenings after work and around other projects (more on those in blog posts soon to come). Total cost was pretty low too. The major cost was the wood, obviously - we spent about $140 there (would have been more like $200-something, but we had some gift cards). Then we already had most of the consumables (e.g., stain, poly, screws). So total cost for us was under $200. Considering the cheapo thing we got last time was about $80, I think this was a pretty good deal. These things are solid wood, look great, and should last a long time. Money well spent, if you ask me.
Thanks for reading and look for most posts soon!
