Hot Boyfriend Blog

Here is another attempt at carpentry by me.  It's sort of a combination of one of those ladder bookshelves and a nightstand.  It's higher than most nightstands because my bed is higher than most.  (You can also see that my bed has trouble staying made.) It didn't turn out too bad, but there are a few problems. 

The side boards are 2x6s because I wanted it to be extra sturdy and I wanted to make slots in them for the shelves (look closely and you can see that the shelves are embedded in the sides).  Lowe's only had frame quality 2x6s and no furniture quality ones.  I guess no one makes furniture out of 2x6s (except me).  So they were a little rough.  Lots of sanding and wood putty covered most of it up though. 

The angles for the shelf slots were tricky as well.  I used trigonometry to figure out the correct cutting angles (yes kids, you can use that mathy stuff for practical things in life).  Even with my math skilz, the cuts were a little sloppy.  Although in my defense, I only had a circular saw and a chisel and hammer to work with.

I don't know if it was the best solution, but I used glue and finish nails to put it all together.  Unfortunately, one of the 2x6s was a little warped so it didn't quite fit flush against the wall.  I used my carpentry muscle to twist and strain it.  It was still off square, but after putting some books on the shelves, it connected to the wall.  Hopefully, it will conform permanently after it's been there a while.

I know the wires look ugly.  I'm thinking of getting some wire guides of some sort and running them along the back of the bottom shelf and then down along the leg so they are less noticeable. 

Well, overall, it was a pretty fun project and I got my friend Kerry to help since he has a drill press and we used it to make dowel holes for holding the shelf "lips" on.  I'm pretty happy with it and so is PQ.  In fact, he wants me to make him one now.  Happy carpentry!

HB 

First, the before pics....

This first picture shows PQ and our good friend Jen taking down crappy wallpaper with green criss-cross stripes. Also note the pointless half-wall between the kitchen and dining room.


Second before pic shows the old microwave, crappy blinds, atrocious pee-colored tile, and more crappy wallpaper above the cabinets.


Behold! the kitchen that is now. Pointless wall replaced with beautiful breakfast bar. New tile. Wallpaper be gone! And a new microwave, wood blinds, and light fixture.


One more view from the other side of the breakfast bar.


I love the new kitchen, but I am relieved to get this thing done. We did all the work ourselves since we've had a couple of nightmare experiences with contractors in the past. This represents about a month of PQ and me working our collective ass off. We know the inside of Lowe's like the backs of our hands. Lots of money and arguments later, and I still think it was completely worth it.

HB

Having not posted in a while, this will be a guilt-driven entry. However, I'll try to make it somewhat interesting. Since no one reads my blog, though, I guess it really doesn't matter.

My manpanion's birthday fell on Sunday/Mother's Day. I got him some pretty nifty stuff for his Mac Mini computer. He's into broadcasting and music, so I got him a midi interface to hook up our keyboard, a keyboard stand, a USB microphone, and a CD that teaches the piano. We already had the keyboard, so I figured one of us should learn to use it. I got him other stuff too, and he loved all my gifts. Do I know my boyfriend or what?

Being that he works at Crate & Barrel (although no longer as of last Thursday) we were browsing there together the week prior to his birthday. He pointed out a CD shelf that he liked and remarked that - by the way - with his employee discount he could get it for $40 (not to mention that his birthday was coming up - hint, hint). I "pfawed" on the spot and said I could easily make such a simple shelf for much less money and of higher quality. He called me on it. --Oops.

So, Sunday, I went shopping for the materials and manly tools I would need at Lowe's. About $90 later, I was ready to go. I measured, cut, sanded, assembled and stained my way to a final product. It didn't look bad, but unfortunately I forgot to take the width of the boards into account and the CDs wouldn't quite fit on some of the shelves. Oh, well - first try is only practice. My boyfriend professed to love it anyway (he's special that way) and said the smallish shelves could be used for candles or tchotchkies and such.

Anyway, now I've got the woodworking bug a little bit. Maybe I'll have more carpentry adventures in the near future. Stay tuned...