Build: Media Shelves

Hans surprised me with some new toys for my birthday.  We've been talking about getting into vinyl for a while but never seriously enough to do research into the kinds of systems that are entry level with good sound quality.  Little did I know that Hans was looking into it on the sly!

Of course after we spent a few hours trimming speaker wire and figuring out how the turntable works I immediately declared that none of our furniture was appropriate for housing the stuff so we went to the hardware store the next morning.  I spent the rest of the day building some simple shelves and the next week staining, finishing, and assembling.

I didn't take any in-progress shots of the shelves.  They're pretty basic.

Each is made with three edge glued 1"x6" boards trimmed with 1"x2" pieces.

Stain and several coats of poly were applied over the course of a week.

I have discovered that while pine is still a pain for stain, gel products are more effective.

I was going for "rustic" and "industrial" here so I wasn't concerned about a little blotch-y-ness. 

Time to pump some iron!

After cleaning the mill grease off of the bits they were coated with some finishing wax. 

 Mondays are for wine and power tools!

There ya' go.  A simple shelf stack.

Between the lumber, iron plumbing, and hairpin legs

I think the total cost of materials was around $160.

Build: TV Stand

This project started in November of 2017.  I thought it was going to be a breeze but I ran into many difficulties with cutting the trim pieces and then winter was upon us.  Once it stopped raining in the springtime I was able to finish the build but then it became too hot outside for stain and poly application.

Pre-cut and drilled basic parts 

I made a box! 

Solid red oak on the sides 

More boxes!  The cats thought I made them some condos. 

At this time it got to be the holidays and then it was too cold and rainy outside to be messing around, so the project was stored in the basement for the winter

Springtime:  Red oak trim, edge-glued top and back piece added.

At this point the built became known as THE BEAST.  All of the red oak, especially the topper, made this thing weigh a ton.  It's sturdy and that's all I really care about.

I finally caught a break with the weather and got to apply some stain.  One week later I brushed on some water-based polyurethane and then lightly sanded the bumps away.  

Here is the finished project!

It's not my best work but I am happy to have a TV stand that takes up less space than the credenza did.

Lighting

Rejuvenation was having a sale a few weeks ago so I splurged on a couple of lights.  One is an industrial accent lamp that takes a decorative Edison bulb and the other is a school house style ceiling light to replace the late-nineties brass thing in our entryway.

 So much better!

Restored Antique Nightstand

Last month I purchased a nightstand and dresser set through Craigslist from a guy in Baltimore.  He said they were from around 1915 and belonged to her grandmother, who'd lived in Westchester NY.

I've been looking for simple bedroom furniture for over a year.  I came thisclose to spending a lot of money on a gorgeously restored dresser and then somebody else purchased it.  Suddenly a listing for some decent-shape antiques caught my eye so I decided to use the nightstand for practice and then I will fix up the dresser at a later time.

I purchased a stain product that is supposed to bind to pre-existing top coat but the old varnish was so worn and old that it practically fell off with the lightest touch of sand paper.  It didn't take long to bring the entire piece back to bare wood.

After filling some minor cracks and deeper gouges I sprayed the whole thing with shellac.  At this point the nightstand took on a seriously bright yellow color that is almost certainly indicative of oak construction.

I used a super dark gel stain for the first time.  It was kind of scary but really easy to use.  After that I applied two coats of polyurethane.  I like to have a glass of water nearby so I thought using an oil-based poly would be  a good idea.

The inside of the drawer was pretty ugly and stinky so I painted it with a nice clean linen acrylic.  Combined with all of the stain and poly dry time this project took me about a week from start to finish.

I'm really happy with how it turned out and feel like I've got a good handle on how to approach the dresser.

 Whoa there, yellow!

Gel stained

 Polyurethane application