Console Table Project

Built a console table to stand behind the sofa in our family room.

The top is of bubinga and was created by joining two boards to create a top that is 15 1/2 inches wide and about 5 1/2 feet long.

The base is fairly simple consisting of four straight legs, an apron around the top, and a small shelf near the bottom. The base is entirely out of poplar. The legs were created from three 3×1 pieces glued and planed to create square legs 2 1/4″ on each side. The apron was attached to the legs via pocket screws as were the supports under the shelf. The shelf was then glued and nailed to the supports.

Here’s a pic after assembly. I haven’t actually attached the top to the base yet, but just laid it on top to get a sense of the final “look” and to show it in it’s eventual spot.

An incomplete and "unfinished" view of the table project.

The top and base will have different finishes applied, so I don’t want to attach the two until after finishing.  I haven’t decided how to attach the top yet, but I will probably just fix scrap blocks to the inside top of the apron and then screw through these into the top.

Thanks for looking. I’ll post an update once Laura and I get the finish applied.

Wine Rack

Built my first wine rack. Modeled it after one I saw online. It has four “columns” where the first three hold 19 bottles and the last column is made to hold larger bottles and holds 17. So a full rack will hold 74 bottles. As you can see, it’s pretty empty, so I suspect it will take a long while til I get it filled up.

Wine Rack (click to enlarge)

My goal is to eventually build a second one and put the two of them into a small wine “cellar” in the basement. Of course, that’s a while off.

Settlers of Catan Game Board

Settlers of Catan (SoC) is a great game. We discovered it last year and have played it regularly since. The standard game is for 4 players, but there is an expansion set that lets you play with 5-6 players (which we bought).  You can find further information about the game at it’s website: http://www.catan.com/.

The game pieces themselves are a bit of a problem: the game consists of a number of hexagonal pieces that are placed inside a border. This border is made up of a handful of cardboard pieces that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.  Here’s a snapshot of the game setup:

Settlers of Catan Setup

In the picture above, the blue “border” is actually six separate pieces that lock together.  The hexes fit inside them. The result is that the “border” holds the hex pieces tightly together. Unfortunately, since these pieces are just heavy cardboard stock, the border pieces work fine at first, but quickly start to warp, the interlocking pieces don’t lock very well, and the borders don’t hold the hexes very well any more.  If you can imaging putting this board together by first adding a coaster onto each border piece to hold it flat and still while you add all the hexes, you’ll understand the frustration. Additionally, once the board is set up, if you so much as “touch” the border during gameplay, the entire board is shifted and the hexes get pushed over and under the border and the pieces need to be re-set (and those hexes have little wooden playing pieces strategically placed atop them and those all get jiggled and need to be put back as well).

I’m sure anyone who has played the game knows what I mean. 😉

Bench Project

I recently finished up a bench project that I had been working on and off for some time. This was something Laura wanted for the “mud room” so you can sit down to take off your shoes when you come inside and it also provides a place for your shoes.  The bench is going to sit over a air register, so I used slats for the shoe “rack” so they could dry in the winter time.

Here’s the result:

Finished Bench

Bookcases for the Study – Final

When we last left the bookcases, they were “mostly” done, but we were still hadn’t added the crown molding.  We added the crown molding months ago, but I never took pictures of them to put up on the blog.  So without further ado, here is a close-up of the crown molding.

Crown Molding

And this is the final view of the bookcase with the crown molding in place:

Finished Bookcases

We think the final result turned out great and we added a lot of additional storage to the study!

Caden’s Bed

Intro

So here is the result from my latest project, building a bed for my nephew, Caden.  My sister-in-law found a bed at Pottery Barn that had drawers underneath that she thought would be a nice first big bed for her son.  My helpful wife told her “don’t spend that kind of money on the bed, Paul can build that”.

While I appreciate the confidence, I prefer choosing my own projects. 🙂

Anyway, I set about designing the bed based on the picture in the PB catalog.

Here is how it turned out:

Caden's Bed

Note the three drawers underneath.  There are three more on the other side for a total of six drawers of storage.

Caden just loves his new “big boy” bed!

TV Component Shelves – Completed

So Laura and I finished the TV Component shelves.  After the pictures in part 1, we noticed the shelves had a bit of a sag in the middle.  To combat this, I added another strip of wood to the back of the shelves.  This was similar to the bullnose on the front, but I didn’t rout the back, I just left it square since you can’t see them.  I also added a cross brace in the middle of the shelves (front to back as they are installed).  I don’t know that this really did anything, but as long as I was “reinforcing”, I figured it couldn’t hurt. 😛

Laura purchased some baskets for the PS3 controllers, games, and even one for blankets at the bottom (for cold nights). And apparently our little gargoyle has a new home as well…

Here is a picture of the final product (and yes, I did straighten out those cords, so it doesn’t look messy)

Finished Shelves 1

Dartboard Cabinet – Complete

Well the big news is that I decided not to add lights to the dartboard cabinet after all.  Just didn’t want to deal with the added complications.  I may come back to that in the future, but I think the cabinet turned out very nice without it.

Here is the final version of the cabinet hanging on the wall:

Dartboard Cabinet - Complete

TV Component Shelves – Part 1

Last weekend I built three shelves to fit in a cubby we have below the TV and next to the fireplace.  These shelves would hold the components for the TV (Receiver, DVR, etc.) as well as some extra space for DVDs, games, accessories, etc.

So here are the three shelves installed but unpainted.  I used the same technique I used to create the shelves for the bookcases but in this case I used MDF instead of plywood but with a a poplar 1×2 routed to a bullnose mounted on the front of the shelf.  This gives the shelf a ‘beefier’ look and hides the unfinished edge of the MDF panel.

Unpainted TV Shelves

Previously, we just had our old server in the cubby with the components on top.

Dartboard Cabinet – Coming Soon

I started work on my next woodworking project, a Dartboard Cabinet, this last weekend.  So far I haven’t spent much time, just glued up some boards for the cabinet case and back.  I plan on building the cabinet box with poplar for the top and sides and cork-lined plywood for the back.  I haven’t decided what to do for doors yet, but I suspect I’ll play around with creating an arched top on them.  This cabinet will be on the inside wall of the living room (opposite the Pool Cue Rack I previously built).

Since a dartboard cabinet can be pretty straight-forward, I’ve decided to complicate the project a bit by adding…lights!  Yep, LED lights to be exact.  I’m currently planning on having four LEDs around the cabinet box (essentially at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock on the clock face) to illuminate the dartboard and an additional two on the inside of the doors where I plan on having the scoreboards (chalk boards, nothing too fancy). I’ll need to add a switch somewhere to turn it on and off and hide the batteries as well (it will run off 4 AA’s).

I’ve already created the necessary circuit board for the LEDs.  I just have to come up with a way to mount them on the cabinet so they are: a) secure; b) easily replaceable; and c) can’t get hit by the darts.

Should be fun! Stay tuned…