Little White Shelf

After my last success I was eager to continue with woodworking, so I decided to build a little shelf with the scraps of  left-over wood. (plans found here) Very simple straightforward construction. I did, however, learn a lesson this time when I discovered how a tiny error, a piece cut just slightly too short, can make a big difference, and ended up with a lop-sided shelf with an optical illusion effect. But I was determined, so I knocked it apart and made some adjustments. The result is slightly less wonky. Some wonkyness is due to a lack of necessary wood, requiring me to  cut a 1×4 in half LENGTHWISE with my jigsaw, which was hard to do nicely.

I painted it quickly with a wash of the same paint used for the bench mixed with water. I know, I know…..it is  a tad boring. But I don’t know what room it will end up in, and we haven’t made any big colour decor choices, so it’s white for now. (Having said that, it looks quite pink in the photo, but it is white!) Of course, in the new house the shelf will be attached to the wall – just use your imagination for now.

On The Bench

Well, I’ve finished my bench! Sort of. I wanted to create some kind of distressed finish and so I went with the instructions found here for a heavily distressed finish. To be honest, I chose this technique because, as I already had some white paint, it only required me to by some wood stain, rather than another paint colour and primer….  So for my bench, I did two coats of stain and then three coats of French Cream latex eggshell paint. So that was good. But when I got to the distressing, I found (to my distress. haha) that the stain must have penetrated the under-layers of white paint, causing any areas I sanded to be yellow. I wrote The Frugal Designer to see if she had any idea and she responded (very promptly I might add!) and explained the stain penetration and suggested that it would be beneficial to seal the stain before painting. So…next time! I could probably sand all the paint off, add more stain, seal it and then begin the process again but I’m not sure I will. You can see our conversation about this topic in the comments below the instructions, in case you are thinking of trying this technique yourself. I’m not overly bothered by the yellowing. I’m also pretty proud of my first carpentry project and am excited to move it into the new house! So I’ll probably just love it the way it is and move on.

Building a Bench

I, even I, am building a bench. Remember when I said I needed to build some furniture? Well, this is attempt number one. In fact, the bench is pretty much built, and is now awaiting sanding, general tidying up and finishing. I found the instructions online, but me being me, I had the irresistable urge to modify it, even though this is easily my first woodworking project since…..well, a LONG time. I made the bench shorter (38″) and changed the design of the legs. It’s hard to get exciting pictures of the bench at this stage, so I’ll include the following simply as proof! I’ll write more about the whole experience when it’s finished!