Two for One!

My project for today actually turned out to be two projects in one (sorry for such a long post)!



It is my first real woodworking or building project completely from scratch. It's only a very simple bookcase, but it's something I needed and building it has given me the confidence to try my hand at woodworking again. Here's how it came together.

First, I assembled my materials.



And I gathered my tools, most of which were purchased at yard sales.



And then it was time to saw, hammer and nail. I attached the sides to the back first, and then the top and bottom.
Look, now I have (drumroll...) a large box!



And now for the moment of truth....is it level?



Yes!!!!
Time to put the shelves in!



The next step was painting...white, of course, and then I added some vintage ephmera to the back. I only taped it in place so that it would be easy to change. Finally, I added some wheels for easy portability. Here are some close-ups of the shelves. The first shelf features the cover from a piece of 1920's sheet music.


Here it is after I added some decorative objects. The little blue box also serves as storage for my plate hangers.


On the second shelf I used some vintage sheet music, a remnant of scrapbooking paper, and a vintage style postcard.


It holds some books, a family photo, and a vintage flower brooch. The book covers are made from aqua wrapping paper to coordinate with the room.


For the third shelf I added some old book pages and a piece of vintage sheet music. I really like the title of this song, "Why Must I Dream".


Here's another storage box; this one holds my plate and photo easels. I put the toile container on top because I like it, but I'm certain that it will soon become the stash place for something!


I put some additional sheet music on the bottom shelf, along with more old book pages, one of which, has photographs.


More books and a little milkglass sherbet for the bottom shelf.


Here's a photo of the finished bookcase, pictured with some other recent projects.


After putting it where I'd planned, I realized it needed something else. The front was facing the dining area, but the back was facing the guest/project room and looked rather blah. (I'll show you the bookcase in its permanent spot when I do the room reveal a little later.) At any rate, I decided it would look nice semi disguised as a column, so out came the pencil. I did a few practice sketches of columns on paper to find a design that I was happy with. Then I penciled the sketch to the bookcase.



I "painted" it by going over the outline with a wide Sharpie marker. Gotta love those little Sharpies --- one of my favorite "tools" anyway!


Here's the finished result.


So now it's a bookcase on one side and a column on the other.



Again, sorry for such a long post, but I just had to share my first absolutely from scratch furniture project.

Until next time,
Sheilla