Slimming it

Here at the Darling Duckling, post-moving chaos still reigns supreme. However, we're working hard on remedying this shortcoming. We've installed wall cabinets in the laundry room (here) and are well on our way to an actual dressing room for our clothes (here and here). Another project on our ever-growing list of things to do and projects to tackle is additional storage for our library/study/man cave.

Since the room we delegated to this task isn't the largest (but it's beautifully light and bright) we shelved our books high and wide and discovered a sliver of room for a buffet or dresser. However, most of those were too deep and visually cramped the room's lightness making ti feel tight and chockful with furniture.

That's when we discovered the versatility of wall cabinets. Browsing the local reStore we found a wall cabinet excatly 60 inches wide that would fit our space perfectly, offering storage space whithout hogging all the space.

We strapped it to the top of the Jeep and brought it home. We attached feet (read about that here), then flipped it over and admired our handiwork.

[It really fits like a glove - in this picture it's pulled away from the wall and it's trying to fool you into thinking that it's about 10 inches too long]

Since none of the boards at the store were the right width, we grabbed the widest we could get (12 inch) and added a narrower board (6 inch) to make up the difference. We attached them to each other with metal brackets screwed in from underneath and a dab of wood glue for extra strength. The seam was minimal and after some wood filler and some sanding almost invisible.

We replicated the shape of the shelves above it and used the same stain on it for a cohesive look. It's Minwax's "Provincial" which is a beautiful dark brown with a hint of warm red. Husband initially tried "English Chestnut" and boy, did that turn out orange. "Orange you glad" we only bought a small tin and changed plans after the first try :o)

In order to set it apart from the shelves and to protect it from the inevitable water ring from a drink (and other smaller catastrophes) we decided to seal it with the same waterbased sealant we are going to be using for the floor in the dressing room. Husband's been really good about applying coat after coast with a bit of sanding thrown in for a silky smooth finish.

Today I'll re-attach the door that came loose and attach handles and we're all set to move in our board games and get rid of another stack of boxes. Hurray!