I teach Sunday School. The guy who takes care of the building installed lower cabinets in my room and removed a large desk where I stored all my stuff. I needed a place to store some books (and similar), so, I decided to build some book shelves to place on the counter top.
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I had a stash of furniture grade plywood the the sides and tops. My shop is not large enough to allow me to send a sheet of plywood through my table saw, so I made the initial cuts with my Dewalt track saw, which works very well. I edge banded the plywood.
Both of my daughters helped me stain and then apply a poly finish. I used up my oil stain on this project.
The shelves are solid wood; some maple and some much less expensive wood (poplar) that I had sitting around. OK, it was all just sitting around in my basement. The shelf on the right has some of the back missing to provide access to an electrical outlet. The shelves needed to sit back roughly 1.5" because of the back part of the counter, so, I attached the top using a french cleat made from a 2x4. It worked pretty well. The bad part is that now the other teachers want me to make one for their room.
My wife has been after me to make a storage area for my daughter's room. So, I used up the rest of my furniture grade plywood (one sheet), then I purchased another sheet; and I built something large enough to hold larger storage containers. The shelves are 20" (51 cm) deep.
I asked my youngest (10 years old) how she would like me to stain the shelving unit. I expected some kind of light stain that would allow the grain to be visible; I did use furniture grade plywood for the sides and the shelves. My daughter was very insistent that she wanted this specific paint by general finishes. It looks and acts like milk paint, but, I put a tough shiny poly on it since I expect her to abuse it. Same reason I use a very expensive shiny paint (think kitchens and bathrooms) in her room. It has saved my butt a couple of times in that it is very easy to clean and deal with things such as tape on the walls.
It hurt a little to essentially paint over furniture grade plywood; I call it a labor of love. I had my two girls help me with the finish. i drafted my oldest to help me assemble and to sue the nail gun to secure the back.
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This has seriously decluttered her otherwise almost unusable room.
You will notice that the walls are similar in color to the storage shelves. My daughter was not happy with the previous color, chosen by my wife before my daughters were born. Well, she preferred a different color. My wife figured that since I had removed a bunch of stuff to get the shelving unit in place that it was a good time to repaint her room since she did not like the color. Yes, she chose that color as well. I enlisted the entire family to assist with the painting. When we were all finished, I cut in the corners along the ceiling by hand with ceiling paint because some of the greenish paint got into those corners.
And now you guys know some of what I have been doing lately.
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