Some Shelves

The house is filled with holiday cheer but since D has yet to take pretty pictures with his SLR and tripod, we'll settle for a post on shelves instead.

Since April, I've wanted to solve my dilemma on how to create a nightstand that wouldn't block access to my under-bed pull-out storage. First I desperately wanted with drawers (storage is a big theme for me, like Ikea and hanging pictures). Then I just wanted something to put my alarm clock on within reach. First I tried using a plant stand:

But it didn't really stay put when it needed to be there and it didn't move easily when I needed to move it (when getting things out from the drawers, for example).

Then we decided to buy a 5' length of reclaimed wood from a tree that was cut down in our area, sold at a sort of thrift store version of Home Depot, for our window bench. When we cut it down to size, there was a piece left over perfect as a nightstand. So here is our bench and nightstand, all cut from the same board:

For the nightstand, the brackets, like so much in our house, are from Ikea. A product so cheap and small that it doesn't appear to be on the website. And because the curtains are a little too long (because we weren't willing to shell out for custom lengths), we had to sort of bubble them out. But I actually like the effect.

D cut the pieces and we both took turns sanding (SOOOO much easier to sand down a flat object with an orbital sander, unlike chair legs by hand!):

Then, since these pieces are not going to be used heavily, I tried coating them with paste wax instead of the more noxious, hard to handle polyurethane and polyacrylic I usually use. It dried in 15 minutes and, even with a few coats, only took about an hour and half from start to finish.

Because the wood isn't completely straight, it's not flush with the wall in the window area. We painted some plywood white and nailed it down first, so that there wouldn't be a gap. Actually, the extra drapery helps hide the plywood, which you can see when I pull it up:

D did an excellent job cutting the piece at the corner, too. So thanks to one piece of $60 wood and a little on plywood and wax, we ended up with two nice shelves that go with our "foresty" bedroom look! And I can finally reach my alarm clock in the morning!