Let in the Breeze

This post is a little overdue because of all the major landscaping and bathroom changes that I wanted to write about, but back in late summer/early fall, we finally decided to build shelves into the bedroom that could hold our window fan, so that we could turn off the A/C pull in some cool outside air and lower the temperature inside. (Yes, I realize now that it's November, this post isn't very relevant.)

Months before that, we bought a 6' by 8'' ash board that would make two equal size shelves with only one cut. D made the slice and the rest was up to me. I sanded everything with medium fine to fine sand paper, wiped them down, and then got ready to coat them with Minwax Polycrylic. I haven't tried many other protective coats but from doing a lot of reading online, I decided a while back that this was probably the best bet for coating light or painted wood because it doesn't yellow. I've also had good luck with wax, but these shelves would rubbing up against our curtains and wax could potentially rub off.

We don't have cable but on the few occasions a year that I visit my parents, I try to pick up lots of home repair techniques. One that I learned last year (discussing how to paint a door) was to put a nail into each side and prop the shelves up on it between two saw horses. This way I could stain both sides at once by carefully spinning the shelf around. The nail holes were barely noticeable when I pulled the nails out.

I put on three coats of polycrylic over the course of a few days. I sanded each layer with very fine sandpaper but was disappointed in the end at the overall finish, which felt very course. After a little research on the Internet, I learned that ash is porous and so its actually impossible to get a fine, glassy finish no matter how much you sand. Oh well--this is one of those things that no one besides me will ever notice. In any case, the wood is protected in case we leave a window open one rainy night and it gets a little wet.

Next came installation. The hardest part was getting the !@#%^%$ stickers off the Ikea brackets. A lot of baby oil and elbow grease!

Unfortunately and despite multiple tries with our stud finder, we couldn't find a place to put the brackets that hit any studs. So we used molly bolts and said a little prayer that our 13 pound cats wouldn't take an interest in hanging out on the shelves. At least not both at once.  In the end, they look pretty good and offer an easy way to pull back the curtains as well.

Most important, it's a perfect fit for the fan! Come spring, we'll be able to circulate some cool air around the room without having to build a tower out of boxes and books (seriously--that was our previous makeshift solution).

Now I just have to find some things to store on the lower shelf to make everything look more complete.  Both shelves are totally hidden when the curtains are closed, so it's a nice place to quickly hide clutter as well.