Ikea Lack Lookalike?

I’ve been in the mood to build lately.  Yesterday I finished an Ikea Lack inspired bookshelf from the plans on the Ana White site.

I have to say, of everything that I’ve made so far, this is my favorite. It was the most fun to build, and I finished it, start to finished, in about 8 hours. And that includes painting and dry time. And I love the color. Its the banana yellow by Benjamin Moore from the Natura range.

I chopped and sanded everything in the garage, then assembled inside because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to move this thing too far on my own.

I used 2 drills to speed up the process; one with a countersink drill bit, and the other with a square head driver.

I used it initially because I was using Kreg screws, but I found that the square head works well with phillips head screws too.

Assembly was quick.

I drilled my holes as I went along because I attached each shelf  to the sides in the back first,

then checked to make sure everything was level, and that all of my corners were square before attaching the shelves to the front sides.

Then I painted her yellow, and call her my sunshine. It makes me happy just looking at it. It’s a bright, creamy yellow, so it isn’t overpowering. 2 coats of paint, light sanding, and 2 coats of poly.

Right now, I’m debating whether or not I want to build a twin, or if instead I’ll make a table to sit behind my Kivik. I’m leaning toward the latter.

Talk to you in the next one!

I need a desk.

For the past few months, I’ve been working from the chaise of my Kivik.

When I moved, I didn’t bring my desk so for now, this is all that I have. It’s fairly functional, and I’m usually pretty productive, but it is nearly impossible to stay organized or find what I need when I need it.

Then there’s also the occasional distraction visitor who likes to unhelp with everything.

Since I’ve been here, all my stuff has been scattered around my house, stashed in piles against various walls in my bedroom and dining room. So, I decided to pull it all out, gather it up into one spot, and figure out what type of office solution I need.

My current pile rests in the middle of my dining room so that it’ll bother me enough to address it immediately. I don’t have too much though. Especially since I went through and weeded out the unessential. With a desk, a couple of file drawers, and a bookshelf or 2, and I should have what I need.

This will be fun…I have sooo many ideas!

Off to make a mood board, or 2. Talk to you in the next one!

Elle V the Builder?

I’ve always been pretty handy. Ask my mom, she’ll tell you. I was her go to fix it and put it together person for many years up until I moved.

So when I came across the Ana White site, and saw a community of mostly women building their own furniture, I said to myself, “Self, you can do that too!” And so I did.

I used the plans for her vegetable bins, but modified them slightly. They’re very similar to the ones I wanted from Land of Nod. Overall, I’m happy with the way it turned out.

I started building the shelving unit for the super hero’s closet. So far it’s been sanded and primed, but still needs to have the Kreg jig holes filled,  and be covered with a couple of coats of paint and poly. Oh, and there’s also that massive hole where one of my knots fell out

At this point though, I have to say I’m proud of myself. It was my first project, and it went fairly smoothly. But there were a couple of hiccups.

For one, a few of my boards had small cracks in them. Luckily only the ends that I didn’t end up using split. I placed my order online, and let the people at Lowes choose my wood for me. Next time, I’ll know better and choose my own.

Secondly, I did all of the cutting with my jigsaw. I do not recommend that unless you have a very sturdy hand. I wasn’t brave enough to use my circular saw this time, so my cuts are uneven, but it’s going into the closet so I’m not too bothered by it.

I still want  to build a similar piece of shelves to sit on top of this piece, and another with deeper cubbies, for this one to sit on. Then this mess containment system will be complete.

That’s all for now!