Preview: Finished!

With the basic boxes built it was time to turn my attention to finishing work. I knew that I wanted to stain them and that they should at least somewhat match the existing wood dresser in my bedroom. Aside from that I really hadn’t given much thought to what these side tables would look like when they were done. While I was building I just followed a plan, but when I let myself think about the finished product I felt like I could finally be creative.

Step one was staining the bookcases inside and out. I chose a color called Ipswich Pine by Minwax which was a nice warm yellow (see the before and after above). Ana recommends filling the screw holes first, but I had a different plan for those. I ripped the leftover birch plywood I’d used for the backs into 2 inch strips and covered the screw holes with them, then framed the sides out in a pseudo-mission style. Finally I filled the nail holes and stained the whole thing. It turned out pretty great!

The best part about working in a community woodshop is the people who are willing to share their time and knowledge with new people like me. I relied heavily on them at times. One particularly generous person offered some scraps of nice black walnut to trim out the top of my shelves and I gladly accepted! I was a little discouraged by a mishap with the nailer while attaching the black walnut trim, but I did eventually get it done. Check it out:

It’s subtle, but the edge trim really finishes off the shelves nicely. Finishing these shelves was so much easier than building them, but it took just as much time. I was surprised at how quickly the time went by this week!

Soon I’ll run by the woodshop with my husband’s car and bring the bookshelves home so he can get them as Christmas presents. Come back tomorrow for the final reveal and lessons learned.