Building a Computer Desk

I consider myself a decent carpenter. I have built all type of things out of wood from decks, houses, boats and furniture. For a while now I have been day dreaming about build myself a nice big computer desk with plenty of shelves for all of my books and other junk. This past weekend I decided it was time to put all my thoughts to work and build the desk.
The desk needed to be cheap but good looking. I chose to build it out of 1" pine lumber because it is the cheaper lumber, soft and easy to work with, and looks pretty good. I plan on painting the desk a light color so I am not concerned about buying expensive wood with beautiful wood grains running through it. Pine is just fine!
So my work began and in about 4 hours I had my basic structure up, no problem.
There is still alot to be done but it is coming along nicely and was pretty simple.

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BUILDING A CABINET WITH OTHER FURNITURE

 

I built this cabinet using 3 different pieces of furniture, trim, appliques, and 2 pine doors.

 

 

 

A pair of simple nightstands with drawers were screwed together for the base cabinet and the doors

were used to close in the open section of the nightstands for hidden storage.

 

 

 

 

I mimicked the oval shapes in the applique and the drawer handles.

 

 

 BACK                             FRONT?

 

Here are some close ups to help understand how 3 different moldings were used to frame the base.

 

 

The square embellishment (plastic) was attached to a thick square of wood before being installed.

 

 

The top was built using a discarded bookshelf frame and 10" boards
from an old waterbed frame were used for shelves.
The top was trimmed in more moldings and the sides got banister turnings.
Im in love with this new wallpaper and lined everything I could on this piece.

 

The cabinet is built in 2 pieces so it can easily be transported. The top simply sits on the bottom.

And I kept it!

 

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ALSO ...

Stop in to see whats new in shabby chic white hardware available at firstfinds.

 

There are over 1000 pieces of used hardware to choose from

Etsy Shop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Building your own house!

Have you ever thought about building your own house?
Think about it.... When most young couples buy a house they finance it for many many years, they will be paying for their house almost until the day they retire. Most house payments around the Southeast are in the $1000 a month range. Also, the first ten years of payments on a house are generally just enough to pay the interest off, so until the eleventh year people are just now paying for the actual house! Its so difficult to imagine, but its true.
I have putting alot of thought into building my own house one day. There are alot of different things that I want my house to be.
-energy efficient- solar panels, excellent insullation, lots of natural light, LED light fixtures, and many more "green" things
-designed with future additions to the house in mind
-modern looking
I love the thought of not having a house payment every month, have low or no utility bills, the satisfaction of building my own house. I am a carpenter and I am capapble of building a house on my own right now. But like most people, money is a current issue but things can be done about that!

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Ship Building Viking ships

Hi Everyone,
Ive been researching craft traditions in other countries and one of the oldest traditions is of course ship building. There have been ships as long as there have been people and one of the best know traditions are the ships that the Vikings built.
These look like shallow draft vessels, made by hand and in these vessels they sailed all over Europe and even across the northern Atlantic Ocean.
There is a replica being built in Norway and there is a YouTube video that discusses this construction and the historical element behind it.
Go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/robinturns#p/a/f/0/tnRXdmqZWqw. The craftsmanship in these old vessels is absolutely amazing.
And for those of you who have a bent for the unusual and the historical--Ill be talking about coracles soon!
Best,
Vickie

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