How did I get into Woodworking?
Soon after we moved into this house I knew we needed something in our living room. It is a large room, and for some reason builders in 2002 don’t ever think about usable storage, especially in a builder-grade track house.
I have a bone to pick with these architects/builders. Like why would they just close in a 7’ by 4’ section of the house that could have been storage? I’ll tell you about that later.
Big (20ft) empty wall that looks tiny; with no focal point it makes the room feel pinched.
So back to this living room. Big blank wall, no focal point, poor lighting, no storage. Pretty soon I had designed a beautiful fireplace with built-in bookcases, with closed storage below it. It would give me everything. Especially the fireplace. I wanted an electric one, no heat, because hello, Arizona. I found a water-vapor one and fell hard.
But now how to get it?
Hiring someone to do it was off the table, we just don’t have that kind of money lying around and we’d already had someone else build the patio cover outside for a pretty penny. So the other option was to build it. I’d never built anything like that. I’d seen a lot of people and felt it wasn’t too hard, but my sample size of me doing something like that was zero. So when competence is uncertain my confidence is pretty close to zero.
Until I started watching women on social media doing DIY things. And then it really hit home when one of my friends said her sister-in-law built something like that. I knew the sister-in-law knew what she was capable of and felt like our skills were pretty evenly matched. Suddenly my confidence increase and I threw my fear of failure out the window. Within a week I had bought supplies.
Wait, what? Where was the planning? I’d designed it almost a year before. I had all the measurements, too. I’d even ordered the fireplace but panini* shipping meant it wasn’t going to come for ages.
So I got to work, working out my fears of the circular saw, and my own inexperience I built the parts in the garage, during nap times and evenings.
The plans included taking out the drywall, adding foam board insulation, and a frame for the fireplace. Then came the closed storage on one side, and the bookshelves to go above it. Next came the closed storage on the other side, and once all the parts came for the fireplace, it got installed. The upper bookcase came next. I was concerned about how the husband and I were going to get it into place, because I built it with mdf and it was heavier than I could lift. Miraculously, I finished everything with it while a contractor was taking care of something else and he insisted he help the husband put it in.
Figuring out how to make the doors was a fun challenge. Figuring out how to make and install the drawers was not. Drawers have been the hardest part for me still. conceptually they are easy, but in reality they aren’t.
Got the bookshelves in place for Christmas
I love every part of this. I love the contrast of color, I love the casual nature of the asymetrical nooks. I LOVE the lights and the storage, (hello Christmas decorations that aren’t in the attic). And I love having a fireplace that gives great ambience even when its blistering outside.
As soon as I finished the living room I immediately turned to my kitchen and thought “I’m going to remake those cabinets.” But first, the powder bathroom off the living room.
