Thursday, December 16, 2010

Hailey's Christmas bookcase




We'll I'm frantically trying to finish a bookcase for my God-daughter, Hailey's Christmas present. her brother, Reid, has a nice big built-in bookshelf in his room and I think Hailey's a bit jealous. These kids are wonderful readers and just love books so they have quite a collection and not a whole lot of place to put them. That's the inspiration for this piece. I did some online searching on google images for a bookcase suitable for a little girl's room and came across a photo I liked. The case had to be both challenging to increase my skill level and be simple enough that I'd be able to finish it by Christmas. I started it with lots of time to spare and had most of the case put together over a weekend. but, of course, life steps in. My wife wanted me to finish a basement bedroom and that took precendence for a few weeks and worked got hectic. Same old story. So here I am, 8 days from Christmas eve and I've yet to start putting any paint on the thing. I turned the feet last night and tonight I plan on attaching the feet to the case bottom plinth, attach the plinth and the top to the case and then start the drawers. of course, the drawer fronts are curved and I'd like to dovetail the drawers at least at the front, which will add some complication but I think that by the end of this weekend I'll be able to put my first coat of primer on the case and then spend the evenings next week applying 2-3 coats of white paint. Wish me luck and Merry Christmas