Book Shelf

To finish the living room of the new apartment I decided to try an idea of mine that had been rattling about my head for a while: using hollow core doors to build Ikea-styled furniture.

After some patient searching I sourced some materials through Kijiji, though I got more than I bargained for.  How many doors can you fit in a VW Golf?  Well it depends on how your counting: 17 if you consider the bi-fold closet door pairs as one, 22 if you don't.

Before I even had a chance to get started we had found other uses for the doors.  Here we expanded Ryan's desk space and built a riser for his monitors.  The hole for the door handle provided a convenient cable pass through - a feature I employed in my own desk.

Another of the doors turned into my work bench, taped to it are the shelf spacing's: the bottom shelf needed to accommodate textbooks, the second some old wicker baskets I was using for storage, the third the stereo receiver and Xbox, and the fourth the printer.  The remaining space was divided into equal parts for general use, I got lucky and it turns out my 'equal parts' are just the right height to accommodate most novels; naturally all of this was done in Excel - <3 Excel.

Begin construction.
I used the bi-fold doors as they only required re-sizing in one dimension.

I ripped some pine to 1 1/8" using the band saw to use for shims in the cut ends of the doors and glued them in place.

I made the holes in the sides large enough to allow some clearance around the screws I was going to use since I didn't use a jig for drilling my hole in the shelves.  In the end it went together without too much trouble.  I installed threaded glides (feet) in the four corners so I could ensure the finished product sits level.

Then knocked it apart again and transported it home since the weather was to finally turn to rain, and rain it did.  It was fortunate that I didn't choose to store it in my old landlords basement as the storm turned it into a 4" swimming pool that night.  Some of my tools got wet but nothing that couldn't just be dried out, though the digital torque gauge needed to be disassembled and actively dried with a hairdryer.

In position, awaiting a decision on stain.

I went with one step espresso stain, it took a whole can for the first coat and the second turned out a little darker than I had hoped, but it still looks good.  All my spacing measurements worked out, the wicker baskets are a little sung but functional, and turns out we had a record player that needed a home - records too.  The bottom shelf needed to be shimmed with an old log book from second year engineering due to the weight of the textbooks.  I will install a couple more  threaded glides, - front and back along the mid-line of the shelf - when it comes down in the next move.

Shipwreck Bed Frame

My old bed platform finally died just before my last move, leaving my mattress unceremoniously on the floor.  While knocking down a tree for one of my parent's neighbours and friends I saw a couple old wharves washed up on their beach which gave me inspiration.

So soon enough I was hopping about the rocks with a pry bar and a 10 lb sledge knocking apart boards while staying (mostly) out of the water.

Then back to the workshop.

After a couple design concepts I settled on 6" x 3/8" lag bolts for securing the rails and large door hinges for hanging the centre stringer under the slats - the hinges were salvaged from an relative's old door that was replaced during renovations.  The slats were the only bit of non-wharf wood in the project, they were ripped from scraps around the house and workshop.

To cut the recesses for the head and foot rails in the 4x4 posts I used the oscillating tool attachment for my Black & Decker Matrix - awesome tool, highly recommended, especially for nomadic builders such as myself.

In the background are the unfinished pieces of my new bookcase.

I had to use my automotive impact gun to install the bolts, wound up shattering one through a knot.
I didn't have much for scraps left over when everything was done, at least done as I could be, I was still missing a board for the bottom of the headboard's secret compartment (ssssh), but the sea shall provide.

I have to hand it to the VW engineers, they really pulled off some interior space magic; just when you think a thing cannot possibly fit, it does.  Probably should have taken this into consideration for the design in the first place...

Installation (using impact driver head for the B&D Matrix).

I used a couple of old Ikea lamps that I had on my bedside table for built in lighting, I fed the cords through the sides just under the headboard top decking and mounted the switches behind the corner posts.

Finished product.
While I may not have taken trunk dimensions into consideration for the headboard design, I did design it to be level with the window sill of the bedroom - make sure you account for the thickness of the felt pads on the legs!  Sure this window will probably never be a feature again, but whatever, I needed a design constraint, so that was it.  I also gave generous clearance for the baseboard radiator via cutouts in the bottom rear of the headboard; I find it unfortunate when trim or other obstructions prevent furniture from being flush with the wall.