Kristen's Birthday Present last year (2010)

This was my first woodworking project I made. We had an ugly cheap cabinet thing that Kristen had kept from college (which we used to store our adult beverages) and I decided it was time to upgrade to something more adultish.

I decided from the beginning that I wanted to design it and do it from scratch..All of the wood came from Home Depot or Lowes, I designed the size and shape based on the pre-cut sizes that they have on hand at both of the stores. Since I only had a drill and skil saw, I wanted to keep it as simple as possible since I really don't know what the heck I'm doing. Looking back it could have been a bit cheaper, but part of the problem was I was buying tools as I went since I didn't really know what I would need.

Alrighty, This is what I did...

What you will need:
1) Skil saw
2)Electric Drill
3) Speed Square
    (for straight cuts - http://www.amazon.com/Swanson-SO101-7-inch-Speed-Square/dp/B00002255O)
4) Screws
5) Wood Glue
6) Hand Planer
7) Finishing Sander/Sand paper
8) Wood (I would be more than happy to measure my piece again if you would like to skip the hassle of figuring out how much wood you need)
9) Clamps (I did not use them, however looking back I should have)


Instructions:
1st: Before going to the store, make sure you know the exact amount of wood you are planning on buying. It is easiest to do if you design it based on the same types of board (ie 6" or 12"), this will allow you to just purchase multiple feet instead of a little of this or a little of that. I used Poplar since it is a hardwood, and it was a lot cheaper than cherry or oak.

2nd: Cut all of your boards to length and number/catagorize them based on where they will be used.

3rd: Start connecting the pieces together. Since I really didn't know what I was doing, I would glue two sections together and then take a smaller piece of Poplar to connect the two (see picture of the back board below. This added some durability, and looking back this saved me from using clamps)

                             (Back piece. I ended up being able to use the brace as a shelf support)

4th: Next I connected both the right and left sets of legs together (again using wood glue and screws)

As well as the top of the piece...

5th: Once I had the major sections connected, I attacted the all 4 legs to the back board and connected the top (again using screws and wood glue).

NOTE: In order to sink the screws (to make them flush with the wood), I used a drill bit that was the same diameter as the screw head... They make drill bits that are used for this exact purpose, but I found that if I was careful, I could sink the screw without taking too much wood with it.

6th: Attach Shelf using small level and screws (As I said before, I rested the back of the shelf on the brace that I connected to the back board)

7th: Next came the doors for the front. In order to add a little character, I used a small 1" X 1/2 trim piece to add a boarder to each door (I used the speed square at a 45 degree angle to get all sides to match up). Once I had that completed, I put the trim on the doors and put the doors on the cabinet. (This was a lot of trial and error, all the doors were a bit larger than they should have been so I had a hard time getting each to sit as flat as I wanted it to. I used a hand planer to remove the excess wood (this was a lot slower than using the circular saw, however I wanted to make sure I didn't take too much off).

8th: Next I attached the hardware I purchased (at Lowes, just something cheap, I am not great getting things to match, so my method is whatever isn't ugly but is cheap)... Unfortunately, Kristen pointed out that my top pulls were too high; thus I had to redrill the holes a little lower and fill the originals with wood filler.

NOTE: To ensure the pulls are level with each other, once one is in place, use a small level and mark the spot on the opposite side where the bubble is level. This worked for me both times.

9th: The last step for me was to take all the doors back off in order to paint it. I decided to do a primer coat of a light blue with two top coats of white... I left the doors and the inside of the cabinet blue, as well as distressed the paint a bit once it was dry (I used a metal file for the distressing). One additionally note, The hardward I choose ended up getting scratched up when I was distressing it, however it ended up making them look a little less cheap so it ended up being a good thing.



It is still currently standing, thus I consider it a success. As you can see from my 'sketch', I original idea did not end up working out, but I like how it ended up so its all good.

Holla