While things have been going really well in our home office improvement project, I’ve been slacking on the blog lately. Mudding the walls three nights a week will do that to you. Since I’m too busy (and sore) to write a new post, I thought this would be a great opportunity to roll out a new series I’ve been planning on starting for some time. It’s called YOUR Home from Scratch. This is an opportunity for our friends, readers, subscribers and other bloggers to share their home improvement projects.
For our first edition, I’m excited to have Katie from Addicted 2 DIY. Her and her husband recently completed work on a beautiful media console using plans from Anna White. They modified the plans to make the console more appropriately sized for their space. I used this post as an opportunity to ask Katie some questions to get some more details about her project.
Q1. Beautiful piece. Nice work. You used plans from Ana White, but resized them for your own space. Was that difficult? How did you go about modifying plans?
Thank you. Yes, we had to modify the plans to not only fit our space, but also because we used rough cut lumber. Modifying the plans was not too hard. I basically took the original plans and determined which cuts needed to be lengthened and wrote down my own cut list. The hardest part was remembering to take into account that the larger wood dimensions would also affect the cut measurements.
Q2. You used rough cut lumber instead of S4S from your local big hardware store. Was this the first time you worked with rough cut lumber? How did you like it?
This was our first time using rough cut lumber for an entire project. I used rough cut lumber to make a butcher block top for a kitchen island I built for my mother (http://addicted2diy.com/2013/11/21/how-to-build-your-own-butcher-block/), but it is entirely different to build an entire piece with it. It was definitely a little more work for us, because we ripped all of the boards down ourselves, but I definitely love the look so much more. Not only is the wood from a lumber store completely dry (therefore alleviating any shrinkage of the wood), but it just has so much more substance. I love the larger dimension to it.
Q3. I’ve never worked with Alder. How was it? Looks similar to Pine or Poplar. You needed to use the pre-stain conditioner?
Alder is awesome to work with. It’s harder than pine, so we didn’t have to worry as much about dings and knicks if we accidentally dropped a piece or a tool on it. Knotty alder is also very affordable and it takes stain very much like pine. I did use wood conditioner on it as I do on all staining projects. The color looks no different than the farmhouse table we built in our dining room (http://addicted2diy.com/2013/11/04/diy-farmhouse-table-with-extensions/). We are definitely hooked on this species of wood and plan to use it for many other furniture projects in the future.
Q4. Love the breadboard top. Any reason why you went with that look instead of the standard plywood with hardwood wrap?
We wanted the whole console to look as much like the original console I fell in love with in the Pottery Barn catalog. The breadboard top also coordinates with the farmhouse and entry console tables we built. We have an open floor plan, so you see all three of those pieces at the same time and we wanted to have a cohesive look.
Q5. It’s a substantial piece of furniture. Is it a 2-person lift?
Yes! It is definitely heavy. I was actually a bit shocked at the weight, but my husband and I didn’t have too difficult of a time getting it into the house.
Q6. The original Pottery Barn piece is $1300. How much did you end up saving by building this yourself?
We saved about $900 building this ourselves. That includes all of the hardware and we splurged on the bubbled glass for the cabinet doors. Definitely a huge savings when you consider the size of the console and the wood we used.
Q7. Are you planning on building any other projects soon? What’s in store for your home/blog?
I’m definitely planning other projects soon. I really want to build some nice bedroom furniture for both of my boys. Our house is always a work in progress and we’ve got plans to remodel our master bathroom hopefully in the near future. I’ll definitely be sharing all of my tutorials and experiences on my blog.
Big thanks to Katie from Addicted 2 DIY for sharing her experience with this awesome furniture build.
If you are interested in sharing your own home improvement project, shoot me an email using the contact form with your project or idea. You don’t need to be a blogger.
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