More Floating Shelves

I'm finally getting around to posting about finishing Lena's floating shelves. When I designed the shelves it was supposed to wrap an inside corner with a continuous line of shelves. I already got the left side of the shelves put up, now it's time to fit the right side!

Drawing with lengths

Cut out the stack of boards

This is all of the scrap oak I had left over

I started with 2 boards of red oak, 4/4 by about 6" wide rough cut. I cut them to width with straight sides, then got them through the planer and cut out the boards I needed to length. After that, I have to rip out a 1.5" strip off of the side to attach to the wall, add a bunch of holes and seal it with polyurethane.

Laid out on the new deck

I put about 3 coats of a glossy brush on poly on each side. Then I marked the stud locations inside the wall onto the strips so I could use a 3" draw-tite screw (with the pan head, like you would use for pocket joints) to attach the strips into the wall. Then I can use dowels to attach the bulk of the shelf and seal the joint to the wall.

Right side wall strips are attached

Attaching the fronts for the top sections

All set!

These turned out super cool. Lena absolutely loves them. I totally got the idea from pinterest but it executed really nicely. Her friends are pretty impressed with her room setup, and I'm really happy with the way it all turned out.

That's my pink-haired girl with all of the ducks decorating the shelves

Slight daybed update

One of the things that always bugged me about the daybed - I had to hang the ropes from existing ceiling joists. When I built the porch ceiling I didn't anticipate hanging a bed there, so the ropes on the yard side rubbed against the bed. Also that side wasn't exactly far enough away from the wall so the bed constantly bumped the house or the handrail. I finally decided to get into the attic and add some 2x6 blocks in there with joist hangers to move the anchors into the proper location.

First, I put holes in the plywood ceiling where I wanted the hooks to go, that was I made sure to put the blocks in the right location. Then it was just a matter of getting up into the tight corner of the roof and nailing everything in place, then moving the ropes.

that's a tight corner to be swinging a hammer

Now in the proper location

Those ropes don't rub!

I didn't think the daybed could get more comfortable, but this is really nice. It might actually be nicer now that the bed doesn't hit the wall anymore.

New Deck

The muscadine vines that I have enjoyed for about 7 years now have never produced any real fruit. This year I got a whopping 3 grapes. It is nice to see the vines leaf out in the spring, and my grandfather had some of the same varieties on his farm so it makes me feel connected to him. But the new porch creates a bottleneck where the vines are in the front yard, and I need something else out of that space anyway so it is time for the vines to go.  Before:

See the bottleneck?

6 vines on 3 trellis'

Time for them to come down. The shed has a flaw, namely the walls & roof. it's an enclosed building and I need a flat platform with square corners to assemble furniture outside. No limits like walls or doors. Luckily the trellis is well anchored in concrete already. Also I can clear out the far side for a new space for boat building.

First, I cut these off level

Then ran a 2x6 rim around the blocks

Ok, this 2x6 rim

I pinned these in first, then added joist hangers and set the scrap 4x4  posts into the concrete pier blocks

I needed this to come out to almost 94" - I love math

First deck board is on

All decked up!

Platform established

The final size is 8' x 12'. It went up clean, and this thing is sturdy - I mean solid as a rock. So far it has come in really handy. I screwed down a jig to build beds that are square and consistently sized, I've been using it to stage furniture and stain shelves. This is a really nice addition to the shop.