Quick and easy housewarming gift

My brother and his girlfriend just bought a place out in Colorado, and since my dad is stopping by the house this weekend on his way out to a motorcycle rally, I thought I would toss together a housewarming gift for him to drop off on his way.

I didn't have much notice though, so I wondered what kind of gift I could toss together quickly and have it look halfway presentable in a couple of days. A shadow box sounded feasible, so with a quick research trip to look at plexiglass I got started.

I found an 8x11 sheet of plexiglass for just a couple of bucks, so this project was officially a go. I had a bunch of 1x3 and 1x2 scrap around, so I built frames out of both to see which one I liked better for a box size, and framed up a lid to go around the plastic to lid the box.

The 1x3 seemed like a better option. A little bulkier, but he's a brewer so that way he could maybe put a can or bottle in there. Nailed some 1/4 inch plywood on the back and viola, a box.

After picking out some hinges I chiseled mortises out for them and primed the box with spraypaint, then used some of the leftover black I had around. The lid got stained in oak and a couple of coats of spray lacquer.

 

This has been a pretty quick and sloppy build so it's not perfect, but it's coming together pretty well. Good enough to give as a gift at least. There's a handful of final steps; I need to add the felt backing to the box but want to lacquer everything again. I still need to add the magnet clasp, attach the hinges and the plastic, but I can hopefully get the detail work done in the next day or two, in time for my dad to take it with him after Friday.