Media stand part 9: I thought about stretching it for 10

But then thought better of it.

With the little things I mentioned last post taken care of, it was time to get the old stand ready for retirement. Got all the important stuff out and set up on the top so it's still working but ready to move, emptied out the old drawers and OH GOOD LORD look at that mess! And that's why I like how the new one is set up better.

I was kind of disappointed I couldn't use any of this stuff building a new stand, but I'm at least keeping the drawer slides just b/c. I've also got an idea to recycle at least parts of the MDF, so we'll see what happens.

With the drawers out the new stand actually isn't impossibly heavy but still had to stay in the garage until I had some help. The boy wanted to help too, bless his heart, which usually slows things down more than anything. But it's up now, and I'm liking the set up.

So much cleaner.

Taking the old stand apart I realized building in a spot for a power strip would have been a good idea during this build. Maybe even putting an outlet on that middle shelf, but by that point it was too late. Fortunately the open middle section ended up perfect to put the power strip in, along with the modem and all the slack from the power cables for everything. Then on top all we have is our cable box, bluray, and router.

Plenty of room to hide the mess.

I'm a little unhappy with how the drawer fronts ended up lining up, but it's not a big enough negative for me to want to tear them apart and start over. Overall this was a fun build. I'm a bit surprised I got 9 posts out of it, (and will probably do a 10th pic post) but I guess I shouldn't be based on how quickly these bigger projects seem to spiral nearly out of control while they're coming together. I'm sure eventually I'll look at something and realize how I could have done better doing it differently, but for now it's a big improvement on the console table and looks like it will serve its purpose well.

Hopefully the kids can keep their sticky mitts off of it for a while to keep it clean. As long as I don't see fruit snacks stuck to it or milk spilled on one of the shelves I'll be happy. Now if you'll excuse me, I have quite a mess in the shop to clean up.

Media stand part 8: drawer fronts and the home stretch.

Okay, I think we're about done here. Drawers are built, multiple coats of poly are on and sanded, time to figure out how in the hell I'm going to attach the drawer faces.

But before I did that holy shit did I fall into a funk today. As I was working on things, the thought popped into my head that maybe I should check my work email in case anything funny's going on. Which makes sense, since the whole lay-off deal came up over a Saturday. And funny stuff seems to happen pretty regularly. Somehow the thought of having to check my email on every day off to see if I still have a job makes me pretty damn furious. So to fight that I took a long run, and got working on finishing the drawers and getting the stand ready to go upstairs. It almost worked. 

While running, I realized it might be easier to work with if I put the stand on it's back, raised a little off the floor so I can still reach the back. It doesn't have to be super high, but high enough for me to sit under it and attach the middle hinges.

I could use some sawhorses I guess

Thankfully we have a lot of junk I could use around the garage, including our folding chairs. Not too easy to lift it up myself, but steady enough that once it was up I felt okay sitting under it. And once it was up, it was as easy as lining the board up where I wanted it, and making sure it stayed where it was while I lined up the drawers.

The best part is this is still recognizable as the same board cut twice vs three different pieces. At least I think it is. Too bad it didn't completely stay that way.

I started with a simple roll of packing tape and a squirt of wood glue. The tape was just there in case something slipped while I was getting it lined up, but thankfully everything stayed together. It was as easy as pushing the drawers up from the bottom and then grabbing them to clamp the fronts on.



With the fronts attached, all that's left is staining the exposed inside-facing pieces and closing the back of the drawer openings with the hardboard scraps. I've talked myself out of adding LEDs around the bottom for now at least. I think that's it, but I'll probably think of something else while it sits here waiting to be brought upstairs.

media stand part 7: I didn't think there would be this many parts

Things are looking pretty good on the media stand, despite the actual mess I'm making in the shop.

I didn't have big enough plywood scraps to fit on the bottom of the drawers, so I picked up a $5 piece of hardboard instead. It's not as sturdy, so I used some scrap to make cleats for the board to rest on and cut the board to fit in the bottom.

With the table saw I probably should have cut a grove into each board to set a bottom into but this will work just as well. And will be a little sturdier too, that hardboard is not hard at all.

The middle is screwed, corners just glued.

Glued the board down to the cleats with cans to weigh it down.

And an hour later, viola.

It's ugly if you look at it from the bottom, but I don't think that's ever going to happen so who the fuck cares.  Plus, there's enough board left over to cover the back of the drawer openings like real furniture. Nice.

With the drawers basically ready, I trimmed a 1x12 to cover all three bottom openings and attach the corresponding sections to each drawer. I stained them to match everything else and eventually they'll get poly. The middle section is getting hinges to fold out instead of a drawer. I don't know what we're going to be keeping in this other than batteries but we're going to have plenty of room.

I also picked up a triple coat polyurethane thinking it would help make a sturdier finish vs putting on individual poly coats, and so far I'm not sure what I think.

It's definitely thicker than what I've used before.

I've put three coats on so far, and even though it's pretty smooth I'm not crazy about the satin finish. Oh well. I'm still loving how this has come together overall, but talk to me after I've figured out how to get those face pieces on the drawers.