Happy Thanksgiving week! I am guessing most of you will be with your family this holiday. Zack and I are still on the road and decided to spend the holiday alone rather than send our pets to a boarder so we could travel to be with family. We have decided to spend the holiday in Williamsburg- in the area where the first Thanksgiving took place. I wanted to tell you how thankful I am for this blogging community. For the first year+ I started my business, this was the only thing each week I would do for myself. Now things are more manageable, but you all have been there through the ups and downs, thick and thin and I am grateful for it. I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
This week's project is a spin off of this set of Box Set Vintage Books from Anthropologie. The cool little shelf comes with books, and it can be yours for a mere $1,400! I think the idea is cute, but I'm not crazy about the plywood or it's color, so I created my own version.
Materials
- Wood- I used Hickory and Douglas Fir
- Saw
- Clamp
- Wood Glue
- Stain- I used Weatherwood Stain's Reclamation
Directions
1. WOOD: Years ago used to watch bloggers with their piles of excess wood and wish I had the same. Well, now I do. For my business we have these wood samples (above) made up for architects and designers. So there's a ton of leftover scrap wood. This project was a piece of cake, since I just raided my scrap pile. You could use all one type of wood, like Anthro and have the wood match. Or you can do what I did, select 2 wood species to create a pretty, coordinating color scheme. I choose mostly hickory and then two pieces of douglas fir (the darker pieces). When selecting your wood, pay attention to the width of the pieces. This dictates what books will fit.
NOTE: If you want to match the Anthro's shelf perfectly use all douglas fir wood and apply Weatherwood's Salvage wood stain.
2. CUT: My wood was already cut, so I don't have any pics for you. But you'll want to measure the width and and the weight of your pieces. The width determines the wood thickness and the heigh determines the book's height.
3. STAIN: It's better to stain the wood while it's in pieces, that way the you don't have to worry about glue ruining your stain job. I stained mine with Weatherwood's Reclamation stain. But like I mentioned, I didn't love the color of Anthro's shelf for my home. But if you want an exact match to Anthro, use Douglas Fir + Weatherwood's Salvage stain.
4. GLUE: When you have your pieces in the right widths and heights, you're ready to glue them. Apply a generous coat of glue and then clamp the shelf into place. Let it dry overnight.
I love how this little piece turned out! But if you liked Anthro's version better, just follow the notes to create a version that more closely resembles theirs. Either way, it's a darling little book shelf and something to be grateful for during this week of thanks.
See you tomorrow at the party!
