Kennel Covers and Book Shelves

Of all the things I have commissioned DH to made for me, this project right here is my favorite. We have three dogs, all kenneled trained and they love their little "rooms," often choosing to chill in there when there is nothing exciting going on. The problem with the kennels though is that they are not very attractive.

They are down right ugly.

So first we looked at DH building a end table kennel to make them functional, like this one on Ana-White.com. We even considered incorporating them in the entertainment center. But then I remembered that my lab mix sometimes gets sick when she is in her kennel and I did not want to have to climb in to a create to clean that out.

Finally, we settled on tables and hanging shelves for my books. The tables are large - like huge. The one in the top picture would probably be a nice dining table for a family of four if its legs were a little longer. Anyway, the tables offer plenty of space for knick-knacks, picture frames and books.

The shelves on the walls are definitely my favorite aspect of the whole project. They were originally designed as floating shelves, but a lot of the plans we found for them made it seem that they were not as stable as what I was hoping for. So we tweaked the plans a little.

Each shelf is framed underneath with a nice fascia board and stained top. These suckers are anchored to the wall so well I could probably let E or A climb them like a ladder! The pieces on each end, which look like they would be used to hang the shelf, is more a decorative bookend than anything else.

All in all, I love these pieces. They are functional, pretty, sturdy, and unique. They set the design tone for the entertainment center and lighten up the feeling of the room.

Entertainment ReDone

I love my husband's hobby: woodworking! I get new furniture built the way I want. I can even have a say in the design. I got to design an awesome ladder shelf for my fish tank. And as long as we have the money for the supplies, he is happy to build whatever I ask for.

So a little while back, when I was getting sick of the dark wood tone television stand that we had in our living room, I gave DH a job. I wanted something a little more open, much brighter, and elevated to make it easier to control the dog fluff that inevitably collects around the cords. After some planning, tweeking, redesigning, and a couple minor arguments, I got what I wanted.

The openings were designed around the dimensions of the baskets and cable receiver. The doors are not perfect, but they keep a lot of movies and video games organized and hidden. It is elevated to the perfect height - the TV is right at eye level and I can easily get my broom and mop underneath. The top of the piece and the first shelf are stained a rich, warm brown, and the rest is bright white, which was a comprise. DH wanted to show off the wood grain while I wanted something bright and light so that it wouldn't feel so heavy in the room. Saying it was a compromise might be stretching the truth - this is what I wanted and he gave in. But he ended up very happy with how it looks!

Eventually I will get bins large enough to hold board games and other odds and ends that will fit under the piece and hide the power bar. For now, I just love having custom furniture and trying to figure out what DH's next project might be.

My Ladder Shelf

A while back I decided I wanted something new for my living room. I wanted some shelves, something to display some pictures, a few little pretty things I'd picked up or been given and a place to store some blankets in a decorative but functional way.

Naturally, I searched Pinterest for some inspiration. It took some scrolling but I fell in love with the idea of a ladder shelf. What a unique way of getting my fish tank up to eye level, storing blankets and displaying some of my favorite things. And, with my living room essentially shaped as a boring rectangle, I could put this pretty much anywhere and it wouldn't completely divide the room.

I took my idea to my DH and asked if he could build it for me. Really, having him build me something is the best way to get exactly what I want, usually for less, and it makes him happy because he gets to play with his toys. Everyone wins.

It took some figuring and planning, but he built me this beautiful shelf! I love it. Knowing we would have a ten gallon fish tank on a certain shelf, we were able to reinforce it. And there was plenty of room underneath for E and A's project trays and a cloth bin that holds their coloring books and crayons.

The biggest compromise was came with whether or not it would be painted or stained. He loves the wood grain and I like light colors to keep it from feeling heavy. Yes he won, and we stained it. But only because we had stain left over from when we did the floors.

I still have a long list of things for him to build me - including a pretty console table for under the mounted TV just so I can get rid of the blah store bought media stand.