Summer project: work table

There's always a bright side. But if there's a bright side then there is usually a dark side as well. In this particular case the dark side of my wife's new job is that she now must work on Saturdays. The bright side is I now have my Saturdays free to work on projects. Instead of sleeping until 10 and watching television and movies all day, I now get up at 7 with her and head to my parents' house to work on whatever project I'm in the middle of. I know what you're thinking...isn't it kind of lame to have to go to your parents' house to do things like that. No...it isn't...for many reasons. The main reason is there is no place to build things in our 1-bedroom apartment. We have an outdoor patio but it is taken up by my wedding present, which is a large grill. It's awesome but it's huge and there isn't even any room to walk out there. Also my dad has a whole lot more tools than I do. Anyways...In my parents' house there used to be this useless french door between the dining room and what we lovingly call the play room. It was only closed abut 4 times during my adolescent life so when my parents remodeled the play room the door was removed to the backyard where it sat under the over hang of a shed my dad and I built to keep the majority of the elements off it. My dad is kind of a pack rat and keeps everything, which in this case and another upcoming case has greatly helped me out. So anyways this is kind of what the door looked like when I go it out and ripped the creeping vines off it.

As you can clearly see it's french. Many of the glass panes are broken but I managed to salvage around 8 and some of the framing, because I may need it one day. I then ran a circular saw all around the edge of the table to get all of those nasty french guts out. I think it would have been cool if I was able to use the original frame on the inside but I'm not that good and don't have that kind of time. So I did it this way. I basically measured about an inch and a half from where I wanted to cut and clamped a long, straight board to use as a guide for the saw.

One thing that is really awesome about the french craftsmen that made this door is their joinery. Here is a picture that I hope you can see well enough to admire.

Those frenchmen did I few things correct, the Eiffel Tower, The Statue of Liberty, probably some other stuff and this door.

Then, using my dad's huge new chop saw I chop sawed some lumber he had laying around and made some legs and screwed them into the door. (I later realized the way I did it originally was stupid when the thing threatened to fall apart while I was moving it so I changed my design to include screwing through the table into the legs...this was a much better idea) Next I had to figure a way out to brace the desktop I was going to make so I screwed some cheap wood I bought from Home Depot to the sides to make a hopefully-structurally sound desk top. Then I placed the desk top and tacked it down with finishing nails and a nail gun, I don't know why anyone would hammer an actual nail anymore. The shorter side is going to be used to house our scroll saw and the longer side is for drawing and holding papers and the like.

Then it rained for about a week and my wife had to take me to work because I'm a wimp and don't like riding my motorcycle in the rain. Needless to say I didn't work on it for a while and then moved it to my parents' carport and it didn't rain anymore. This is also when the stupid thing tried to fall apart because my stupid libido wouldn't let me not move the stupid thing by my stupid self. I also killed an ant hive that some hasty ants built under the plywood I put on it to keep it dryish. I just poured rubbing alcohol on them and smushed the runners that weren't too big with my fingers. Then I installed a support in the back because it wasn't very stable and it made a world of difference.

Next I made some framing to cover the ugly a little bit with the same plywood I used to cover it. For my finishing touches I painted the top with some chalkboard paint we bought to use at our wedding and ended up not using and the frame and everything else with some very white paint I found in the shed.

Then I was done but I didn't have a truck to move it so it's still in my parents' carport blocking my dad's motorcycle. Here it is in all its french glory.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out. All in all I'd say the project cost me around $50, but that's only because I had to buy 2 new packs of Deck Mate screws, which are $10 a box! I know right! Anyways here's a little teaser on what's going to be involved in my next project, which also happens to be another leftover from my pack rat of a father. If anyone out there needs help building a desk out of an old door I am officially an expert now, so send them my way. -DAve