Power tools are fun...

Okay, so the Farmhouse Bed may be the thing I want to make the most, but it's not the thing I want to make first. It's a really big project, and I want it to turn out really good. So I need practice in carpentry and furniture building first.

So as of right now, I am in the early stages of building this bookcase. It's just a simple bookcase, very basic steps for putting it together, made with very basic supplies. The cool thing about it is that it can become a sort of hutch. Build two bookcases, fit one with drawers, stack them together, and it's suddenly the perfect dining room hutch, which will go very nicely beside my refrigerator. I'm just working on the one bookshelf now, getting in some good practice and experience, but I will be making a second one with drawers and putting them together. Another cool thing about this plan is that, while I'm working on the second one, I'll already have a functional bookcase that I can use until I'm ready to put them together!

Here's what I've done so far:

We went to Lowe's today and bought the wood...


And a beautiful, shiny new circular saw...


We also got nails, screws, wood glue, stuff like that.

In the absence of sawhorses (another item on my to-do list), I improvised with what I had available. Food storage - it's not just for eating...


I used my, I mean our, new circular saw to cut the wood to the proper sizes for the sides, top, shelves, and trim for the bookcase. I could have had them do it at the store, but I wanted to try out the saw and do as much of this bookcase myself as I could. Plus Jeff needed to get to work. I learned a lot about using a circular saw and measuring wood in the time it took to cut those pieces!

When it came time to cut the back piece though, I thought the wood (1/4" plywood) might be too flimsy to support the big saw while cutting it. I resorted to more rustic measures.


Yes. I hand sawed the back of the bookcase with a utility knife. It took a fairly long time, and was hard work! This carpentry stuff can provide a really good workout.

After all my hard work this afternoon, I ended up with this stack of pieces for the bookcase...


And this stack of leftover wood I can use for the next project.


The next step is to predrill and countersink the screws to attach the shelves to the sides. I wanted to do that this evening while it was still light out. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to change the bit in Jeff's power drill. And I definitely can't drill the screw holes by hand! So I have to wait until Monday when Jeff can show me how to work the drill before I can go any further on this project.

But wow, it feels awesome knowing that I'm building something for our home, something that will be strong and sturdy and last for years and years. And I'm doing it all by myself!