Today, whether you like it or not, you’re going to get a peek into the scary abyss known as my basement. I think I’ve shown you pieces before so hopefully you’re not too traumatized. After the laundry room you can see where I’m storing a whole kitchen worth of cabinets (more on that later).

See that door behind my old TV? I’m pretty sure that previous owners either grew pot or hacked up bodies in there.

But today while admiring the ancient unidentified liquid running down the walls and humming the Psycho theme, I decided to make that room my workshop so I could build awesome stuff Ana White style. I mean sure, it’s scary as hell, but it has a decent workbench and good light, and lots of [poorly wired] outlets.

My awesome brothers gave me a saw for my birthday!

I built Ana’s Easiest Rustic Modern Console Table EVER which kind of mocks me with its claims of being so easy. Kind of like my friend Carrie going skiing and being mocked by a bunny hill called “Dipsy Doodle” as she does the pizza wedge all the way down (love you Carrie!). But really, there couldn’t possibly be an easier piece of furniture to build, when it comes to building furniture and furniture building.

She’s nothing fancy, but I’m hoping she’ll look mighty pretty after I’ve sanded and stained her and put her in her home (yet to be disclosed, because I’m annoying).

A couple things I learned while building my first piece of furniture:

  • Those pine boards are called “1×12″ boards. That does not mean that that is the exact measurement; the “1″ is actually a “3/4″. Measure everything.
  • Measure everything again.
  • Countersink bit = win.
  • Just because you’re screwing together square boards doesn’t mean it’ll end up square. I had to “cheat” it a little bit and have Stan hold it in place with his super human strength while I screwed it the way I wanted it, which made me mad because I wanted to do it ALL BY MYSELF and then since he was already down there he had to restrain himself to not take over my project. I know you wanted to, honey buns.
  • Clamps are your friend for holding stuff where you want it when you’re by yourself.
  • Don’t forget to put the glue on before you screw it together. But if you forget the glue on like one spot it might be okay (I hope).
  • Try to avoid knots- they are really hard and they like to crack when drilled into. Or just go slowly.

Now that I have my very own dream workshop, hopefully it won’t be too hard for me to get down there and sand and finish the dang thing within a reasonable amount of time. Stay tuned!

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