After weeks of alternating between biting cold and driving rains, I finally decided I didn't care that I couldn't take my shelf project out into the driveway. I may not have an indoor work space, doggonit, but I was going to build this sucker!! So I did the thing my mother would never have let me do - I pointed my drill toward my hardwood floors and prayed my hand didn't slip. I blame the inexcusable irony of my unbuilt shelf creating further clutter in my laundry room for my madness. Though I would never recommend this exactly, my living room rug turned out to be quite useful as a grid.
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The starting point for my design was More Like Home's Homestead Storage Shelves. I altered it to fit my need for clothes hanging space and to fit storage tubs under the bottom shelf. I also cut the cost of a single 2x4 by leaving spaces between the boards of the shelves. And I learned the difference between buying 2x4s at Lowes (where I should have gone) and Home Depot (where the lengths are actually cut for framing and therefore not actually 8 feet long). That would have been good to know in advance.
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Since this is essentially my first building project ever, I had no illusions it was going to be perfect. This shelf, though much needed, is my guinea pig. Over all I'm pleased with it, though the 2x4s themselves are definitely a little rough. I will have to wait for the weather to behave itself to sand it down and paint it! Before I paint, however, I still have to add the clothes hanging rod. My original plan had been to attach it to the extra shelf supports I added, but I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't be higher. Slowly but surely, we're making progress!
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