A Place for the Hats....

OK. If we are going to turn the cottage into a millinery shop, we need a place to display the hats. Here we go again. More shelves.

It's a good thing that they are easy to make. It seems like I always need shelves, no matter the project.

I dug out some scraps of bass wood. I didn't bother with a pattern. I just measured and figured out how big they needed to be.

I made one shelf unit that is about 5 1/2" wide and 6 1/2" tall. That one was 2" deep. I cut the pieces from 3/32" stock. The other one was a little narrower and only 1" deep.

I won't go into details because there is a tutorial somewhere on the blog. I am going to have to get serious about re doing the labels on the entries. It is getting hard to find anything. If you are interested right now, I suggest that you use the "search" window on the left side to put in shelves or whatever it is you are looking for. I promise to fix that list soon. Honest.....

After I cut and sanded the pieces, I stained them all. I always stain before assembling any wood furniture. That eliminates the worry of unstained spots where the glue drips or oozes

I assembled them in the Micro-mark jig. I don't know what I ever did without that particular tool. It is wonderful for getting things put together straight.

There is a trick to making the shelves look more substantial and complicated. It's very easy. Just add molding.

Look behind Tessie, "Tessie, move over so we can see!"

The one that she is standing directly in front of would be OK in a general store or a farm house, but just add a bit of molding and you have a shelving unit suitable for a lady's shop.

I simply added a skirt of base board to the bottom, mitered at the corners. Then I did the same at the top with 1/2" scale base board. One is about 1/2" wide and the other is about 1/4".

Now that this part is done, I will let the stain and glue dry until tomorrow. Then I will varnish with Deft Spray Satin. Sand. Varnish again....Sand again....Varnish a third time.

By that time, Tessie will be itching to get the hats on the shelves. It's a good thing that I already have some made. She won't be nagging me for them....At least not tomorrow.

Walter gets home today. It's back to neat and tidy mode for me. I am off to clean up my mess.

See you tomorrow.