My son just graduated kindergarten and it was time (long overdue, in fact) to update his bedroom and give him a big-boy room. His room had been the same since he was a baby and the light blue just wasn't cutting it anymore. See below (this picture is in preparation for painting, so I had already removed the propeller from the wall which attached to the front of the painted airplane--in case you were wondering).
When he went to grandma and grandpa's for summer camp I decided to re-do his room. He said he wanted an 'army' room. If you don't have kids, let me tell you something about 6-year-olds. They change their mind as often as they change their clothes (multiple times per day). And they may not always know what they are talking about (like the time he asked for an 'army' haircut and when the guy gave him a buzz cut he was so mortified he insisted on wearing hats for 6 months). So...I knew I needed to make something neutral enough to update on a regular basis just by changing accessories. I gathered some samples online and found a really cool shelving system designed in 1932 by Egon Eiermann. Looked simple enough. Just because I've never built any piece of furniture or shelving before in my life shouldn't stop me. How hard can it be?
I drew up some plans based on his room dimensions and started contacting metal fabricators to create the vertical poles. I really wanted stainless steel poles, and I could have them drill the holes for me, and make the pins that hold the shelves on. Which means all I really had to do was the wood shelves. Now that's my kind of project. I figured I would be done in no time.
Well apparently my dinky little project was not a top priority for them, because it took them a few days to get back to me (cmon guys, don't you just have this stuff lying around the shop?). Oh, and it was going to be about $400. Add the cost of the wood shelves and stain on top of that and I'm looking at $500-600. I love my son, but he's not getting a $600 shelving system (particularly since I'm building it myself). Time for Plan B. Went to Home Depot and found some fence poles in galvanized for $9 each. Perhaps I could have them cut and drilled, and then spray paint them. Except they won't cut them or drill them. Grrrrr. Time for Plan C. I used wood dowels and spray painted them silver. It's not what I really wanted but it actually came out ok. Here's a couple of pics of the work in progress, as I was staining the shelves and spray painting the dowels. Note that we used (borrowed) a drill press to do the holes in the dowels because it is critical that the holes are at a 90 degree angle to the dowel, otherwise the pin that holds the shelf won't be straight and your shelf won't be straight.
And here's the final product. The shelves are 1x10" pine and the desk is 24" deep, stained a Bombay Mahogany. The poles are standard closet rod dowels (1.375" diameter), spray painted silver. And the pins which hold the shelves are .25" aluminum rod (found at Dixieline) cut into 6" pieces. The legs which hold the desk are from Ikea, at a whopping $3.50 each. I'm so glad this project is over. I forgot how long it takes to stain wood. What a pain. But my son loved it (which is great, because I half expected him to come home and say 'aww mom, I didn't want an army room anymore'.
