The wood, the tools, the equipment, the big bank holiday #diy project is kicking off. The front room has three of these Billy bookcases which don’t fit in alongside some overbearing design choices from the previous owners (the cornices). I have a detailed order of works for the build on a spreadsheet. The first few hours are going to be decanting and clearing out this corner.
Ok. The alcove is cleared out. Picture rail, skirting and cornices down. Part of this exercise is a proof of concept for taking all the cornices down next, so I don’t care about the edge of the cornice, so I’m just starting in this corner. #DIY
Lifting up the skirting allows me to look under to confirm what each wall is. The external wall at the back of the alcove is 100mm insulation in front of brick (breeze block); plaster board in front of brick on the wall with the next room; the chimney breast is totally fake, which I knew already and if I had the time/money I’d get rid of it. It’s all for effect, this is a gas fire that could’ve been flush with the wall. Dumb decision by previous owners.
#DIY I’ve just watched a Columbo waiting for primer to dry, but here we are at the end of day one. The mitre saw obviously makes it very easy to cut and prep wood. This is the base, which still has to be screwed together. (Note angled bit for gas pipe!) The primer was for a piece of hardwood which will be at the front of the base (glued on when the second coat of primer dries). I wanted to fix the base to the wall but there’s not much wall as the skirting was quite high. We’ll see.
Today’s #diy has involved glueing the front board to the frame, drilling pockets for pocket screws to assemble the base. The workbench had to be reassembled because it’s hot garbage and can’t clamp anything.
Then figuring out the template for the battens, drilling holes in the battens and walls, attaching them, and keeping them level then adding a shelf (the shelves will eventually be primed and fixed. Anyways, there’s a shelf up.
That’s enough for the day. Three sets of battens up. Getting into the swing but it does take time. Five more sets of battens to go. The shelves are pre-cut but thankfully the alcove is at an 88 degree angle, so they’ll all have to be tapered a bit. #DIY
Back at the #DIY on a gloriously sunny Dublin Sunday. All the rest of the battens are cut and drilled and ready. Next job is to attach them all to the wall. Plus I went to ScrewFix.
#DIY Ok, atl the battens are fixed. The test shelf sits fine on each one. All the pre cut shelves will need a small trim, so wondering what the best way is to do that. I only have a mitre saw, a multi-tool saw might be better.
Stayed up last night filling the holes and putting two layers of primer on the battens. Now it’s time to trim the shelves themselves to fit. Which is a hassle - but I did use geometry to sort out my measurements, so it has come in use! #diy
#DIY Tah dah? The plan is that the shelves will be primed, sanded, painted and fixed to the battens and caulked - but that’s not happening today. I had to trim each shelf and I made a last minute design change cutting the corner of the rear of the shelves to fit them in easier and so I can run lighting up them (as they are quite deep). The structural stuff is done, can tidy the tools away now.
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