musings......: January 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Building of an Entertainment Cabinet, Part 1

We are in need of an upgrade. Many people have discovered their wooden entertainment cabinets no longer fit the newer, flat screen TVs that are on the market. For us it began with the boys getting a Wii for Christmas, which has lead us to replace our 10-year-old TV for a larger, flat screen TV. I am against placing the TV over the fireplace as I don't want the TV to be the centerpiece of the living room and enjoy changing the art work on the mantle on a whim. It wouldn't be smart choice due to the fact that we have a wood burning fireplace which spits out smoke and ash. The TV we are getting ready to purchase will be about 40".

Here is a picture of our existing set-up with a perfectly good piece of hand-me-down furniture which will moved to the basement. I always imagined having a built-in set of bookcases and cabinets in this space. With this upgrade we are also changing our sound system and will detail that upgrade as well.

It started when I suggested to my husband that he could build it himself. He has built the deck, designed and built our shed and worked on our basement renovation. He resisted doing this project since it is so visible. He revisited the idea even as I was looking at blogs for ways to use already built bookcases. We visited some furniture stores and of course nothing would fit exactly into our 69" wide space. It is a deeper space then most bookshelves and I want to use as much of the space as possible. Keeping our options open we talked with a man at Home Depot about purchasing custom-built kitchen cabinets for the space. For a simple design of 4 bottom cabinets and four upper glass-fronted cabinets the price came to $2500. It didn't even have all that I wanted included. So we re-thought it.

Ryan found a site called Barker Cabinets that specializes in custom built cabinets we could order unfinished and then paint. Still a bit pricey at $1,000. I did some more research and found an Amish site which make door fronts. With that in mind Ryan decided he could work with this. He plans to build the frame first and install it, and then we will order the custom made cabinet doors after the frame is installed. We still plan on having glass-fronted top cabinets with lighting inside and four bottom cabinets.

Here is the first part:

First you think

Then build the bottom portion to fit snug.

Put a shelf on top and then take a little rest.

Build the top half.

Detail

Ask your wife to help slide the top half in
(thankfully no pictures of that), only it doesn't "slide".
So Ryan pounds it in.

High five your assistant for finishing Part 1.

Part 2

Monday, January 14, 2013

Getting Ready For Valentines Day, Frederick County Photographer

Valentines's Day is just one month away and that means it's time to shop for tiny, flimsy, little cards with barely enough room for children to sign their names. I remember getting excited for Valentine's day as a kid, decorating a paper bag in class then being sent home with a long list of classmates's names to write in the "To" box. I even embarrassed myself one year as a child when the teacher handed out a list of ways to sign off including Secret Admirer as an option. I signed all my cards that way without my name, as would be expected, and was then criticized for not signing my name after it. I'm still confused about how that all went down, but I've managed to press onward.

My son's passed out the little store bought cards the first few years of school, but then I got a little more creative. Last year I had the boy's cards printed on a deck of 52 playing cards with the images seen below and we attached chocolate hearts and kisses to the cards. This year I have something different up my sleeve but you know it will contain a photo of the boys for their classmates and teachers.

Let me know if you would like me to help execute your own child's or family Valentine's this year. I have a lot of ideas!

Love,

Your Secret Admirer