Christmas Challenge

In early December, Hubby and I went over to some friends' house for a game night. In all the chatting and playing, my friend suggested that we try to build something over Christmas break. She's a professor so she gets a few weeks off and she was feeling excited. She hadn't done any woodworking before but, apparently, my posts of my various projects had inspired her and she was hoping we might work together to make something. It did sound fun, plus it'd be added hangout time with a favorite person of mine, so I happily agreed!

The wheels turned in her head while we played the games, but then she settled on one. She's always thought it'd be fun to have a free little library in front of her house.. maybe we could build one? That was definitely more complex than anything I'd done before. It's gotta be built to live outside, and keep books dry and safe.. So, I said a tentative yes on conditions of further research.

This lead me on a whole chase of internet searching... however, the more I looked, the more excited I got. After just a little while, I was feeling like if we could find a nice and simple design, we could totally build this. AND, she's a big Dr Who fan, so wouldn't it be perfect if we made it look like a Tardis??

Yes, the answer is yes.

I pitched all this to my friend, and though she was a little intimidated- this was all new territory for her and a stretch for me.. she was willing to go for it!

So, I got serious about really researching.. how big should we make it? What should it be made of? Happily, there were lots of sites out there with tips and suggestions and tutorials. So, I set about customizing a plan for us.

We chatted, back and forth, hashed out and settled on details.. Then it was time to go to the hardware store! Our first attempts were hijacked by a little illness and  a few car troubles, but we persevered.

First things first: supplies!

And then we set to work, being sure to - as they say, measure twice, cut once.

Instead of getting a huge, big piece of wood to cut out the parts from, we opted to get boards and then assemble them. This offered ample opportunities to use my pocket-hole jig. It's such a cool little gizmo, I love using it.. and it makes excellent joints. Win win!

Then, with all that accomplished (after a bit of sanding) things were ready for real assembly! However, the car troubles and sickness weren't through with us and suddenly we were into the new year and, with vacation over, finding time to building was a little harder. So, the boards had to wait.

Still, we were determined to finish, so we carved out some free time. Massaging schedules and squeezing it in, things began to come together.

A little bit of drilling, and voila!

Things weren't perfectly square, but that's ok.. we can work with that! Next step, put on the roof and fill out the gaps! Stayed tuned.. more to come!