A Very Early Project at 173
One board, two inherited brackets and a brand-new router made this simple kitchen shelf one of the earliest projects built at House 173.
Sometimes I post old projects just for posterity - this is one of those posts so please bear with me.
Actually, that's probably what makes these little projects worth remembering. Back then there wasn't much money for big renovations, so improving 173 happened a board, a can of paint and a Saturday afternoon at a time. This shelf certainly wasn't anything ambitious, but it was one of those early projects that helped make the house feel a little more like ours.
The Early Days at House 173
When we first bought 173 back in '97, one of the first things we did was paint the kitchen, of course it really needed much more than that but back then there just wasn't the money. But I had gotten a Craftsman router and I was dying to use it.
The kitchen is the heart of every home, for the most part. It evokes memories of your family history. - Debi Mazar
Putting the Old Brackets Back to Work
And when we moved in we inherited a small collection of old metal shelf brackets. So I chose these two...
And because the kitchen table is hunter green...
After sanding the daylights out of those old brackets, I used the old Krylon...
to paint them hunter green to match the table...
My First Time Using a Router
Then came the fun part! Mind you, not only was this the first time using my router, it was my first time using any router! When I was a kid I watched my dad use a router tons of times, but you know how it is - when you're a kid you don't pay much attention - mind caught up in thinking about the other kids at the school playground, wondering what inning it was!
Anyway, after a couple practice passes on a piece of scrap wood I gave it a go! This was quite a few year ago so there's no action pictures, but here's how it turned out:
Sure, it wasn't the finest piece of wood, and as you can see about midway in the lines got a little wavy but geeze, I sure was proud! I don't remember the color of the stain, but it turned out a decent color and didn't clash with the tabletop. This is how it looked back about '98 or '99:
And here it is after the 2018 kitchen re-do:
And that's probably my favorite part of this whole little project. The kitchen around it has changed considerably, but the shelf stayed. Something I made when I was just learning how to use a router, and didn't have much money to spend in the first place, was still useful twenty years later.
That little wobble in the routed edge doesn't bother me nearly as much now as it did then. And here's a bonus shot...
I know, lots of writing for such a simple little project, but isn't that the fun of having a blog?
I love this one.I'm fairly new to woodworking, and sometimes watching people online makes you think everybody's first project came out looking like it belonged in a furniture showroom.Apparently not.You got a new router, practiced a couple times on scrap, grabbed a board and went for it. The line got a little wavy.And then you hung the shelf anyway.That's the part I like.Because more than twenty years later, the shelf is still there. Meanwhile, I've got pieces of wood sitting in my garage because I'm afraid I'll make the wrong cut.Maybe the lesson isn't how to make a shelf.Maybe it's to make the damn shelf. - A Beginner Woodworker
Keywords
DIY kitchen shelf, simple wooden shelf, beginner router project, first router project, vintage shelf brackets, repurposed shelf brackets, easy woodworking project, DIY wall shelf, Craftsman router, beginner woodworking, kitchen shelf ideas, House 173, Made at 173, Legacy Project