One Room Challenge Week Three | Propagation Bar P.1
Week Three of ORC and I have completed the first mini challenge of making an Afro-Scandinavian lamp shade for my Blackboard Jungle Dining Room. Thank you for participating in the poll! I ended up going with the crowd favorite.....
The Inspiration
This week I am tackling some carpentry projects. After I put up the wallpaper and painted the room black, I definitely got speakeasy vibes. I wanted a place for my propagated leaves and plants and creating a propagation bar is the solution. Originally, I searched for vintage bar carts. I found this curio cabinet on Facebook market and immediately grew inspired by the curved lines and wanted to play in this direction. Basically, I want a life-sized terrarium.
The Plan
The scale of this cabinet was a bit...scarce. It needed something to encompass it so it felt like one unit. So I am building two shelves on either side of it as that is the more affordable method than buying it brand new or trying to find two of the same shelves for the right size and price on facebook market.
I went back and forth between boards and sheets and after measuring and drawing out how much wood I would need, I went with two planks of plywood for two 7 foot tall bookcases with a 9 inch depth and 3 foot width.
The Build
First, I gave my husband a project because he secretly envies me being able to go and buy things at Home Depot and build stuff. There was a bit of drama with the cuts and long story short, we wound up with one less side panel. So I headed back to HD and got a 1x10x8 board, trimmed it to size and placed it on the side of the room that no one will ever see. Next, my four year old and I drilled pocket holes into all the tops and bottoms and all the shelves. You guuuuuys. Pocket holes are so satisfying!
Once everything was assembled (including the backing which gave me attitude and several trials of figuring which nails would actually hold it in place) I iron on this red oak edge banding before I will paint. Because the curio cabinet will sit out about 4 inches so that the sides of the glass are not hidden, I also built a
wooden frame that will house the cords. The curio actually has some built in lighting and I want to see if I can change it out for something not made of plastic. I am also installing grow lights because I will be housing some of my plants in here.
The Color
I started off with Behr's Black Mocha in eggshell, but the plywood inhaled most of the paint and it still felt like a flat finish. Not what I wanted so, I did a top coat in satin and well chef's kiss to that switch.
The Reveal
Even though we won't be using this as an actual bar...you know...kids and low glass objects, I still wanted to have it feel like an actual wet bar, so I went to my local antique shop and found some really cute bar like objects as well as collected whiskey bottles from my friends and neighbors. Empty ones of course. This project will extend a little into next week, but I am excited to really style this area! What's your verdict on trimming the top so that it looks more built-in? Comment below!
