Here's a free-standing entertainment/storage unit I made, inspired by the midcentury modern lines of the original Eames storage unit, plus other similar units.
Plan plan plan
I started out like I always do, with some online research and some sketching. Drawing the unit helps me to plan out all the various pieces of timber I'd need, and how they would come together.
Initial sketch of the unit
Working out the different shelves needed
Design with time and materials constraints in mind
At first I wanted to make the entire unit out of Tasmanian oak, but the shelving pieces were too hard to get a hold of (plus they'd be quite expensive). I needed to keep time and cost down, so I created the design based on pieces available at my local Bunnings store:
32mm x 32mm Tasmanian oak posts (available in 2.4m and 1.8m)
Dressed pine 285mm x 19mm x 1.2m
Building
Construction was super simple, with wood glue and counter-sunk filled generously-long wood screws. I started with the shelves, cutting out all the 32mm x 32mm notches, and then worked on one side (below), before flipping the unit over and working on the other side. The edge pieces helped to keep the whole thing square. As I built this, I realised that it would need a middle set of feet, which I made from cuts of the 32mm x 32mm posts.
The finished unit, wood filler as yet unsanded
Finishing
I decided to stain this puppy in a cedar stain (Cabot's), to unite the different colours of the two timber types as one. Cedar is pretty dark, as you can see, and this unit might look better with a much lighter stain.
The finished unit, after being stained with Cabot's cedar stain
The whole thing took me about a day to make (split up into 2 half-says to allow glue and wood filler to dry), and a few hours to sand and stain.
