Another Shelving Unit Project

How is it that a simple project, that should only take an hour or so, always ends up taking 4 or 5 hours?  This is a curse in my family.  No matter how much prep work you do to make sure that a project can go quickly, it always takes much longer than planned.

Today's project was to create a 6" deep shelving unit to go along the back of our couch.  I was doing this by taking an old 12" deep shelving unit and cutting it in half.  Then making a new top shelf to rest on top of the legs.  The old unit also had to be cut down to 28 1/2" high from 36" high.  Simple right.... 

So I measure all the existing pieces and mark them for cutting.  Then I go through the scrap pile and get 4 more pieces to cut for the needed additional legs.  Plug in the table saw and away we go!

I haul it back inside and measure the spacing for the shelves against the containers I'm going to be putting on them.  Of course, none of the existing pre-drilled holes will work.  So out comes the drill and drill bits.  Measure, drill, and screw together.

Oops, not enough screws!  Ok, sit down and figure out how many more screws are needed for the whole project.  Check that against what I have and head out to the hardware store.  I like our small town hardware store because I only have to buy as much as I need, and because they are very, very helpful.  I was in and out in less than 10 minutes.  Total time on the trip was about a 1/2 hour since I stopped to get gas for the lawn mower.

Ok, back home and I feed my son.  Now back to the project.  Ok, a few minutes later and everything is screwed together.

Now to make the tops.  Ok, another problem.  The wood I was going to use for the top shelves is 1 1/2" x 7".  It was a little too heavy for the units.  Why this hadn't occurred to me earlier I have no idea.  So back off to the scrap pile.  I end up pairing two 1/2 x 1 1/2" boards with a 1/2" x 3" boards.  I cut it all to size and piece it together.  There's a little bit of warping to deal with but nothing severe.

Now to attach these new top shelves.  You know the rule measure twice, cut once right?  I follow this rule faithfully.  Somehow I messed up the measurements this time though.  Fortunately it wasn't a cutting measurement.  It affected how I pieced together the top shelves.  So a few minutes with the screwdriver and everything is adjusted correctly.  Then I drill pilot holes through the top shelf into the shelf legs and screw everything together.  YahHOOO!  We're done, right!? 

Yup, for the most part.  I put the new shelves in place and cover them with a pretty decorative table cloth that matches the colors I want for the room. 

Slide the couch back. 

Now I have a hidden spot for water storage.  And to the world it's a couch shelf that holds some of my son's reading books.  And gives the cats a window side seat.  Why hide the water storage?  Because I want to.  It looks better tucked out of sight but it's easily accessible when it's needed.

Now it's just time to clean up all the mess and put all the tools back.

Ok, do you see those blinds in that window in the last picture?  That's what I'm looking at replacing with curtains.  But I've got a limited amount of fabric.  So I can either do the thermal shades and curtains or I can do new cushion covers. 

I had a brain storm today that I'd love to here from you about.  I'll still do the thermal shades but I'll make them roll up shades that can go behind the existing blinds, or just flat pieces that I can attach against the windows with magnets.  Then I take the existing blinds and dismantle them.  I lay the slats out on some cardboard and spray paint them in random strokes using the colors that are in the fabrics.  I would do the same for the metal header piece.  Then I would just need to make a decorative header out of the fabrics, which would leave me plenty of the fabric to recover cushions with. 

So did that make sense?  If so, what do you think?  Those are the fake wood plantation blinds so I'd have to use Krylon Plastic paint.  Does anyone have any experience with the plastic paint?  Does it work well?  Please let me know.