real world plans: Mondays seem to be project days

So yesterday, after work, the gentleman and I on our drive home spotted a lot of furniture next to a dumpster of the apartment complex next to us. Well, growing up we did a lot of dumpster diving, for broom handles, furniture, anything of use. My mom always says that one man's junk can be another man's treasure. So of course, I made him pull over so I could determine whether or not anything was of value. We were in luck, there were some bar stools. We don't need any bar stools, but we had been planning to make a side table and a table for our plants, so the extra wood wouldn't hurt. We ripped off the disgusting seat cushions and threw three of the stools in the car. Once home, we got to work planning out what we were going to make. After much talk (and I mean a lot of talking) we finally decided on a set up that would be perfect for our plants with storage for extra potting soil and pots.

The kittens were a great help throughout the project!

We had plans to make doors on the bottom area for the storage, but first we had to frame it out a bit more. After running to Lowe's and picking up some hardware and ply wood. We got right to work, starting with the bottom.

Cutting notches in the bottom piece so it would fit easily.

Fits in perfectly!

Once the bottom was secure, we moved on to attach the back piece. And then the sides.

He's in most of the pictures,
but I did alot of the work too, I promise!

We were nearing 9:30 and wanted to get this project done before bed, so we kicked it into high speed and started attaching the hinges for the doors.

This was a lot harder than we thought it would be!

Finally we were able to attach the top piece! We were nearing the end! It was a bit unfortunate however, when we realized that the doors didn't quite fit. When measuring, we didn't account for the hinges in the size and so we either needed to cut them again or start using a planer to get them down to size. Since it was about 11 last night, I knew we couldn't get the jig saw out again to cut them. I also knew that I really wanted to finish the project, so I started using the hand planer. I'm not going to lie, we probably should have just waited until today to use the jigsaw, but I'm not a patient person. Anyone who knows me, knows that if I want something, I want it right then. Which is why I have two kittens, I couldn't wait to get another one. So for the next hour, we took turns planing the doors down until they fit. We then added some knobs as well. Once the bench/table was done we decided we loved it so much, that we didn't want to leave it outside where it could get messed up. It became our new TV stand! This of course called for a bit of reorganizing and rearranging of the furniture, but we're very happy with how it turned out. Here's a look at our finished project!

We definitely plan on painting it in the future, but for now we are just in love with how it looks in our living room!