Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Book Worm

I have play room problems.


Y'see... Baby Goats loves books. That's not a problem at all, obviously, but I just think that the act of putting books back properly isn't a skill a lot of toddlers have.

So books were just left out.

To cure this, I bought this amazing basket on clearance at HomeGoods to hold the books!


($7, Baby!)

But then she couldn't find a specific book, and we'd end up back where we started.


Bring in the Land of Nod book caddy.

I've been eyeing this for a while, but never knew if it would work for us. After the basket idea failed, I figured I'd just go for it and then asked Ana White if she happened to have plans drawn up.

She did.

Who's surprised?

Nobody? Yeah, I wasn't either.

So I trotted my happy little bum to get wood and got to buildin'!

As always, Ana's plans are brilliant in their simplicity, so they're really easy to follow. She suggests that we don't cut the rounded edges until after the sides are built, and I loved that! I'd also suggest that you mark where the shelf boards are going to go before cutting them, too. That way they're even, based on the square corner, instead of measuring from a cut/sanded rounded corner that could vary from the others.

I used a random shot glass that I found as a template for the round corners.


And cut it out with my jig saw.

To hide the pocket hole screws, I drilled them into the narrow sides of the boards and made sure to point those downward.


That was a little tricky with the angled boards dividing the legs, but I made it work by using my kreg mini and having it sit outside the edge of the board by just under 1/4" (with 3/4" stock it's supposed to sit flush).

Of course I didn't take pictures of this, so you'll just have to trust me ;-)

What I did take pictures of was the finished product.

Along with the stain I tested for a product review.


I really love how it turned out.


And now that it has books in it, no one's asking if I'm doing a Nativity scene in the middle of Spring....


Baby Goats seems to love it, too.


But not as much as she loves to make stink faces at me for taking pictures of her while she's "reading"....

We get to see if this solves our playroom problems, and so far, it's looking hopeful! I have to thank Ana White for having these plans waiting to be built! Go check 'em out here!

11 comments:

  1. Very nice! Are the plans on her site?

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    1. Yes! I linked to them in the post, but they should be on the front page of ana-white.com.

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  2. So cute! I love your little girl's face! And I love the book caddy too!

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    1. Aww, thanks! Her expression cracked me up, so I had to use that photo (she smiled for me before giving me the stink-face, but what fun is that? ;-))

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  3. Aloha, Ana White.com fan and now a Lady Goats fan.
    I the book caddy on Ana White, and immediately said, thats a "must do" My wife just started a home daycare, and this would be so handy. (yes, I'm a guy, and you guys are very intimidating. :-)
    Anyways, last night spent over 2 hours cutting and trying to piece together the "Vintage X back stool"... it would not work.
    This will teach me to READ THE COMMENT section also, and not just the plans! I saw the missing cut post and blankety, blank, blank....LOL!I saw your post on the correction and wanted to thank you for it. What a coincidance, when I went to your blog and saw the book caddy also. Again thanks.

    Roy

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    1. Hi Roy! Welcome (and thanks :-))! I would imagine that an in-home daycare would TOTALLY benefit from this! (and I don't see anything wrong with a guy being intimidated by us ladies! LOL!).

      Hope you got the stool put together relatively easily after that! Reading the comments is a *must*!

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  4. Can I purchase this caddy from you?

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    1. Hello! I'm sorry, but I'm not contracting builds just yet (wanna have my work darned near perfect before I do that). If you want to tell me where you're from, I can see if I can help find someone that can help you out!

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  5. Love this! But can't find the plans?

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    1. Here ya go! http://www.ana-white.com/2013/05/plans/x-book-caddy

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  6. What color stain/brand did you use for the finish? Did you use pocket holes to make the X? I am sorry if you already answered this. Thank you!

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