All My X's

Have you guys been oggling over the Rustic X collection on Ana White's site?

From seeing all of the brag posts on these pieces, I bet you have.

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While "rustic" isn't my typical style, I just loooove all of these pieces! I didn't really have a place to put any of it, so I figured it would be a love from afar...

Fast forward almost a year, and a good friend of mine kept showing interest in my leaning bookshelf. It was great, because she just moved and needed a housewarming gift.

(Why do most pictures of my house have a dog butt in them?! Oh! And I've replaced the missing frame... but I'm not taking a picture of my living room right now ;-)).

That's it, on the left of my sofa. And while it's a great bookshelf, I get "over" things quickly and wanted to change that out, anyway. So my friend wanted a leaning wall shelf, I wanted to get rid of mine, and I love all of the rustic X collection on Ana White's site.... Where is this going?

We've added a new piece to the collection!

I used Purebond formaldehyde-free plywood for this because, after learning that the highest exposure to formaldehyde is from the furniture in your home, why wouldn't I?!

I LOVE this bookshelf! And, while you have been hearing on my Facebook page about how long it's taking, it wasn't a difficult build (it's just difficult to build anything in summer in the desert). The plans (posted here) are, as Ana's always are, so easy to follow..

If I can give some hints, if you plan on building this (or something similar)..

Spacers are your best friend.

This piece needed 10 shelf trim pieces spaced precisely (which meant screwing into 20 spots! There's a lot of room for error, here). If you can get the top and sides assembled square, cut a scrap piece the desired spacing length and use it to do the measuring for you. It makes things so much faster. And if you're always losing your tape measure *ahem* not me, it's just so much easier.

Then you end up with two perfectly matching sides!

The worst part for me was in trying to figure out the easiest way to paint the darned thing! I did not want to try to get in between those X's and the bookshelf, and the fewer corners your painting, the easier! So I broke it down into two parts.

I did two coats of primer and one coat of paint without the X's placed in the bookshelf. Then I Gorilla Glued the X's in (wood glue won't work anymore since the pieces are painted) and did one more coat of paint.

Of course, when my friend saw this new shelf, she wanted it instead!

I'll definitely be making another. Maybe not to replace the leaning shelf, but look how cute this bookshelf looks in a nursery..!

I think it's about time I redo Baby Goats' room, don't you?! ;-)

So, we have to thank Ms. Ana for working with me on the plans. They're absolutely amazing!

Whew, I think that was the longest I've taken to actively build something! How do you get your work done in the summer?