Suspended Garage Shelves

We moved into a new house and missed the terrific shelf space from the last garage. Unfortunately, the new garage didn't have enough space on the side to add shelves, so we opted to add shelves suspended from the ceiling instead.

The main shelf was added aside the door. I used the cheaper OSB this time, rather than the nicer plywood. It's just as sturdy and works well in the garage, especially where the walls aren't painted.

I built the wooden lattice and attached some temporary wall supports and vertical support to make installation easier. The OSB had to be added before the permanent suspended reports because there's no way to put it in afterwards.


After the permanent supports are added, the shelf is large and sturdy. It's 4 feet deep and about 12 feet long. The temporary supports were removed for a cleaner look.


I also installed two smaller shelves above the rolling garage door. I would have liked to make these longer, but the garage has a load-bearing support that gets in the way. Still, they're unobtrusive and completely unnoticeable from outside the garage.

Trundle Bed Refiinishing

We found a trundle bed at a garage sale. While functional, the original finish was hideous. I'm pretty sure it was an off-white yellow, but my wife is certain it contained a hint of pink that "doesn't exist on any color palette."
 

My first thought was to use paint stripper on every surface. This kind of worked, but was slow and arduous and left behind a sticky residue that I still needed to sand off.


In the end, I used the quarter sander again to remove the paint. It was also slow, but did a good, clean job. It was made easier by pulling all the pieces apart, even beyond the finishing nails holding it together.


After everything was sanded and reassembled, I stained it and added a coat of polyurethane. This was much easier on the bed than on the kitchen table. The softer wood on the bed took the stain easily and the bed was much more forgiving of little mistakes.

Kitchen Table Refinishing

The kitchen table was beautiful when we got it, but almost a decade later it was showing some wear.


Not only had some parts chipped off, but some permanent finish discoloration occurred when some heated bottles were placed on it without enough insulation.


The first step was to sand everything down. I used this hand sander, but if I had it to do again I might have checked into getting a belt sander with a low grit. This took quite a while.



The edges were marred as well, so I lightly sanded them. Once everything is done, the slight difference in shape won't be noticeable.


The stain goes on really dark, enough to be a little worried. But when the excess is wiped off a few minutes later, the hardwood has some great color to it.




At this point, it's time for a finish. I used polyurethane in several light, diluted coats. This was a learning experience the first time around as I actually messed up badly and had to start completely over, re-sanding everything from scratch. Fortunately, the hardwood veneer was barely thick enough to withstand a second sanding. After the polyurethane, the table has a beautiful shine to it.



Back in the kitchen, good as new!

Garage Shelves

Our garage was a mess. Sure, we could find everything easily, but only because it was all dumped into a big pile on the side of the garage.


First, a trip to the hardware store for some lumber. We got a mix of 2x3 for the shelves (left), 2x4 for the vertical supports (center), and cut plywood (right). Hardware stores will cut plywood for you if you ask, which results in a much straighter and cleaner cut than I could make at home. I could just as easily have used OSB instead, but the plywood looks nicer.


2x3 boards are attached to the walls at the studs with nails and screws. The number of fasteners I use was probably overkill, but I'd rather too many than too few. The lowest shelf is intentionally shorter to fit bigger items.


Rather than having to support (or have someone hold) the shelves as I build them, I stage them up beforehand.


The shelves are attached to the vertical 2x4 boards. They can rest on the wall supports while we install them.


Once assembled, it's impressive how quickly these get filled up. There's still space for more items and the garage is much, much cleaner.

Keyboard & Mouse Painting

I thought it would be cool to have some customized hardware to go with the CPU window from the previous post, so I grabbed some automotive primer and paint for a fun, shiny look.

First, everything was sanded down and taped off.


Several coats later, everything looks shiny.

 

A clear protective coat will stop the paint from rubbing off, which is especially important on the mouse as it will rub against hands frequently.

The keyboard and mouse are reassembled to make a nice, matching pair. The keyboard's LEDs have been swapped for blue to match the CPU case.

CPU Case Window Mod

Many high-end CPU cases come with cool windows through which you can see the guts of the computer. Mine is a low-end case, which gave me an opportunity to make my own.

I taped off the cover and used a dremel tool to cut out the shape I wanted.


Even after sanding, the edges are still rough and sharp, so I added plastic u-channel around the frame.

The plexiglass is cut to the rough shape of the opening. It's okay if the plexiglass is too large for the opening, as long as it rests flat. In my case, I had to cut around the handle indentation for it to fit.

Without extra lighting, there won't be much to look at once it's reassembled. I've built an LED array controlled by a little microcontroller circuit. The whole thing is powered by the PC's power supply and will slowly fade in and out in a cool electric blue. After this step, the plexiglass protective sheet can be peeled off and everything reassembled.


Reassembled, it looks pretty good. It's fun to watch the blue fade in and out.