Set your race sag

In case anyone was wondering what I've been doing with my spare time recently....

....I've been building a TV Cabinet.

AIM:

Have something neatly hide away this giant old telly we have.
And do it with little or money.

PROCESS
Cherie and I bought this battered old cabinet with a surround sound DVD player and giant TV on gumtree for $60!

The cabinet could be considered antique and has acquired a lot of "character";

• Original Deco handles,
• Fiddle back veneer on the inside of the doors
• Stumpy Queen Anne legs
• Lots of dings and scratches and a coat of what I suspect is white primer.
  

Unfortunately the lock mech and escutcheon are missing.
The interior shelves had been replaced with horrible sagging chipboard. So I decided to get rid of them and rebuild the cabinet interior.

Materials;
High quality 18mm ply salvaged from the office refit we had at work.
Slats from old cedar blinds.
Assorted Screws, I bought some long ones and scrounged the rest.
PVA Glue.
Aluminium L extrusion.
Heavy Duty draw runners also salvaged from office furniture.

Tools;
Jigsaw
Cordless drill

Construction Method;
Glue and screw butt joints.

Design;
TV on top.
DVD and vintage PlayStation in a fixed tray below.
And finally one big deep draw underneath to hold DVDs, Cd's and the general clutter that seems to gather around the living room.

Tray Design;
A narrow open ended ply box that sits on the cabinets original shelf supports.
It just slides in and sits there's no need to screw it down or anything. Put the TV on top and the DVD and PlayStation inside the box and voila!

Draw Design;
Straight forward box. I didn't want any screws showing on the front so that face is fastened from behind using salvaged aluminium extrusion as "L" brackets. The front face has a cutout in the top edge to act as a handle.
I screwed the draw runners inside the cabinet making sure they were packed out to the right width (This is where the cedar slats came in).
Pushed the draw in, it slides back and forth like a dream!


Paint?

Conclusion;
As I expected long cuts with a jigsaw, even if you use a guide, are never as straight as a circular saw cut. Next time I'll buy a circular saw.
Cost came in way under $100 although painting it will bump the price up abit. But at the end of the day I have a unique piece of furniture that I hope will provide years of useful and attractive service.

The future....
I would like to have a power board hidden inside the cabinet so I don't have to see it. Also a single switch somewhere where i can switch off the power supplied to the cabinet. That way everything isn't left on standby.... perhaps a foot switch will do or rocker switch concealed inside the cabinet.

Old Photos

Alright? Nat reminded me that there are some funny pictures on her site.
Try and guess which one I am. http://www.nataliejanssen.com/CharactersPage1.htm
And here are some photos she took of my family and friends. http://www.nataliejanssen.com/HATgroup1.htm
The one of my Grandma is going to appear on a soda bottle in the States in the near future. Inshallah.

What I did on my Holidays

A Hang Gliding Lesson! The basics are pretty easy and it's not at all scary. I recommend it to all*.
*Including age-ed mothers and depressed lemmings.

Here are the pictures of Taf and my expedition to Morroco.......
I hope you like sand.

Guess the movie quote

Guess the quote and you could win a life times supply of hilariously oversized imaginary rubber rats with matching concrete ear warmers (imaginary).

"I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request."

Its an easy one.....

You know your old when....

...the presenters on cartoon shows are younger than you are.

(Its just something I noticed today and thought I might share it with the world whether it likes it or not)