Shelf Life

This weekend I built a new set of storage shelves for our closet under the stairs. Until last week it was a toy closet. Now it's additional food storage for things that might not endure the temperature extremes in our garage.

I learned something in building the set of shelves for the garage. This set took me only four hours, even with some additional design considerations. The shelf unit would be nearly seven feet long and six feet high, so there is no way I could build them elsewhere and move them into position. Instead I built them in sections and finished assembly after getting them in place. Except for a last second change in positioning, it worked pretty slick.

The kids were fascinated with daddy's tools, especially the mitre saw and the skill saw. Whenever I used them they'd sit nearby on a box, their fingers jammed in their ears. Every time I got ready to make a cut with the mitre saw my son would remind me, "Careful not to cut your fingers, Daddy!" His concern, no matter how unjustified, was touching nonetheless. As often as I tell him to be careful I suppose I had it coming.

My daughter was so eager to help she volunteered to blow away the drill shavings for me after I drilled each hole. She found out pretty quickly that it's not as exciting as it looks. After a few minutes I was back to blowing my own shavings. My son volunteered for it later, and though two years younger, actually lasted longer at it. Of course once it became evident I was through using the saws they both drifted away before long.

After I got the shelf frame installed in the closet I went back outside to cut the shelves themselves. Before long I had two spectators again--this time looking like hobbits. Emma had decided it was too much work to put her shoes on again, so she "borrowed" her mother's. Walter followed suit. Two little kids with big shoes, perched on a box, eagerly watching daddy cut boards. Straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

I finished up just in time to help get the kids to bed. Before I got back outside to clean up we had a nasty windstorm come up. Most of my sawdust ended up inside the garage. Silly me. One of the reasons I'd built the shelves outside was to avoid a big sawdust mess.

Our downstairs entryway, where the closet it, smells distinctly of particle board.