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Storage and Media Center

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I’m so excited to share this storage and media center we built for the kids’ books, art, and toys.  I wanted it to be a distressed finish, to match the barn wood and flooring of the basement.  It’s not quite done yet, but its getting close!

Total= $565.00

First, hubs used 2×4 wood to create a frame for the cabinets to rest on. The total length was 12 feet, and the width was 12 inches. We put it directly onto the concrete, and then screwed it into the studs in the walls.

To get the rustic/distressed look, I began with cabinets from Menards that were pre-finished with a reddish stain.  Here is something similar, mine were on sale and I got the 11% discount that was going at the time. I thought this would be cool when I distressed it, and some of it showed through. I covered the doors and frame with two coats of Annie Sloan Chalk paint in Graphite. I love this color, it really has depth-you can see the color above before any distressing or was. I let each coat dry for a few hours, then used a sanding sponge to rub away some of the paint on the edges of the doors, the frame, and even a few spots of the front of the doors.  I added a coat of Annie’s dark wax, applying it with a cotton cloth for consistency and rubbed it in well, “like hand lotion,” as Annie says. After that set, I finished it with a coat of Annie’s clear wax.  Finally, I used a cotton cloth to buff the set wax to a shine.

To install the cabinets, we clamped them together, drilling screws into the frames where you see the clamps above. This held them together and made for an even front.

After they were all drilled together, we drilled them into the studs in the walls with cabinet screws.

To create a rustic-looking top, I used edge-glued wood for the main counter area on top of the cabinets.  Hubs drilled holes into this wood for the two outlets we wanted to access (if we had been thinking, we would have had them installed higher, but this will work too.) I stained this wood, and the rest of the horizontal shelves, with a mix of Minwax Provincial and Minwax Weathered Oak, finished with 2 coats of Minwax Satin Finish Poly, lightly sanded with a sanding sponge after each coat. I installed this “counter” next, using screws to secure it to the wood frames of the cabinets.

Then came the fun part: the shelving. I was shocked that this went together so easily the first time. This never happens for me, since measuring correctly is *hard*, but this time, the skies opened. To do this, I measured out a 10″ wide board for the top and side pieces (all wood shelving on this upper portion is 10″). Since the total length is 12 feet, I made the top piece slightly shorter, about 11 feet, 10 inches, so that it would rest on the counter easily. Then, I measured from the counter to the ceiling, and made sure to account for the 3/4″ of the top board and about 1/2 inch of clearance to get it into place. Here’s my drawing:

That gives you an idea of how I figure out things….and maybe why they so rarely come together the first try! To build the frame, I laid the boards out on the floor, and drilled screws through the top to attach the vertical boards. It was a little “wobbly” when I stood it up on the floor, but I knew that wouldn’t be a problem since I planned to secure it with shelving and connect it into the studs. To finish it, I used the same paint and wax as I did on the cabinets below. Once it was painted, I moved it into place. This was awesomely smart. If I would have moved it into place first, then painted, well, that paint and was would have gotten all over the walls and ceiling, and I didn’t want to repaint those!

Creating the shelves. I cut the 10″ wood shelves according to my drawing, used my Kreg Jig to drill pocket holes in them, and then stained them before attaching. Once again, staining before attaching was genius. I didn’t have to do any caulking, or repainting of the walls. Based on my drawing, I used chalk to mark where I wanted the shelves (on the frame’s vertical pieces) and then used my Kreg Jig clamp (see link above, if you don’t have a Kreg Jig yet, getttt one!)  to help me hold them into place. I started with the shelving closest to the wall, since I could get that solid, and then move outward. I tried to attach the frame to the studs into the side wall and ceiling first, but the studs were not in the right location, and I ended up abandoning that. More later on how I secured it. Anyway, it was also smart to start with the shelves closest to the wall. Since nothing was secured to the wall yet, I could move that frame a bit to get the shelves where I wanted them.

The Kreg Jig clamp is so nice for getting the shelving a 90 degree angle.

Hubs helped me with the longer shelves in the middle, but all in all, this step only took about 90 minutes….easier than usual for me!!! Doesn’t it look good??

SD was excited to get some of her art into the open space 🙂 (We found those frames at Joann’s).

Since my original plan to drill the frame into the studs didn’t work out, I used L-shaped brackets, connecting them to the shelves and the studs. I probably went overboard on these brackets (about 2 in every shelf), it was pretty solid with much less. Some of the brackets I installed from the bottom, like this one below.

However, on the longer shelves, I didn’t want the brackets to be visible, so I installed them on top of the shelf, like below.

As soon as that was done, I touched up the paint, and of course, the big pay-offfff……getting some of the kids’s books up to see how it looks.

Still have some crown moulding to put up and some trim on the bottom to finish, but I LOVE how this is looking…….