My Husband Can Beat Up Your Husband

I've always been rather partial to my husband. He's a pretty good guy, and I've decided to keep him. We made it through the one-year warranty period unscathed and are continuing in happy, marital bliss. Despite already being on my good side, John often does things to make me like him even more. For instance...just over two months ago, my husband decided to build a sideboard for me for Christmas. And on Christmas Eve, we hauled it inside as a finished piece of wooden art!

The Building

The entire project was a lot of hard work. John had some help with the bones of the sideboard. His Dad came down for three days, and John took some time off work so they could knock out a lot of building before Mick had to leave with some pretty impressive tools. Our garage became the workshop, and our old dining table became the work bench. Before long, the shape began to take form! A fact mostly unknown to most of the public, I happen to be a slight perfectionist. And these boys took that into account by making everything precise and exact. They dug in and got a piece of furniture well on its way to being an heirloom! I was at work during their building extravaganza, but John was diligent in taking great pictures to document their accomplishments as they progressed.

The Staining

After the building and sanding were finished, John began the process of staining and staining and then staining some more. It ended up taking forever in between layers. We bought a stain/polyurethane mix for the color, thinking it would only add to the durability of the surfaces. However, it made the subsequent layers of stain a headache to put on, since they were no longer sinking into wood but onto a layer of poly acrylic coating. After a careful third coat, we loved the color. On the next project (of course I'm already planning a "next project!"), we will do a stain, and then poly so everything will go as planned! John finished by adding four layers of straight polyurethane to the sideboard for some added protection.

The Assembly

Since everything was finally dry, and John had recovered nicely from inhaling fumes for three weeks, he moved on to the assembly. He put the doors on with some neat fasteners we found at Home Depot. He installed the shelving for the place mats. He built up the inside with white melamine wood on adjustable shelving so I could store all of my serving dishes inside! Have I mentioned how thoughtful this guy is? The most impressive task, by far, was his designing and building of the napkin rack. He sat at the table and figured exact dimensions before heading outside to make the cuts with his saw. Luckily, I married a math magician. And he came up with some inventive ways to hold his level in place so all the cuts would be even! Then he got to work putting the pieces together, and I absolutely love the results. Brilliant indeed. He also added legs to make the sideboard a perfect height for serving food.

The Results

After all the pieces were complete, it was time to bring it inside for final assembly. This, of course, was my favorite part because the finish line was in sight at last. John touched up the stain on the front of the shelves before putting it all together inside our Great Room. Holy smokes, it looks incredible! The entire room feels better because this beautiful sideboard now exists. I am in love with everything about it...the extra storage space, the deep color of the stained wood, the custom shelving for napkins and place mats...and that it was made FOR ME by MY HUSBAND! Have I mentioned how stinkin' cool he is?

The project was over two months from start to finish. This beautiful sideboard is a result of lots of hard sanding, sawing, measuring, crying (just kidding), and staining. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, and I am thrilled that we have this incredible piece to pass on to our kiddies. Isn't is gorgeous? Once again, I'm the luckiest lady in the world to be married to John. He just bought at least another year of my time, I can tell you that much.