This is the first time I'm going to post a half finished project, only because I have been on it for the past month and we made such progress today and I want to share!
Basically, I decided about a month ago that I really wanted to have a great art shelf for my classroom. Something like
this. But look at the price!! Obviously I don't have that kind of money. So one day while I was working at the daycare, I drew up what my dream cabinet would look like:
I even tried to write down measurements, so that Joel would be more willing when I asked him to make it for me. Joel and Cody took me to Home Depot, and we bought a huge piece of MDF (which was terrifying to bring home, but I won't start on that.)
When I got the MDF home, I traced out all of the pieces onto it (which I planned on a piece of paper first) so that Joel and Cody could make the cuts. A couple of days later, I had this:
I did a REALLY quick, sloppy white coat of paint on the pieces as a base. These sat in our living room for a few weeks, until today, when Cody and I finally got a chance to go out and build the start of my DREAM SHELF! I took some pictures as we worked. Cody did all of the nailing, but I had the important job of putting GORILLA GLUE on everything. Here's me holding the bottle:
I did appropriate sound effects every time I glued, don't worry.
Great paint job, huh?
This is where I will store tupperware buckets full of markers, pencil crayons, etc.
I must have been Gorilla Glue-ing in a lot here, because there are no more pictures until the end:
Yay! The right side is for tupperwares, and random supplies on the top. On the left side, paint bottles will go on the bottom, legal sized paper on top, and the three shelves above are for regular sized paper. Beside that, I will put scrapbooking papers standing up.
Isn't it wonderful?
Here's what's left to do:
- Buy a bit more MDF for the top
- Buy thin slats of wood for the back
- Caulk the little gaps between the shelves
- Paint the whole shelf the color of the second swatch here
- Decide if I want to do a lip around the top
Hopefully I will be done this next week, so I can put it in my class before the beginning of school!
I even tried to write down measurements, so that Joel would be more willing when I asked him to make it for me. Joel and Cody took me to Home Depot, and we bought a huge piece of MDF (which was terrifying to bring home, but I won't start on that.)
I must have been Gorilla Glue-ing in a lot here, because there are no more pictures until the end:
Yay! The right side is for tupperwares, and random supplies on the top. On the left side, paint bottles will go on the bottom, legal sized paper on top, and the three shelves above are for regular sized paper. Beside that, I will put scrapbooking papers standing up.
I ironed about an inch and a half around the edges, and flipped itover a second time, to get a crisp edge without having to do too much sewing:
Then, I took the vinyl, and cut out four strips,that were the length of the fabric and about 7 inches tall. 
When it was all cut, I laid it out on the fabric to eyeball everything (very hard to see!) 
Next, I cut out some small vinyl pieces to act as little slots to place tags. After everything was cut, I pinned on tape binding to all of the edges.
This is what it looked like once the vinyl pouches were sewn onto the pockets.
Sewing the vinyl to the fabric was a bit of a task. It's difficult to sew because the vinyl tends to get caught on the presser foot of the sewing machine. Finally, I ended up pinning paper towel to the top of all of the vinyl, so that it would slide easily. 
It just took forever, but really made the process so much easier. When I was done the sewing, I just ripped the paper towel out. It came out quite easily.
This is what it looks like stocked! (there's still some goodies missing from the more "expensive" pockets.. not sure what to put in those, yet!)
The entire thing cost under ten dollars. I will definitely be making more!
That poor peanut has no idea that he is really not invited.
