…end to end… 

A couple of years back, my dad built us an awesome cabinet to fill an empty wall in our living area, and hold the assorted paraphernalia that comes with wrangling a tribe of kids. It was great for keeping bags and hats and shoes somewhat contained (though it didn’t completely eliminate the 8.55 “wheeeeeere is your hat???” panics), less great was its ability to attract all manner of clutter. It is directly opposite the back door (our main family entrance). It is halfway between the dining room and lounge room. It’s next to the kitchen. It was like a permanent monument to a too-hard-basket.

One of the worst offenders was my planner pile. Which also become a sundry paper pile. And everything else pile. For a loooooong time, I have wanted to make bookends to tidy them up and make it look intentional. My biggest dilemma was the design. I tossed up various ideas, sketched some out, stared at the husband’s tool shelf in search of the jigsaw, but never managed to commit. Always a good sign I’m not sold on the idea. Then back in March, I was in Brisbane for some workshops with my essential oil business, and took myself off  to the city for breakfast. Conveniently opposite my fave cafe is Typo (I swear I didn’t plan that), and hanging in the door was a stand of wooden letters, just about the right size. I popped in, and at $5 each, or 3 for $10, I was sold. I grabbed two of our family initial, and an ampersand. Got home. Shoved the bag in the craft room so husband dearest didn’t see. Finished Diamond Club, caught my breath, hit the road for a month.

Then, as life was getting back to normal, Mr Barefoot decided to build a mini moveable greenhouse cover for our veggie garden (or a part of it, anyway). I figured it was as good a time as any, since the saw and supplies were out. I raided the scrap timber pile, and found a perfect piece of pine.

I was very technical in my measuring and cutting. I used the M as my main measurement, as it was the biggest of the two. I lay it on my timber, flush with the edges, and marked off the height of the M, and cut it using the drop saw, and then repeated the process to create a second piece – these would be the two risers. Then it got super fancy – I butted the cut timber up against the M and marked of THAT distance, and cut, and repeat, to create two bases. Some awkward sideways nailing and glueing, and voila, two awesome bookends, and a much neater planner station! I oriented my cuts so that the visible edge abutted the finished edge of the timber I used. This meant the only “exposed/cut” edges were the back, which wouldn’t be seen, and the top & end, which I could live with. This allowed me to leave the pine raw and unvarnished (beyond the shop-ready finish it came with), which was the look I was going for.

SUPPLIES:

Typo “letterpress” range monogram and ampersand in black (3 for $10)

18mm laminated pine board (scrap of, pilfered from the shed, maybe $10 worth)

Wood glue

Nails

TOOLS:

Drop saw (though a hand saw would work, just would take longer and may not be as neat)

Hammer

Not a bad result for 20 minutes work! (Links are not affliate, just trying to be useful!)