Wife wanted a plant shelf on Amazon for $60. I said, pshh, I can build that myself. So I did. It only cost $90 and took all weekend.

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I’d say about $30 better
- Don't be so cheap, it's a whole 50% better!

Are you me, but with better skill? I do this all the time but the end result is like Homer Simpson's spice rack.

As the son of an avid woodworker and the grandson of a cabinetmaker, I completely understand this comment.

Bah, I could do that for $200 in only a week or two.

I could probably do it for $800 and never finish it.
- hah ! I spent all my retirement money on the power tools and never even started the woodwork

So instead of a cheap Amazon furniture she got a more valuable hand made one. Seems like a good deal to me

Hey have you ever considered acquiring more succulents?

I am a carpenter. I bought a jewelry rack for my partner off amazon. It broke in 2 months.

I assure you your time and effort will not go to waste as this is going to last a million times longer. Not to mention the brownie points!

The last trip to buy pots to separate the existing overgrown succulents also brought home a new succulent. Soooo...
- Like when I went to get some mulch for my new gooseberry bushes and walked out with 4 blueberry bushes.

A forklift-themed party? That sounds awesome haha

I was gonna say! One of my friends had a mango-themed party. He didn't even particularly love mangos; it was just a nice unified theme.

I'd like to see you're wife's version of this post.

"Finally got all my plants organized, so happy with the result!"
- Oh. I guess I thought it would be funnier.
- Look what my awesome husband made for me!
His wife obviously is a plant hoarder. She'll probably buy the Amazon one, too, and overload both with innocent, helpless seedlings.

That monster.

Nice work! $90 and the satisfaction of having built something yourself! Did/ are you thinking of staining it given the wateringv situation?

I already coated with paste wax. Should be enough, we'll see.

my guess is yours look like what your wife wanted, wheres the amazon one would have looked like utter shit (also the quality), and nothing like the pictures on the site. so well done man.

also highly questionable origins and who knows what kind of conditions the assembly workers went through
- On top of all that you had a nice weekend working on a hobby you enjoy. Can't put a price tag on that.
It's always the size.

My Mrs has bought heaps of stuff from Amazon only to find it's about a quarter the size she expected.

Very nice looking. Given the numbers of plants, the next project should be a nice double-paned glass greenhouse. It will be cheap only $20K or so :-).

Did you toss a finish on that? Pine plus water will not age well. On projects like that spraying is much more time efficient. I would use a lacquer personally if the weather outside is appropriate. It requires lots of ventilation but dries fast. I use three coats on stuff that needs to be water resistant. Five coats for stuff like aquarium stands.

When I apply it, I open all the doors in the garage and put a fan on as well as wearing a respirator. Damn stuff is pungent but I love the results.

Thanks for the suggestions. I used a paste wax, hoping that went on thick enough to do something.

So much nicer than Amazon or Ikea. Bah, fuck that crap, do anything yourself. I'm in the process of making a sofa because they're painfully expensive or total crap here, learning to sew and anything about upholstery foam. Free yourself from the corporate tyranny & make it all yourself!

That shelf looks amazing. Good job. What was your wife’s reaction ? Did she give it a rating?

7/10, would've been better if she didn't have to remind me to make it so many times

This is beautiful! I would be so touched if my partner went to all this trouble to make me something like this.

Looks great, are you single ?

I asked my wife and she said "no"
Yeap! His wife calls it something else though.

Looks good, though. Hope it was a fun build.

Looks great! Did you at least get to buy a few new tools out of it as well?

I used the tools I bought earlier to justify those purchases
- Smart

Great work mate, much better than getting something store bought 🪚

Thoughtful gift for the wife. This guy knows whats up.

Yours will likely last a long longer and be much easier to repair though.

That tiny bit of pine wood cost 90 dollaroos?! Christ, no wonder I can never afford to make anything :-(

That's like, 6 full weeks of house electricity payments right there, haha.

That's some cheap electricity
- You may benefit from a energy efficient fridge. Old appliances can cost a lot of extra energy (or are using AC/Electric Heating, that will cost extra of course).
If he had bought a sheet and ripped his own slats on a table saw it’d have been cheaper. But then he’d have to have a table saw. Fabrication is mostly front loaded. If you aren’t equipped for it then economies of scale is working against you.

Bruh, save some drip for rest of us. Looks dope.

Well it looks really nice

Great looking project! That looks to be about $90 worth of wood these days 😁

Have you thought about adding grow lights?

That's the next step, thinking through options.

I have some 16" metal led strips that would work if I could cut them, but looking at the traces, they won't work if cut. So I'll probably have to buy something.

Flexible led strips are likely the answer.
- They make couplers for most led strips. Cut and join. Check it out.

The shelf looks stunning! I'm a bit nervous about the plants at the bottom - they don't have enough light. This part of the shelf would be perfect for some small gardening equipment and the plants could inhabit the window!

It’s beautiful! Will probably last longer too.

Ngl, it looks awesome 👌

Thank you for not lying 👍
- Gonna lie, I think it sucks.

This is the way.

Looks great. Also, I can tell that you don't have cats living there.

It may be 30$ more expensive but DAMN does it look nice!

looks lovley. I would not want to have to water all those tiny pots thought.

We take them off and soak in the sink or a bin. Succulents need infrequent but deep watering. I watered them once or twice the entire winter last year.
That's where the next DIY project becomes building a drip-watering system into the plant rack :-)

nano mescal distillery

Damn that's good

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I wish I could give you an academic answer, but I was going off of a similar design and thought if it works there, it should work here.

Honestly I'm a bit worried about the corners, but they feel stable enough.

I used pocket screws and wood glue at each shelf attachment to the frame. The shelf slats are all glued edge grain to edge grain, so in theory the entire shelf should act like a solid board.
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Every shelve is a square supported on 3 corners. The weight in the "free" triangle holds because of the opposite corner.

I hope I explain it clear enough.
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