He wields his power tools with skill and precision.  He is a master of improvisation (both with tools and with comedy…makes a project much more entertaining).  He is a crazy perfectionist.  He has vision…his vision matches what I see in my head.  Does that make him a mind-reader?  I kinda hope so…and kinda hope not ;).

So my mind-reading handy man rockstar took on a project that I have wanted done pretty much since we moved in…our ‘bar closet’.  This closet is where we store our bar supplies (wine, liquor, mixers, mixing supplies) and my less frequently used small appliances and bakeware.  This is what it looked like before the redux (shamefully).

I did not capture the sagginess of the shelves where the bottles were stored in this picture…but, I was very concerned about them collapsing, making a mess, hurting someone and costing tons of money to replace our supplies.  I had to limit the number of bottles per shelf.  The appliances did much better as far a shelf sag went, but it is still an eye sore (not to mention a disorganized mess).

So, my handy man and his little helper removed all of the wire shelving…

I really hate this stuff…I want to yank it out of every closet in my house…but the budget only allowed this project for now.

Buh-bye wire shelves!  The over abundance of holes had to be filled…

Messy, messy…I got R2-D2 (aka our shop vac) out and cleaned this up, then did a quickie repaint of the walls.  We debated on staining vs. painting these shelves…we went with staining.  We found a stain/polyurethane combo that made it a no-brainer decision…1 coat of stain vs. primer & 2 coats of paint…stain, definitely.  The stain grade boards were more expensive, but I believe it was a wash given the amount of primer and paint we would have needed (we stained the entire project with a quart of stain…plenty left over).

My super detail oriented darling husband made lots of measurements, having some issues with odd stud placement, but got it all mapped out & ready for the test run (pre-stain).

 You should have seen (I should have snapped a pic) of the detailed labeling that went on the backside of the pieces of wood…crazy detailed…anyone could have figured out exactly where each piece was to go.  Once all of this was laid out, he needed my help deciding on the wine storage…he called me out to the garage…

How is that for detailed?  He even had bottles for me to put in the diagrams so I could decide…I went with the larger, of course ;).  This part of the project is where his improv skills really had a chance to shine…he doesn’t have any specialized woodworking saws or routers…he did this with a mitre saw, circular hand saw, a belt sander and a chisel bit.

He made the X pieces fit perfectly together…I can’t imagine what he might be capbable of if properly equipped…oh the endless project list I have in my brain!  We spent Saturday night staining shelves together in the garage after the kids were tucked in…romantic, huh?  Here’s a great tip for when you have to give stain (or paint) drying time before flipping over or adding another coat…Glad Press & Seal…this stuff has soooooo many uses!  It will keep the brush (works with rollers, too) from drying out.

 Here are the finished shelves going in…I love the dark contrast.

See the little corner pieces? (this pic is kinda blurry, but this isn’t the most brightly lit spot in our house)  They added that finishing touch the joints needed.  Now here is my favorite part…the stunner of the project…the wine storage.

I opted for the less deep shelves that had the wrap arounds…I feel it gives this space a more custom look and allows me to get my new wine glasses that I keep stored in their original boxes room to go above.  I am still in the process of ‘moving back in’, but here is all of our bar supplies happily in their new home.

I am amazed by how much these shelves actually hold!  I’m gonna need to stock up on wine (bummer!) to get the X filled up.

Today’s secret revealed…my darling husband is never 100% satisfied with his awesome work…he wants it to look like an artisan built the shelves…tongue & groove joints, etc…like furniture.  I think this is fabulous & that he is a total rockstar handy man!

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