Construction Begins

Sometimes, I wonder why I let myself start these crazy projects.  Usually, that happens when I am at the point where the project has taken over the house and my life and even the dog is starting to fuss at me for spending too long staring at the things in front of me, trying to figure out how to make them do the things that I want them to do.  The beautiful part is when it works out.

Partway through sorting the magazines, I realized that the color of the magazine headers was ultimately more important than the date of publication, so I started separating them by color and rolling them up into tubes.  I have a small wall that I ultimately want to put this cabinet against, so it won’t be quite as big as I imagined in my head, but realizing that weight is a serious issue, that is probably a good thing.

My basic building block - a magazine rolled into a tube and held together with a strip of clear packing tape

I rolled enough magazines to make a 24″x14″ shelf that stands on two 11″ wide legs.  There was a lot of tape involved up to this point as well as two sturdy cardboard tubes (I think that they once held foil or plastic wrap) cut to brace the shelf against the legs.  As I add more height, meaning more weight (magazines are HEAVY!)  I may need to add another outer frame of magazines around the base to keep the legs from bowing.

The first shelf of the cabinet, standing sturdily all by itself!

At this point, it could be used as a low shelf for shoes by a door or a TV tray for kids or even a foot rest.  I have used 32 magazines building the first shelf  and it hasn’t collapsed on itself and can even support a bit of weight, too!

View of the side of the shelf

I think that the small wooden shelves I have will work better than magazines as the top level of the second tier to save weight and make the uppermost two shelves more stable, and I believe I have come up with a way to secure them that will work well, but I’m going to wait until tomorrow to find out.