Reclaimed Wood Kitchen Tidy

I live in a small flat, and in the kitchen there's not a lot of storage. As a result, the bins (general waste & recycling) have always just lived in the corner of the room. It's not a major issue, but bins aren't exactly nice to look at, made worse given that it's an open plan kitchen shared with the lounge area.

I found a couple of solid wood bedframes that were otherwise destined for the landfill, and took them apart, and used the timber to build this kitchen tidy unit. There's not really any new or ground-breaking techniques to document, so the rest of this is predominantly a photo post.

I'm pleased with the result, and I plan to do more reclaimed wood projects in the future - as all the timber was reclaimed, the only material cost ended up being the wood dye and varnish, which makes woodworking much more affordable.

The original sketch for the upcycled shelf and bin cupboard I built in the summer. #woodwork #DIY #handmade

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Jan 25, 2017 at 12:29pm PST

New project. Shelf and bin cupboards from reclaimed bed frame timber #woodworking #woodwork #DIY #doityourself #reclaimedwood

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Oct 11, 2016 at 4:58am PDT

Nearly done, just need to finish the doors, and then sand and finish everything. #DIY #doityourself #reclaimedwood #upcycled #handmade

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Oct 14, 2016 at 5:42am PDT

The kitchen tidy after sanding (top left) dyed and varnished (bottom left) and in use (right). #diy #woodwork #reclaimedwood #handmade

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Jan 27, 2017 at 4:37am PST

Oak Desk with Embedded TV/Monitor part 2

This is a continuation of my build of an oak and glass desk with a 32" TV & computer built into it. The first part of the build is here.

Step 3: Routing the back to fit the TV

Even with the plastic bezel removed from around the front of the TV, there's still a metal frame supporting the screen, which can't be removed.

Just sitting the TV against the back of the desktop would leave a gap of 28mm between the glass and the screen, which is enough to look a bit weird.

I routed the back of the desk to allow the TV to be positioned closer to the glass. This meant removing another 10mm from the desktop thickness, leaving the 'ledge' that the glass sits of at 18mm.

Step 4: Creating the legs

It made sense to use the section that had been removed from the middle of the desktop for the legs. However, I didn't want to just use the flat board, as it would just look lazy and reminiscent of flat-pack furniture, even when cut into 4 for the legs.

I also needed to give consideration to the cabling for the screen, which led me to the idea of splitting the wood into 8 pieces, and pairing them together to create the four legs. This would allow for the cabling to be integrated, and give a more solid leg aesthetic which better suited the style I was aiming for.

The 8 leg parts, ready to pair up and join

The wood cut from the centre of the desk, cut to 8 pieces and joined by dowel and wood glue in pairs to create the four legs #DIY #woodworking #oak #doityourself #carpentry #woodwork #handmade

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Aug 20, 2016 at 12:29pm PDT

To allow for the cable to be run, before joining the last leg, I routed a groove in the joining sides. a hole was drilled through to the outer corner of the leg. This will be tidied up later to incorporate the hole in part of the design so it doesn't look too out of place.

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Aug 21, 2016 at 3:07pm PDT

Then the corners of the legs were shaped, and open mortises were cut to attach the desks skirt

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Aug 23, 2016 at 4:55am PDT

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Aug 27, 2016 at 10:44am PDT

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Sep 2, 2016 at 4:43am PDT

With the legs done, I can move onto fitting the TV.

Oak Desk with Embedded TV/Monitor

I've been after a new desk for a while, but never really been able to find one that fits the right combination of size, style and budget.

So I decided to build one myself, taking inspiration from a few videogames, where desks with built-in screens are commonplace:

In Splinter Cell: Blacklist (2013), the 'SMI' as it was known, was interactive and and provided a means of displaying menu systems to the player.

More recently, in Doom (2016), the desk is merely part of the scenery.

The plan
As much as I like the look of the tables in the games, I decided to go with a more traditional look.

The TV (red) will be sunk into the table, with the electronics hidden by the apron (grey) part.	When the glass (blue) is added, it will line up with the table surface, creating a flush finish.
The underside - I envisage a frame, possibly a re-purposed wall mount (yellow/gray), supporting the TV. The pink block indicates where I will mount the computer.

I started with a block of oak kitchen counter top. The aim was to put the TV into the desk, then protect it with a glass worktop sunk into the wood.

Step 1: Routing the ledge for the glass

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Aug 3, 2016 at 3:12pm PDT

The counter-top is 38mm thick, and has substantial weight to it. The plan was to route 10mm deep into it so that the glass would sit flush with the rest of the wood.

The glass was centered on the table and marked up. I'd only be routing the ledge, I'd be cutting the middle part out entirely, to make room for the screen, so it didn't make sense to rout all that.


I also left the corners - once the middle was removed I'd use a forstner drill to do those, to ensure a nice round corner.


Step 2: Cutting out the middle

A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Aug 7, 2016 at 10:01am PDT

It would be a shame to waste the large chunk of wood from the middle, so I thought I'd use it to create the legs which meant I had to remove it intact.

I did this by using a circular saw to plunge-cut on each side, using the routed ledge as a guide, then using a jigsaw to finish the cuts on each side, allowing the middle to drop out (which of course had to be controlled, leaving it unsupported would likely have caused the wood to split when the majority of support was gone).


With the middle removed, I could finish the corners of the ledge using the forstner drill.

After a lot of planing and sanding, the glass finally fit. #woodworking #DIY A photo posted by Anthony (@darkmidnight_diy) on Aug 9, 2016 at 5:12am PDT

The next steps are to build the legs and mount the TV.