Playing With Power Tools: A's Bedside Table Part 1

The 18 miler did not happen this weekend. I managed to catch yet ANOTHER cold (fourth one this season, but who's counting?), and it was in the 30s on Sunday when I would have been running. So instead, I started a new project.

I've been telling the girl for a while that she needs a nightstand, and she obviously agrees. What 5 year doesn't agree when you tell them they need something new, right? Only problem is that she has bunk beds, so there's not a lot of room for a nightstand. 

When we were looking at nightstands, this is one that she liked.  So I figured we'd use that for inspiration and go with the two sides open idea.

After thinking about it all day Saturday, I think I came up with a design that will work. Imagine my amusement as I'm busting out trig calculations to figure out the dimensions of wood I need and the measurement of the angle between the ladder and floor (69.75 degrees for those of you that care). I haven't done that stuff in years, but a lot of it came back - with a little help from Mr. Internet, of course.

So after thinking it over all day Saturday, running calculations, making pathetically crude drawings, etc., Alyssa and I hit Lowes for some wood. Assuming I had all of my calculations right (BIG assumption), I only needed one 4'X4' piece of wood - fingers crossed I don't have to go back... 

I got most of the wood cut out (see below) and you can see above the profile it's going to take. The other closed side is going to be the side that slopes up with the ladder. I did find one mistake in my numbers - and of course it was a good one. I *think* I can fix it, but it should be fun to see what happens next...

With just a few cuts made (above).

All of the boards cut and ready to go. Now I need to figure out how to make some angled cuts to put the boards together correctly. Time to learn something new...