The timeline of: The big wooden monstrosity

The bookcase/bar started out as nothing more than an idea. I wanted to better utilize a large room in our house, that we didn't really use a whole lot (our dining room). It needed a second purpose other than holding a hutch and a big dining room table, and so one day, I thought of the "library". A place to hold all my books, albums, knick knacks, etc. That became a combination of a little mini bar, with a book case, and storage on the bottom with cabinets. It can be used as a buffet during big meals too. Here is a timeline of this space in our house from the beginning.

And the 98% finished project:

We're very happy how it turned out. The one little corner piece on the upper right took almost allll day on Sunday. I was pretty sure we would probably have to kill each other!

All it took was a homemade taco and he was happy again.
*remember that*

The finished unit is 9.5 feet long, 8' tall on the short side and about 9.5 on the tall side. It is by far, the largest project I've ever worked on, and one of the biggest Gene ever has (he also did all the plumbing and put a new roof on the house - which lucky me, didn't have to participate in.
(quiet yay)

We did pretty darn good for only having a cheap table saw, a circular saw and a hand drill. Oh, we used a jigsaw once.

Our costs?
(guesstimates)
$400 - Cabinets
$200 - plywood
$100 - trim
$25 - Corner pieces (which was a steal but a nightmare to make work!
$125 - hardware
$30 - Stain
$35 - varnish
$150 - Granite tiles
$20 - hardiboard
$30 - ductwork under the cabinets (nightmare)
$10 - screws and nails
$25 - grout
$10 - mastic
$60 - glass shelves and mirror (not pictured - to come)
$1180 - total

Not a cheap project, but if we'd hired it done, I would guess it to be at least a $3500-$4500 cost.


Now... what am I gonna put in all those drawers? ahhhh.