Yet more from my new apartment. Today will unveil a bit more, though the focus of this post will be a coffee table. Right now, the table is about the only thing in the apartment that I made myself. I hope to change this in time, but it’s a lot of work and all that

So it all started with a sheet of glass that I had lying around from an old cabinet. I thought to myself, “I wonder if this could work as a table?”. After some more thinking, I put together a rendering like so:

The plan was, the whole time, to make the table black, not wood colored (because it would be made out of MDF or something similar). You can also just barely see the glass in this rendering.

I then realized the sheet of glass had some pretty big holes in it (from handles). So I scrapped the glass, and then instead opted for glossy paint. I really wanted a piano black finish, but to be honest, making that happen is near impossible with a regular paintbrush and MDF.

As least from a distance the finish is kind of glossy. Get closer though, and it’s not quite as nice. Not saying it’s bad though, several coats and lots of sanding did SOMETHING.

The table also ended up being a bit higher than I had planned, something I didn’t realize until I got it into my apartment (which is not where it was assembled). I think it would have looked better if it was lower, but higher is definitely more practical. It’s just the right height for resting your feet when watching tv

If you’re interested in seeing the table belly up, click here. I don’t think it’s quite complicated enough to warrant a instructable.

More to come. Oh, and don’t mind the curtains, they’re practically gone already

Continuing my series on nifty things to put in a (my) apartment, how about a place to put your magazines? Granted, if you don’t read a lot of magazines, this is not for you. And if you read boring looking newspapers, you might also be better off with a basket of some sort. If on the other hand you read stuff where someone went to great lengths to make the cover look good, why stove it away? I mounted mine right next to the sofa so I don’t have to get up in order to grab something to read

The rack is from the same company that made the invisible bookshelf.

It’s been quite a while since I posted anything here. A lot has happened over the last couple months. Getting a job, finding an apartment. Things are starting to set in now though. Got what I need in my everyday life in the apartment, but that doesn’t mean by any stretch that it’s finished. I’ll probably be posting pictures and design-related topics over the next few weeks as things unfold. If there is anything you want me to post about, anything at all, please let me know.

For now though, I wanted to share the invisible bookshelf.

The shelf is manufactured by Umbra, and they also make a version for towels