Display Rack (2011)

In my room I have a lot of items, but due to the shape of my ceiling (diagonal parts) it is almost impossible to put a closet inside. So instead I decided to make a rack to display a bunch of my cool items like books, action figures and DVD box-sets.

I wanted it to look like something that could be in a movie, something Steampunk related.
Therefor it would be needing wood, gears and some metal pipes. Off course I cheated on the metal and used PVC pipes and wood to recreate those things.

PVC pipes with MDF rings.

I sawed a couple of rings which then were sanded to round one outer edge.
These were then glued to the PVC pipes, using an extra thick layer (several layers to be more precise) of wood glue to mimic a welded line.

The whole unpainted version of the rack.

Because there are radiator pipes against the wall this rack had to start 20 cm off the ground. That is why there's this big "box" at the bottom. I could've made some drawers in that now "useless" space.

I also wanted to give the whole piece a bit of a royal vibe. For that I bought some crimson red velours which I glued around wooden plates of MDF which fitted perfectly between the ledges.

The finished rack

The whole rack was painted with an orange/ amber primer and finished with a chocolate brown paint. This paint was softly sanded on the edges so it would get a more old worn out look.
By now I know how to pain wood, if I had known back then, than I would've used those techniques to turn this rack into an old wooden one.

Detail shot from the gears. Notice the thicker glue line representing a weld.

A year or so later I noticed that I still had a lot of crap I stored on the lower shelf. This didn't look pretty in sight. To "hide" these items I made some doors to close the lower part of the rack. These doors were painted in the same colors as the rack itself but next to that I added a glass window. Behind it I could place a wooden board (covered with the same red fabric as used in the rack) and I added some old technical etches I found on the internet.

Those etches were placed into Photoshop onto some text, I found about the item, from Wikipedia. The whole text background was turned a bit more antique (lower contrast, typewriter font, some stains and a faded boreder). I printed it on creme colored paper to make it look even older.

Close up of one of the 4 doors that were put in later on.

And some time later I added some latches underneath the shelves, because the books were too heavy for the MDF. These latches prevent the wood from bending so it can hold the books better.

The finished rack (without the doors) filled with the many items I have.
(notice the flower buds on my desk from Magnolia Magnificus)