Herbs & Spices Rack (2015)

A coworker of mine had her kitchen renewed. She asked me if I was able to build her some kind of spice rack.

Finished rack

Before I started I needed to know how the rack should look like. She send me a picture with the notes of the measurements and the request to close the back and do something nice with a router, making it look more classy.

Example picture

I started to make a 3D drawing with the info I had gotten and immediately got to the problem the measurements weren't right. It needed to be deeper; else the herb containers wouldn't fit and it needed to be higher or the lowest ones wouldn't be able to go in and out. The new measurements weren't a problem.
Then I suddenly got the request if I could make a coffee filter holder connected to the rack. I did some drawing of that, but it looked very odd. And on second thought she herself didn't think it was such a good idea to hang those underneath the herbs and spiced (due to spicy coffee)
Instead I came up with the idea to make a holder for the paper kitchen towels.

First drafts of the rack

Rack with kitchen towel holder
(left with "cut off" side, right with a more classy curve)

With everything approved I was able to start.
Everything was made from MDF except the square rods which were pine. 

Everything put together (not glued or screwed yet)

At first she wanted it to be grey and later she decided white would be better. I was happy I hadn't already put everything in a grey primer...
After several coats of white it was finished.

Side view of the finished rack

Dog Bed Evy (2015)

This year we got a puppy; it's a French Bulldog mix and a real goofy dog.

She slept in a dog bench to be house-trained. Once she was house-trained she needed a new place to sleep. Therefor I build her a dog bed with 2 drawers to storage a bunch of her toys.

3D drawing

The main idea was to make a bed that looked like an apple crate; which is a quite common item around here due to all the orchards.
I wanted to make it out of left over pallet wood, but I wasn't able to get my hands on some spare parts. So I decided to make my own version out of MDF.

With a router I grinded some horizontal lines to imitate separate planks.
The parts together made a box; with triangular pieces it turned from a box into a crate.

Closed

One drawer open

Both drawers open

When the woodwork was finished, some fake screw holes were made while the actual screw holes were filled up and sanded smooth.

1 layer of primer and the filled screw holes

After a nice layer of grey primer it was time to give it the actual color; which was also grey.
The top edge was painted white.
When everything was an even color I used my wood imitation techniques to paint a simple pine grain all around.

Wood grain backside

Finished front side with open drawers

I was in doubt to add some stamps, but it would probably look to chaotic, so I left it the way it was.
I added some rope to the drawers; this way our dog is able to open them herself. (Now we have to learn her to close them too)

End result with our little doggie.