Looks grand. Just remember to put one little screw through the nightstand into the wall, just to keep it from jumping off the wall when you find it with your name-body-part-here in the dark.
Thanks, Kay! 110% on the extra screw. I'm planning to put one on each side into stud/backer board.
This video comes to mind (accident right at the beginning)
I agree with the decision to put a backer board in and anchor to that. You've got young kids and I would bet that there will be a time when one of those little monkeys will decide to go full ninja warrior and hang off the front of the nightstand. While the heavy duty drywall anchors are great for a shear load, they don't do that well in tension (learned from experience). The way you are mounting them to the wall, a percentage of that load will certainly be tension and needs to have that backer board to tie into.
This is a real concern, but fortunately our bedroom is the only thing upstairs, so it's kind of sectioned off from the rest of the house and we currently have a baby gate, so there is little reason for them to go up there. I know kids will be kids, but so far my daughter is very respectful of our stuff. My boy... time will tell, but I think he's going to be on the rowdier side.
I do like to take care of my stuff, and dings / dents / scratches bother me. But that comes with the territory of having kids. I try not to be
too precious about my stuff, and educate them as best I can on what not to do. That being said, I fully expect one of them to go Full Ninja Warrior on something i've made at some point.
Nick here is a long answer to your finish question. There is no right or wrong I don't think. It comes down to preferences and opinions. Of which everyone has their best. The topcoats I prefer yellow the wood. Which is what I like. I like would to look deeper, darker, and aged. Based on what you have expressed you like your wood to be natural and clear. So my go to topcoat most likely will not achieve that. But have a watch at this video. It explains alot. For me the topcoat decision also comes down to what the piece will be used for and what effort your are willing(or have time for.) to do.
Fantastic video! I do like natural, but I'm coming around to the ambered look. The big downside to the General Finishes High Performance water-based poly I've used so much, is it builds up like a muddy film. Durability is A++, the non-yellowing is perfect. But the actual look and feel of the wood I'm less sold on these days. As I've tried some other oils and wiping varnishes I'm starting to prefer that, especially on darker woods. But even on maple, if it's not going to get drinks placed on it I'm more inclined to do an oil-based wiping varnish.
I'm surprised the guy in the video thought Arm-R-Seal was so hard to apply, I've had pretty good results with it.
If anything I think that video gave me confidence that Arm-R-Seal was right for this project. I want the high durability, and it had to be a wipe-on.
It's adding a little sheen compared to the raw Danish Oil, but I think the added protection is worth that tradeoff.
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Got the wall surgery mostly done.
Thankfully I had a nice 2x4 in the garage rafters to use for blocking.
I screwed a spacer into each side.
Had to notch one out for some electrical. Then the main backer board got screwed into those spacer blocks, as well as diagonally into the studs with GRK construction screws.
And of course I couldn't quite get this done without a trip to the hardware store for drywall screws.
Getting reacquainted with my old friend, PLUS 3.
I brought a surprising amount of tools up to the bedroom to work on this + the cleat installation. Shout out to my Systainer stack for keeping things neat and tidy after I'm done for the day. I have my two bosch 12v drills, impact driver, all kinds of screws, drywall saw, multi-tool, chargers, level, screwdrivers, measuring tools, and more all in this small footprint.
I need to do another skim coat, prime, and paint. So far adding this backer board has been a good extra 3 hours I wanted to avoid, but I've come this far!
Last night laying down 1st coat of Arm-R-Seal:
I'm motivated by how close I am to being finished, so I'm setting a goal of having them on the wall by the weekend.
