The next day, I brought up the boards to look at them with some better lighting, and they looked great. Time for me to put this shelf together. I was doing some thinking about the assembly, and I was concerned that the 1-1/4” pocket screws would be too long and poke out through the boards. I elected to go out and buy 1” pocket screws.
Since I needed to go to work that day, I brought all the pieces I needed to build the shelf to work. I took my pin nailer and compressor, and my drill bag with all the attachments I needed. I laid out the shelf and tried to make sure everything was square. I used my pin nailer first to assemble the shelf. Best idea ever! I did need to reset one of the shelves, as it was just a little bit crooked.
Once the shelf was assembled, I could now screw it together. Oops! I forgot to drill pocket holes for the side wall of the shelf. I was not going to take this thing apart so I could drill pocket holes. And since I was not screwing into an end grain, I would screw the side wall into the back edge. However, I needed to countersink the pocket screws so they would be flush with the board. Minor setup, but no problem. The shelf was ready to be installed…tonight.
After supper that evening, I brought in the shelf from the car along with my pin nailer, compressor and drill bag. I was ready to install the shelf. I did some prior investigation and discovered that there was not a stud in the wall where the shelf would be. I did not think originally I needed to attach the shelf to the wall and cabinet. I did not anticipate that we would be putting on extremely heavy objects or somebody would be doing pull-ups on the six-inch deep shelf. Screwing the shelf just to the cabinet should be suffice.
First, I needed to remove the cove molding on the side and top of the cabinet so the shelf would sit flush to the side of the cabinet. When I removed the molding, I could see that the cabinet had dropped about 1/4 inch. Once I added the shelf and reapplied the molding to the top of the cabinet, nobody would know.
I decided that I would pin nail the shelf to the side of the cabinet to hold it in place and then use the pocket screws to firmly attach the shelf. I removed some items from the cabinet, so I had room to work. I marked a line 6 inches from the back of the cabinet. When I predrilled holes for the pocket screws, I would have holes for the screws for the shelf and not create some random holes in the cabinet.
I needed Efiwym, my wife, to hold the shelf tightly against the wall, the cabinet and the edge of the soffit. She did that job well as I put several nails from the cabinet to the shelf. The nails were only 1-1/8 inch long, so I knew they would not poke through the side of the shelf. As Efiwym, let go of the shelf, it stayed in place. I was hoping for this outcome. The shelf was exactly where I wanted it to be. I was ready to screw it down. The nine screws I put into the shelf should hold it.
The only thing left to do was to apply the cove molding to the top of the cabinet. I first needed to measure the distance from the shelf to the corner. Once I got that measurement, I marked it on the cove molding. I did not want to cut the existing 45 degree cut for the corner joint. I used my table saw, as the blade on my miter saw was splintering the wood.
I returned from the basement with the cut molding. I applied a little glue on the 45-degree surface, held it in place and shot a few nails into the molding. As I moved away to give Efiwym, my “ta-da, it is done” moment, the molding fell off the cabinet. Apparently, you need to have nails in your nailer to attach the molding. I loaded up the nailer with some nails and proceeded to nail the molding in place. Once again, “ta-da, it’s done!” Efiwym put some items she had around the house on the shelf to complete the look. But I was most impressed with how the stain matched the cabinets well and how this project, with some minor hiccups, was successful. Time to step back and enjoy the moment. Yes, my Zen moment!
