A recent trip to Petco found me buying another tank, this one is my largest at 55g. I really like the minimalist look of the ADA cabinets but I am not in baller league, my wife would divorce me, choke the life out of me or beat me before I ever had a chance to assemble it.. or she may do all of it for that matter so I decided to take a whack at it myself. I have seen a few of them made across the different forums and found some vids while searching Google so I took it all in, applied my ADD and voila!
I still have to drill and mount the doors, they are on shims for the pic. I have euro hinges for them. The interior will be painted black and I am going to mount a power strip as well as lighting so I don't fumble around with a flashlight between my teeth. I have some of those IKEA strip lights that turn on when you open your drawer that may serve nicely. The exterior finish is up in the air still because I made it this far without losing any digits or going to the ER for unscheduled visits related to accidentally slicing, hammering, crushing vital body parts and the thought of sharp formica and a router scares me.
No clue yet on the actual lighting.
Comments, concerns, complaints always welcome.
All cut up and waiting for assembly
The jigsaw puzzle is beginning to take shape
Mostly assembled, need some additional supports added before I flip it to finish assembly
Level on all sides, bonus!!
I built the interior frame after partial assembly, I know I took the hard route but it wasn't that much extra work for me at least. I am overbuilding it by adding the 2x2 supports on top of the 1x2 frame. I just didn't get a warm and fuzzy feeling from the 1x2 frame and after I had it in there I went back for the 2x2's. I will add them to all the corners and center brace as well. Once that is complete I will flip it and work on the doors. Hopefully I will have that done this week. I have classes Thursday and Friday so I probably won't get back to finish this until sometime next week. I forgot, it's grandmas birthday this weekend and we will be out of town.
I am not sure how I am going to face it since I have never worked with laminate and buying a sheet and winging it worries me. Plus it involves another power tool that can increase the odds of that trip to the ER that I have so skillfully avoided so far. Suggestions?
The tank is a little too heavy for my wife to handle so she was not able to place it dead on but rest assured it fits perfect.
My light fixture idea:
I had it centered in the room but the wife overrode that and centered it to the hallway which is about two feet to the left of where I had it originally. She wanted me to go with some crazy color to match the room decor but I nixed that right away. It's neutral gray and minimalist, no freaking handles, no pretty colors. Period. End of discussion.
More updates as I progress.
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