Jess' Jewelry Box

This year at Christmas I decided that I would put together a special surprise for Jess. I decided I would call upon my inner carpenter and build her a jewelry box to give her as a gift. The problem with this idea is that I didn't come up with it until December 3. That only left me 22 days to get it done before Christmas. Anyone who knows me understands that I take things like this as a personal challenge and I wouldn't be defeated by the short timeframe. This post is going to be framed as a timeline of what it took to get the job done. It's a long story so be patient. If you just want to see pictures click here.

Monday 12/3 - The idea hits me to build Jess a jewelry box for Christmas. I throw the idea around the office a bit and my coworkers think it will work. They all comment on the short time I have to get the job done but know I will get it done. When I get home that night I start designing it on graph paper. I called my father to inform him of my idea and ask if he could help me. He said he would help and to put the plans together and head over sometime that week. I end up working until 10 PM that night on the plans.

Tuesday 12/4 - I go over to my parents house to show my father the plans and buy the stock for the job. I told Jess I was going over there to help prepare the kitchen for the new floor my parents were getting (yes they were getting a new floor but I didn't have to do anything). My father looked at the plans, made a few minor changes and figured out the stock we'd need. We went to the hardware store to purchase the wood (Oak). I left the wood with my father who said he'd cut it for me on his table saw and to come back on Wednesday night.

Wednesday 12/5 - I head back over to my parents house after work once again under the "working on the kitchen floor" excuse. This time we actually had to pick up the flooring so it wasn't a total lie. We end up cutting out the pieces for the top and body of the box. Now this is where Jess almost caught me in the lie. She went out that night and I knew she'd be home around 10 and that she'd call the house around 9:45 stating she'd be heading home. I ended up working at my parents house until 9:30. She thought I was just going over there to pick up flooring and come home. I had no good excuse to stay over there so I tried to get home as fast as I could. At 9:45 when she called the house I was still on the highway so she called my cell phone and I said "I just left the mall after stopping there to do some shopping on my way home." Luckily I was right next to the mall when she called so all of the times made sense. I got home minutes before she did, ran into the house with a pile of cut wood, and hid it before she got home (whew I did it!).

Thursday 12/6 - While working I realized I forgot a piece at my parents house. I called my dad to inform him and a coworker stopped by parents house to pick up the missing piece to give to me on Friday (thanks Ethan!) Jess was going out again so I used this night to glue the top of the box together. My father had made me a template out of plastic that I could put the pieces in while the glue dried. I also had to glue the front of the box together because it was in 3 pieces due to the holes cut in the front for the drawers. This work was done in an hour so I was able to clean up, hide everything in the basement and get back upstairs before Jess came home.

Saturday 12/8 - While Jess is in the shower I go downstairs and glue the body of the box together. The problem with this is that after an hour of being in the template, the box has to be removed or the box will be glued to the template forever and the project will be ruined. Another problem is that the box HAD to be together as a single piece before the end of the day so I could bring it to my parents Sunday morning so we can measure the drawers. I was able to get everything glued and hidden away before she got out of the shower. I then took off to do some shopping. An hour later I got home, walked in the front door, ran passed Jess (luckily she was engrossed in Guitar Hero) and right into the basement where I took the box out of the template. She never asked me why I ran downstairs. I will be forever grateful to the Guitar Hero creators.

Sunday 12/9 - I had to be at my parents house at 11 because we were leaving for the Patriots game so I figured we could get some work done in the morning. I went over to my parents house at 8 and told Jess I had to help them do some Christmas decorating before we left (Damn I'm good at this lying thing). We measure, cut, and glue the drawers together and leave for the game. When we got back from the game, I ran downstairs to get the drawers and put them in the body of the box. Much to my surprise we measured wrong and the drawers are about 1/2" too long. I panicked because these drawers had to be done early in the week so everything could be sanded. My father looked at me like I was an idiot, went downstairs, fired up the saw and cut the drawers down to size. I was to glue them back at my house.

Monday 12/10 to Thursday 12/13 - This entire week I got up at 5 AM just after Jess left so I could work on the box. I managed to get all of the gluing, puttying, and sanding done during this time. On Thursday I was going to my parents house to finish some things up before staining on Saturday. Well we had a snowstorm on Thursday and no work got done but we weren't that far away from being able to stain on Saturday.

Saturday 12/15 - Originally Jess was supposed to be at her parent's house in New Hampshire this day so I could get the staining done without her knowing about it. Well that changed when another storm forced her to stay at home. I had to radically change my plan so I went over my parents house under the excuse I had to move furniture back into the kitchen (which I really had to do). We went out and got the stain, finish, hardware, and material to line the drawers then went back to the workshop to sand and stain. We got a gel based stain that is really good stuff. It dries really fast so I was able to get multiple coats on in a short period of time. The problem with it is that it's so freaking messy. I had it ALL over my hands and it doesn't come off. I couldn't go home covered in brown stain after telling Jess I moved furniture so I had to scrub it off with pumice soap and Lestoil (real fun). After we actually moved the furniture I got the finish on, packed it into the car and headed home. I ended up coming home like 6 hours after I left so I had to make up a series of excuses as to where I was.

Monday 12/17 - Jess went out again at 6 PM so I was able to spend the next 2 1/2 hours getting pissed off putting the material in the drawers. I used a spray adhesive to hold the material in place and it worked but the material was very hard to work with and would stick, bubble, wrinkle, and generally be a pain in my ass. On top of that, when you cut the material it would turn into this fine dust that got everywhere (including my fingers that were covered in glue so they turned blue). I managed to get everything done and cleaned up by 9 PM so she once again had no idea what I was doing.

Thursday 12/19 - I was home alone again so I was able to go downstairs and put the hardware and feet on the box. I then placed it in the box my XBox 360 came in. The outside of the box was covered in white paper so it didn't look like I was giving Jess and XBox for Christmas ("great, you got me an XBox for Christmas, I'm so excited.") I filled the box with tissue paper and it looked really nice. The plan was to wrap the box the morning of Christmas Eve so she had no idea it existed.

Monday 12/24 - I wrapped the box up, put a nice bow and ribbon on the box, and hid it behind everything so it wouldn't be noticed. The project is finally complete. I managed to assemble (with help from my father) a jewelry box from scratch in 21 days.

Tuesday 12/25 - She loved it! Thanks to everyone that helped with the project.