The story of how Shahjahan ruined my step by step tutorial

We bought a DSLR camera back in 2014 to capture better pictures of our DIYs. And when I was working on this particular project, I started taking  a step by step video of the procedure involved. All heavy duty video files. Maybe about 90 minutes of content which was to be edited later. But this was just before we went on a vacation… to a destination with possibly the most romantic symbol ever - Agra. As I stood there in front of the Taj Mahal, trying to get the best angle to capture its beauty, my camera displayed a very very disturbing warning message - “MEMORY FULL”.  8GB and all consumed by my video files.

Down and dejected, I had to choose between what Shah Jahan built and what I was building. With a heavy heart, I chose the former and deleted one file. After about 2 hours, another file disappeared. At the Agra fort, few more went kaput. And by the time we reached Fatehpur Sikri, almost all the files had to be deleted.  This was in Jan 2015, and I was glad I came back with loads of memories, until today when I sat down to write this post. 

The Taj Mahal

The Requirement

My cousin wanted me to make a display case to showcase some (there is lots of them, but he gave me a select few) of the honors and awards his father (My Periappa) had garnered over his very illustrious academic career. He gave me four framed felicitation certificates that he wanted to exhibit in the living room. I took the measurements, came back home and started the project on January 4. And delivered it yesterday after working on it for a short span of 8 months. That should speak a lot about my speed.

DIY Display Case

Show Case

The Design

There was not much in the design. Just a box, with a glass shelf, glass doors, and a focus light. I had to match the color of the shelf with the existing furniture shades and after so many trial and error, decided to go with laminate. The background needed to be white, and used laminates for that too. What took me lot of time was the laminates. The learnings from this project is a post by itself and I shall talk about it sometime soon.

With all the awards and honors

The Challenge

The focus light was a challenge. I bought a nice big light, and realized the drill bit to cut the required hole costed a bomb. And so I toned it down a bit and went for a small light with just one LED. I used stain for the edges and then covered it up with Mod Podge. The entire project was built with 19mm plywood, and 5 mm glass and so it ended up being pretty heavy.

LED Focus light

That satisfying feeling

Yesterday was the delivery. And it was such a pleasure to see my uncle get so excited about the display shelf project. All his accolades came out from inside rooms and went into the display case. In his late 80s now, it is amazing how much he wanted to understand the details of how the shelf was built. And I cannot explain how generous he was in appreciating the effort. I walked out mighty happy. Moments like these make my day and make Woodooz a really worthwhile effort.

Do it yourself project

With whatever pictures and videos I could save, I shall put up a step by step procedure soon. I also wanted to share some learnings, that had I known, could have saved me days of wasted time. And sometime later, I will also do a video tutorial on how to install a under the cabinet light. Until then, let me know what you think of this display case. Would love to know all your thoughts.