Just what we needed, more space for plants

Shortly after moving into this apartment I realized that if we really wanted to fill the place with plants we would need a number of shelving units on which to store the plants to maximize their access to what limited sunlight we have in the apartment. This plan was partly realized last fall when Neil and I purchased a number of shelving units for plants that we have subsequently placed in the living room.

At some point I realized that if I had something in my window I would really be able to take full advantage of the light that my room gets, and not just be restricted to what I can fit along the bottom of my windowsill. For many months this was largely just an idea, how I might go about realizing it was not even something I really thought about.

More recently, the past few weeks or so, I have really been thinking more about how I might go about creating or acquiring such a shelving unit. Eventually I settled on a basic concept, though the specific of the design were still up in the air.

A few days ago I started in earnest looking for the necessary wood and trying to think about some of the specific elements of the design. Gradually the detail started to come together.

Yesterday I found a sign post and I knew I was in business.



Later in the evening I walked by a construction site and found another piece of scrap wood (it was clearly scrap and not part of the project). With the wood in hand the shelf really started to take shape in my mind. With relative ease I figure the rest of the design out. The only thing delaying my construction of the unit was that I was not in possession of the necessary hardware, which I got around to purchasing this evening. The supplies I picked up were 50 hooks and 13 feet of cheap chain.

After sunset, not that this is particularly important as far as the general narrative is concerned, I got around to sanding the wood and then assembling the various components. The most time consuming matter was cutting the chain into lengths with the same number of links. With a little bit of planning I was able to minimize the amount of chain I wasted. All in all I think I did a pretty good job as only two full links and some scraps were left from the original 13 feet when I was done.



Not long after I finished cutting the chain I was able to assemble and install the shelf. The feature I am most proud of is the differing length shelves, which should allow taller plants to fit at the edges of the window. At first I was worried that such a shelf might limit my ability to store taller plants in my bedroom.



For those of you who might be interested, this should give a slightly clearer image of exactly how the unit has been constructed.



Within moments of installing the shelf I was able to fill it with plants, most of which had been in the living room.



So for those residents of our apartment not interested in having a living room infested with plants this new shelving unit may actually be a good thing. Now I have the capability to store more of the plants in my room, where they will get better light.