No problem and I appreciate the constructive feedback. Let me address the comments:chupon wrote: The bar top looks cheap and unfinished. The sides look like flimsy 3/8" ply and the frame round the monitor looks fat and gross. Thing looks ramshackled together - just saying.
I know you aren't an artisan master carver or even furniture maker. I know this stuff goes together in your garage with your kids help. ( which by the way is awesome ). But I want to see better. It looks like the wood got a half coat of stain. Put a few more on next time. Get wood without exposed knots and burls.
-It is cheap. As stated in the OP, this was literally an "i'm bored" project at the start. Using only available scrap in my garage. The entire setup (minus supergun) cost $105 - $92 of the being the monitor and the rest being a 1/4" sheet of ply and a 2x4 in the garage. A lot of the trim was added on, you are right - there was no plan - definitely cobbled together.
-Whenever I build something - it is one of 3 things that determines the amount of time / money / planning / (and redoing) that I put into a final product. Form, Function, or Form and Function. This isn't a piece that will be on display, unlike say a table or quilt rack that i've built. This is pulled out only when I want to use it - it is 95% function. So the original idea and subsequent planning all had function in mind - form was a distant secondary thought. That isn't too say I wanted it to be ugly - that is to say that while I know 1/4" ply has a flimsier appearance than 1/2 or 3/4, from a function perspective (siting on my lap) the extra weight of side panels from wood twice or 3x as thick was not an option. At 37 pounds - that is about the most i'd want on my lap. Doubling or tripling the weight of the side panels would add 4 or 8 more pounds - not good from function perspective.
-The monitor bezel - the monitor needed to be fully secured to the monitor panel. I searched for an ultra thin monitor, but again, function. This was the only 19" monitor that had VGA/S-Vid/HDMI/Component and Composite - which was a must for this setup. Most 19" don't have s-video and have either Component or VGA, not both. As such, this monitor is 1" thick, so I had to bevel out at least 1" of stock and have "overlap" to hold it in place. That left my options as either 2x2 or 2x3 stock. I went 2x3 for the added strenght. I tried 2x2 and I felt that the overlap piece didn't have the tensile strength it would need longterm. Function over form, again. I agree, it looks a bit odd at first - normally i'd "even" it out by putting something to offset the "bulky" appearance on the outer edges of the back panel, but again, that is just adding weight for appearance sake and doesn't help the function.
-The stain is two coats and is thick / even. There are two things that show up in these initial pictures. The bezel is not done. I sanded down the first coat of poly but wanted to test things out and snap some pics - so what you are seeing is that hazy poly. Once I recoat today that will be gone. There are some areas on the front mitered corners that look a little uneven as far as applied stain. This was a mistake on my part. I didn't put enough time into sanding off glue - thought I had, couldn't see it, but I hadn't. When I conditioned the wood everything looked good. When I applied the stain - there were some areas on those corners that wouldn't take the stain. Normally, for a decorative piece - i'd stop, resand, recondition, reapply stain. For this project, I was fine with the blemishes.
So, those are the reasons for the flaws (both legit and perceived) you are seeing.
All that said - with my OCD those things were probably going to bug in the future. So I threw it out and will do something else.
