Built a Kitchen Buffet in time for Thanksgiving

The latest and greatest project!  I do mean 'greatest' - I think each project is a little better than the last.  This was the first project where I incorporated tile and glass, so pretty proud of how it all came out.

Knocking Off Crate and Barrel
The inspiration for this was a buffet we saw at Crate and Barrel:

The Galvin Sideboard is $1,200 and was also a bit too long for our spot in the kitchen.  I liked the stainless steel top and even looked into buying a sheet of metal, although I haven't worked with bending steel sheet.  In the end though, we decided this piece would be the perfect use of some of our extra backsplash tile.  The Galvin also comes up short in that it has three small storage areas which couldn't hold anything wider than a dinner plate.  We wanted something that could store serving dishes and such.

Construction
I built the buffet starting with the doors for a few reasons.  I had never worked with glass before and routing a slot for it to sit in might be difficult.  I was also cutting the individual boards for the doors with angled corners and anything off of a perfect 45 degree angle could cause the doors to be slightly larger or smaller than planned.  So the thought was to build the doors and then build the box to go around.

The buffet is built out of S4S pine boards from Home Depot.  For some of the larger pieces, I used their pre-joined 24"x48" boards rather than joining several together myself using kreg screws.  Pamela never liked the look of pocket holes, so I wanted to minimize the number of holes I'd have to fill.

My brother had used some Rustoleum Satin Espresso spray paint for a project of his and we really liked the look.  It's not quite as dark as some of the furniture we've purchased, but I might go back and give it a protective finish which may make it a bit deeper.  Working with spray paint was a bit harder than normal paint + paintbrush.  It was easy to cover large areas, but when you care about the finish and drips and paint buildup, it may not be the best way to go.

The top of the buffet uses a 24"x48" board cut down to match the frame.  On top of that, I shaved down some strips to about 3/8" for around the edge of the tile.  Again, the tile is leftover from our backsplash and I think is a nice touch to bring the kitchen together.

Stylin'

The glass is simple 16"x20" sheets from Home Depot and I bought some retainer clips online.  We picked out the handles and hinges from HD too.  The hinges make a big deal about using a Forstner bit to rout the cup holes, but I didn't find that necessary.  I also added some magnetic catches for the doors to help them stay shut.

Halloween Spider

I was working on another project (post to come soon) but got sidetracked with the Halloween spirit.  The spider below was made from some scrap wood/plywood.

Very spooky!

I had originally planned to make the spider free-standing, but that would likely have been a lot harder than I realized.

We went to a neighbor's Halloween party and a guest actually complimented us on the spider.  Since we are right at the entrance to the neighborhood, everyone sees our house and decorations coming in and coming out.  Now I think we'll have to put something together for Christmas.