Upcycled DJ Deck Stand

This was the main element in the living room decoration project from this January. The comissioner is a musician that also mixes records, and even though she already had homemade wooden boxes to keep her vinyl collection, she needed a proper stucture to rest the decks, mixing table and (eventually) the computer.
What everyone does here in Barcelona when searching for a deck stand on a small budget is to get Ikea's Expedit shelving. An action absolutely out of the question with this project, because of many reasons: firstly, when furniture is not made to measure it probably won't fit. In this case, 'fitting' was key: small space, loads of records, specific heigth needed for 'healthy' djing, etc. Then, why throwing away something that is still in perfect use? not only money-saving-wise, but thinking that those lovely plywood boxes were going to be replaced by a totally impersonal plastic thing gives me the creeps -beurk.

So I measured the space, the boxes, the decks, searched for usable pieces and boards that were already around in the flat to keep the budget to the minimum... and started playing Tetris with all the elements till a proper design showed up in the plan. And then of course had to modify that plan as I builded the whole thing up and uneven walls plus strange forces appeared, like always happens.

L shape provided the best use of space, and there is even enough room to add more boxes in the wall behind and form a 'U', when the record collection increases with the time. The hight is the exact the dj needs and all the wood and warm colours add a 'cozy' feeling to that area.

Reusing boards means more planning but also to spend some time getting screws and other parts out, and even refilling the holes! I made a paste with sawdust and a special glue that solidifies like a rock.. I think it will last for a long time!
I also made a hole in the surface, big enough to get all the cables and plugs through, down to the socket.

It might be made out of reused materials, but this Dj Deck Stand is high class! It even has a wooden brim to keep the cables and rear parts of the machines out of sight, just like the 'professional' ones -I love to make details like that.. and found a cute metallic lizard that was forgotten among a mess of stuff, that now peeps over the brim to check the decks. It has become the Dj's pet *wink*

(see the basket with the smaller records? that's another find of a hidden 'treasure' in the house... looks much better like that than the shoe box that was used before!)


To strengthen the whole structure and at the same time to continue with the 'mix' that was the result of reusing different elements to build the deck stand, I decided to decorate the front part with a 'collage' made out of scrap wood, similar to the Trash Tree idea, but more colourful and with a lineal display (to blend in with the warm modern look of the rest of the room). This was of course my favourite part!

Making the woden collage implies gathering a massive amount of scrap boards. And in order to get the stressed look in some of them they have to be painted, sometimes with different layers of colours, then sand them carefully here and there to show up the underneath.. I find that cracked look incredibly attractive!.

Afterwards it comes the design of the lay out. Cutting the pieces of board to fit, arranging the volumes, textures and colours harmoniously.. and in this case being extremelly careful trying to attach the main pieces of wood to the thicker brims of the boxes, to avoid getting the screws through the thin plywood background.

 A big amount of work, yes -but oh so rewarding! I got not only my pleasure creating this, but also the glee of the owner when she saw the result. That's always a huge reward!