2-6 day project

Before classes started, there were a few things I wanted to do with my apartment. The TV was sitting on a part of a shoe-rack (pictured below and fake workbench) and it was partially obstructed by wire-shelving that just didn't look right. Anyway, I found a cheap TV stand that helped me make the space work, but I couldn't find any shelves that I liked. Classes were going to start on Tuesday and, last Friday, I decided I didn't like the various shelves at thrift stores, etc. So, with some vaguely remembered wood-working experience, I decided building a bookshelf would be a good project to take on for a couple days before I buried myself in books for the semester. I was glad at the chance to build something with my hands and design the shelves however I wanted. I also really thought it would only take 2 days, maybe 3.

So, after mentally planning the design as I looked at the Home Depot 2x4's, I bought 8 lengths of 2x4 (each 8ft long) and some MDF board as backing. Next, I decided to buy a handsaw: cheaper and less messy than a power-saw, but a poor choice.

This is my project at 3pm on Friday:

(Where else does one complete a messy project in an apartment than the kitchen? Plastic floors are easy to clean.)
You can already see some progress in the background, but the handsaw made for slow work. My handsaw skills were also less accurate then I would have liked, but I kept going (with extremely frequent breaks due to arm pain) and, after 62 cuts, I finished all the sawing at 6pm on Saturday:

...and began the next stage of construction:

Work was interrupted on Sunday by water seeping into my apartment. Tons of thawing snow that have formed 20ft icicles can be problematic. I had pots out to catch the water and my blinds fell out of the waterlogged drywall.
Returning to work late on Sunday and continuing through Monday, I used about 120 wood screws and had to think of some pretty ingenious ways of using the blue clamps to hold it all still while I drilled away. Eventually, I finished the frame and put the MDF backing on at 7pm on Monday:

 The shelves were finally finished! ...sort of:

[just under 4ft tall]
With some stain/varnish combo that took about 5 hours to apply (because of all the little cracks and weird problems of using basic 2x4's to make furniture), I completed my project and am much happier with my living space. Technically, with the stain/varnish, I didn't finish the project until late on Wednesday night (after classes started), but I'm still happy with it.