Sunday, March 14, 2010

{building our aquarium}

My husband is a salt-water tank enthusiast and he has a minor obsession with tropical fish! So when he wanted to get a large fish tank for our home, I got a little worried. Why, you may ask? Well, I was not so sure that ready-made fish tank cabinets have come very far in the ‘design world’ in several years. In fact, most budget-friendly tanks you can buy are a bit of a blast from the past (hello 1970's!), and were not in keeping with the rest of our homes décor.

Yikes! While I am sure there are some incredible ‘designer’ fish tanks out there (built into the wall, etc), that kind of thing was not in our budget. So we had to get creative, and we decided to build one ourselves! This was a large undertaking, since the cabinet had to be able to handle a lot of weight, so we consulted a professional to help us build it and he did an amazing job: http://www.winchesterconstruction.ca/  Our starting point was to look at other similar pieces of furniture and gain inspiration into what we wanted this piece to look like. 








It might be hard to tell in the photos but we used an ultra-high gloss white paint (which would make wiping water spills easy and gave a more modern look). All of the front details were done with inexpensive strips of MDF. We found the hardware at Lee Valley Tools.




The tank now sits in our dinning room (which doesn’t have any other furniture yet as you can see! Still a work in progress).




We filled it with beautiful fish and it is so fun and relaxing to watch, I can’t wait to have a table in there to sit back and enjoy them!

3 comments:

DesignTies said...

What a great project! Love the inspiration piece you found... and the final result looks FAB!
Victoria @ DesignTies

DesignTies said...

Victoria's already been by to check out your post, but I just have to leave a comment too.... I think you and I might be sharing a brain!! Your profile sounds just like me (except for the scientist part!!), my dining room has been a work in progress for almost 2 years, and I have the exact same white ceramic knight chess piece that's in your next post.... freaky!! :-)

I absolutely LOVE your fish tank project. You and your hubby did a great job on the sideboard. I like it even better than the original!!

Keep working on your hubby for the new backsplash :-)

Kelly

Linda @ theLENNOXX said...

Wow, I'm so happy I clicked this link! I've seen this furniture in your living room before, and wondered where it was from, lol. Now I know, it's a one off Marcus Design!!

Also, I thought it was a TV cabinet, I LOVE that you put a fish tank on it. There is just something about fish tanks, isn't it? Having a tiny biosystem in your dining room. Too cute! I'd love one too, my hubby also love fish tanks (his brother has like 6 in his small town apartment, lol).

Also, you can't complain about going to Egypt, can you? Lucky girl!!

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