Liftoff!

I really should have followed my intuition and stopped and shifted gears with this project when the brown paint proved difficult to strip. I got a layer of stain on, only to be disappointed with the results. The wood didn't turn out to be very interesting (in terms of grain patterns) and proved difficult to work with. The result was a blotchy mess:

I thought about doing the antique patina look I previously considered but then decided to try something more whimsical. The dimensions of this shelf reminded me of something I saw over on Ana White's site and I decided to give that a try.

With the shelf unit already built, I used some plywood scraps to make the rocket fins and nosecone. The latter was made from 3-ply material and getting  good 45 degree edges was a little tricky. I thought it would be simpler to build it with flush edges but in hindsight something with overhang as shown in the plans is probably the way to go.