Abacus - Like Pottery Barn

Here's a project I made at the end of 2011.

I first saw it in a Pottery Barn Catalog then I came across a DIY version of the over sized abacus on By Stephanie Lynn Under the Table & Dreaming.  So again to hubbies workshop to find some scrap wood and to Lowe's for the dowels and corner braces.

I used Minwax's Early American stain and General Finishes Java gel stain to finish the wood.  I then used the drill press to drill all the holes and some glue and finish nails to nail the 1 by together after inserting the dowels. 

You can find a step by step tutorial on her blog.

Here is the Pottery Barn version of it.  The abacus is no longer for sale at Pottery Barn.

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Here's how it turned out:

I then hung it over our staircase:

This post was linked up to:
Pieced Pastimes