A new cover for an old radiator

Our house is very old (for American standards, at least). It was built in 1916, bought from a Sears catalog. As such, it has some very old radiators for heating. The cover that was trying to hide one of them was very ugly, white, with some kind of metal screen in front of it.

I built a new cover for it that tries to go more with the dark wood theme that is apparent in other places, and tries to have more of a geometric theme as in the teens and twenties.

The wood is pine (from Home Depot, the slightly more expensive quality that has a less annoying grain pattern. I stained it with Minwax Ebony wood stain, which gave it this nice dark-brown-yellowish color. The flash intensifies the yellow tint, in natural light it is quite dark.

To make the cover a bit more interesting, the vertical slats are done in three different heights, arranged in random order. It gives it a bit of an Art Deco feel.

Since I'm still very new to woodworking, there are lots of things to learn. For instance, I should really clean any glue that spreads out of the joints. It seals the surface, so that the wood doesn't take stain well, which leads to ugly light spots. I sanded, of course, but obviously not enough to get the surface open.

The adhesive labels that Home Depot puts on its wood stock is also an annoyance. I guess, depending on how long the wood stays in stock, the adhesive seeps into the wood and also seals it. Next time, I'll try "Goo Gone" on it...