Well, this is slightly embarrassing given my last entry, when I rambled on and on about “fine” work. We had some baskets, and my time frame to build a shelf was one day, more or less. Well, it was an evening and a morning. I had one glue-up that I let sit overnight.
Otherwise, it was a 12″x8′ S4S pine board from the big box store, and a SYP 2″x10″x8′. About $24. So there is some pith involved, and some cupped boards.. But not a lot of time or money. 
Oh, and a handful of pocket screws. I think my wife is going to paint it white.
Anyways, it won’t last 100 years, but I suppose it doesn’t have to. It’s not exactly satisfying building furniture like this, but it is a good feeling to do something so quickly. Maybe I’ll buy a festool domino or something, so that when there is a time crunch I can still avoid pocket hole joinery.
– Matt