Kathi Diva's Prayer Altar

I designed and built this Prayer Altar as a gift to my friend who is Hindu.  She has been wanting a large Prayer Altar for many years but did not have a lot of extra money to spend on one.  She came to me about making one for her but I was very nervous because I had never built steps; let alone, an altar.  This project took me about two days to complete and she is very happy with it.  Looking back, there are a few things that I would have done differently but I am still happy with the results.

The first step in this project was to design a template of what my friend wanted the Altar to look like,  At the time, I did not have my lap top with me so my friend and I came up with a very basic drawing  on a sheet of computer paper and estimated what the height of the structure should be.

Step 1 Selecting the Wood

The next step in this project was to select scrap wood from my workshop.  I had several types of scrap wood pieces but I tried to select the best pieces for this project. I didn't have to pay for anything except the hardware.  I decided on using Birch Plywood for the steps and sides and sheathing for the other areas. I cut all all wood to dimensions; I cut the steps using a Framing Square  for accuracy.