This cabinet was inspired by an Ana White project. My wife wanted more storage in our new home, and we had a sofa table at this location. But it was just a top, no shelves. I custom fit it to be flush with the window sills at the top and ends so it takes on a bit of a built in appearance. The top and bottom are oak faced plywood, all edges covered with iron on oak facing. As I was short of the expensive plywood, the ends, shelves and kick are doug fir plywood with a light oak stain; while not a perfect match gave a pleasing result that guests have not caught. The doors are 1/2" MDF, with a 2" solid oak end glued on where I routed the slots to open them. Slots are 1/4" +, 3/8" apart, and the top and bottoms of the doors routed to leave a 1/4" rail. The bottoms of the bottom slide slots have a slick poly tape in them, which really helps the doors to slide easily.
Sides and interior are brush finished with 3 coats of semi-gloss polyurethane, while the top has 5 coats. The MDF on the doors has one sprayed coat of white primer (oil based to avoid bringing up the MDF) with a final sprayed coat of mat finish enamel. I need to do one more step, light sand with 320 grit and paste wax the top to get that really fine finish.
While not as easy as Ana makes it look, it turned out pretty well. That hard part on a piece this size is getting all the pieces cut precisely, and I mean with less than 1/32nd difference, to provide a good fit. As it was I had to custom cut the oak opening ends on the doors to account for the small differences in widths at the top and bottom to obtain a nice fit against the sides. Next time I'll triple check all finish dimensions to make those small adjustments in parts before assembly, then triple check again for placement during assembly.
While I'll always see the small "errors", my wife is very pleased with the finished cabinet.
Al King, www.KingTechnologics.com
Comments
Guest (not verified)
Sun, 02/05/2012 - 11:17
I love the idea of the
I love the idea of the stuffed animals on the door! Those things multiply so fast and get in the way of making the bed - great closet!
viola
Sun, 02/05/2012 - 12:24
Love
Love your DIY closet organizers...
Cindy from Indiana (not verified)
Sun, 02/05/2012 - 18:58
Love! Love! Love!
Right now DD's room is a blank canvas. One of the first projects (after getting her window in) is to figure out the closet. I think this will be my inspiration!
Looks great!
kristen
Sun, 02/05/2012 - 19:25
Thanks!
Thank you! I am loving how organized her whole room is because of the closet being in good shape. And everything has a spot now, so it's easy for her to get it back where it needs to go!
Oh, those stuffed animals. I mentioned to her the idea of paring her collection down and she was horrified at the idea!
In reply to Thanks! by kristen
claydowling
Mon, 02/06/2012 - 06:40
Paring Down Stuffed Animals?!
A shocking notion. I think there's a box in our storage area with my wife's stuffed animals somewhere. Keep in mind, my wife isn't a 20-something who just moved out of her parents' house. We have a grand-daughter. Stuffed animals are forever. In fact I think one of my nephews still has my teddy bear.
In reply to Paring Down Stuffed Animals?! by claydowling
kristen
Mon, 02/06/2012 - 09:04
Ok, I'll admit something...
...at the bottom of the basket where her stuffed animals used to live, were two of mine from when I was little, lol!
But you bring up a good point about forever. I think I need to put a ban on any new ones joining her stuffed animal family from here on out. Pretty soon I'm going to need to add another closet to her room just for those!
whitney_smith
Mon, 02/06/2012 - 04:54
Wow!
Wow wow wow! Amazing difference!
Guest (not verified)
Thu, 02/23/2012 - 17:32
drawers
How did you build and incorporate the drawers?
In reply to drawers by Guest (not verified)
kristen
Sat, 06/30/2012 - 20:46
Drawers in closet
Hi--sorry I missed this comment somehow this spring! I blogged the entire build, but here are the posts specifically on the drawers:
http://pinktoesandpowertools.com/2012/01/28/how-to-build-a-closet-organ…
http://pinktoesandpowertools.com/2012/01/30/how-to-build-a-closet-organ…
http://pinktoesandpowertools.com/2012/02/01/how-to-build-a-closet-organ…
Here's the reveal post with links to all the other posts:
http://pinktoesandpowertools.com/2012/02/05/how-to-build-a-closet-organ…
claydowling
Thu, 02/23/2012 - 19:12
Building drawers
The easiest way to do a quick drawer, if you don't know how to do dovetails (and that's a simple skill totally worth learning), is to drill holes through the sides and into the front, and pin it with hardwood dowels. Use a domestic hardwood, you'll be a better dowel and a dimension that matches drills you own. The cheaper white imported dowels don't match any drill diameters that I can find.
hoffer5353
Thu, 06/28/2012 - 13:18
Me likie!
I am wanting to add shelves and drawers on a closet and am afraid it will be too big for the space. How wide is your closet?
In reply to Me likie! by hoffer5353
kristen
Sat, 06/30/2012 - 20:53
Closet dimensions
Here is the post with the plan mock-up with dimensions:
http://pinktoesandpowertools.com/2012/01/24/how-to-build-a-closet-organ…
It says 65.5" wide on there, and I don't believe I made any changes, so that should be accurate. I think you could get away with having an approximately 46" wide closet. You could have the drawers in the middle and then 12" wide shelves on either side that would fit sweaters, jeans, shoes. If you made them adjustable like mine, then you could really maximize the space in there. Just make sure you give yourself plenty of room in front of the shelves if there is wall there--you want to be able to easily take things in and out.
Good luck!
mrs.T.La Forme
Mon, 02/04/2013 - 17:49
wow
i just want to say I`m jealous i wish my closet looked like this. cant wait until I`m skilled enough to try it .
kristen
Tue, 02/05/2013 - 15:08
I'm looking forward to doing
I'm looking forward to doing this to my closet too!! It's a good project to take on once you want to try out drawers for the first time--since it's behind doors, it doesn't have to be perfect. Good luck!
MrsCoreyOrvold
Wed, 01/07/2015 - 20:17
Love it!
Such great work! It looks professional!