Building wardrobes in bedrooms

Second diary entry for today - though it would be good to separate the building projects in case someone is looking at the diary index and have special things they are looking for.

Having completed the linen cupboard and the walk in wardrobe, the next project was to build the wardrobes in the two bedrooms. For these we decided to use 18mm plywood for the shelves and doors. We decided to use 3 sliding doors per wardrobe and the rolling/sliding mechanism was purchased at Bunnings. They cost around 85 dollars each and seems to be working really well.

Again we managed to remember to take pictures as the construction happened, well at least for the second one, so here is a short overview:

Bottom shelf in place. We used the same type of wood for the frame underneath on this as we did in the walk in wardrobe. The bottom shelf is cut out of a sheet of ply. The sheets themselves come in a size that is 2400mm x 12mm, which for us is good in that our cupboards are around 600mm deep. This means that we can either get two shelves or two doors out of one sheet of ply.

The bottom rail for the rolling/sliding door mechanism fixed in place.

Dividing wall installed

Small brackets screwed into the studs in the wall to help support the top shelf in the cupboard.

Top shelf cut and installed. It rests on the small brackets on the wall and is screwed fixed to the dividing wall.

Frame for the 3 top doors in place. This frame is also made out of plywood and will be used to fix the hinges for the top doors. This will be use normal hinges and will hopefully be installed next week. The vertical dividers are screwed and glued to the top rail and then lifted up in place. The top rail was then screwed to the ceiling joists in order to keep things together. Finally, the top shelf was screwed to the vertical dividers from below, again to help fix it all together.

The top rail for the rolling/sliding mechanism was then installed.

The frame is finished.

The doors were then cut to size and sanded back to get a nice finish. Marks were then made for where the wheels would be installed.

Holes for the wheels were then made with a router.

And finally the wheel is put in place and fixed with screws.

On top of the door, another little support is installed to keep the doors vertical in the tracks.

All doors finished and installed.

And finally some shelves were installed in one side of the cupboard.

The remaining work is basically to finish the top doors and to install the hanging rail for clothes. We may also put in another low shelf in the bigger part of the cupboard, but we will just see what happens. We will probably just drill a big hole in each of the door so that we have an easy way to open and close them. And finally, the wood will be varnished so that it will be easy to keep clean.

Today we started the cupboard in the entry way and hopefully that will be finsished during tomorrow. After that the next project is the kitchen, which will be really exiting. Will take lots of pictures during the construction process so that you all can see how it is done. Overall we have calculated that the materials for the kitchen will cost us around AUD 3300. That includes almost AUD 2000 for the Blum roller mechanisms. They are the expensive part, but will make the drawers work really well.

OK, will really try not to take such a long time until the next update.

Until then, have a nice week or so.

Any problems, please email webmaster. This page was last updated 24/07/2008