Storage Cupboard

After living in our house for a year now and just having all DIY/tool type things piled in a big heap on the floor, I have finally got round to building a storage solution for them!

I bought some white covered chipboard from my local DIY store as it was on offer for €9.99/m2 and I didn't need really good wood as it was only going to be a cupboard for storing tools in the cellar.

I saw this plan for a cupboard and basically adapted it to suit my needs.

I used Sketchup to design my 2m high and 1.20m wide cupboard:

I got all my wood cut to size for free where I bought it and assembled it as follows:

First, I marked equal points all down the inside of the cupboard sides and drilled shallow holes to fit metal shelf holders. This means that I can move my shelfs to be different heigts, depending on what I store.
A good trick for this was the measure the depth of the metal holder and then mark the drill at this height with masking tape so you can't drill deeper than necessary.

I then built the shell of the cupboard by joining the sides to the top and bottom shelf using pockethole screws. I marked where I wanted the shelves, predrilled holes and glued and clamped the pieces together at the same time as screwing.

I used glue and nails to attach the 3mm mdf backing and used brown packing tape for the vertical cut I had to do to make sure it fit in the car.

I built the frame for the front of the door separately using pocket hole screws and then attached it to the shell of the cupboard with nails and glue.

I then built the doors separately by making a frame out of wood as the chipboard just didn't quite cut the mustard and then attaching the mdf backing.

The doors also have pegboard on the inside to hang up smaller tools with hooks. I put wood scraps behind the pegboard so it would have space behind it for the hooks and just drilled through the pegboard holes and into the wood scraps to keep it in place.

I attached the doors with a 3mm gap between the doors and the frame using hinges that I had painted black. The handles are ones that I got from Ikea designed for the kitchen but I thought they would go well with my cupboard!

The doors stay shut due to a magnetic door latch at the bottom.

I then added a bit of detail moulding cut at 45° angles with my mitre saw and painted the whole thing white and ... there it is!

Shelf

I wanted to make a shelf for above the desk in the office for storing all papery type things so the desk wasn't too cluttered.

I looked around for inspiration

I liked the idea of a box within a box but I wanted a design that snaked up the wall next to and over the desk.

I saw this plan on Ana White's website and decided to use the joining method but design my own shelf.

I used SketchUp to come up with this:

I got my wood cut to size for free when I bought it so all I needed to do was mark the notches out of the pieces of wood

I then cut the notches out using my jigsaw, glued them together, checked for square and hunted out all the heavy things I owned to keep them in place until the wood had dried.

I then primed it and painted it a high gloss white like the desk.

Each box is 40x40cm in size and 20cm deep, with a 5 cm end bit outside of the box.

I then routed out mortises to fit some keyhole hangers I bought at the DIY shop. I also made a slightly deeper hole in the mortise to fit the screw head.
These then sit flush in the shelf and are held up by screws attached to the wall. You feed the screw through the bigger hole of the keyhole hanger and it drops into place and is held tight in the narrower shaft.
I have also put little plastic stoppers on that you can also see in the photo below to stop the shelf scratching the walls.

I was originally just going to attach these with L brackets but am so glad I made the effort to borrow a neighbour's router and attach it using keyhole hangers - I love a nice "floating" shelf!

Cork Message Boards

No office would be complete without a notice board you can pin important things to!
I decided to use circular cork mats from Ikea that are designed for putting hot pots and pans on.
I covered each mat in a different blue coloured fabric by cutting the fabric slightly larger than the mat and stapling the material to the back so it was taut all the way round.

I then just stuck them to the wall with double-sided velcro.

Guitar Baby T-Shirt

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought that I could recreate it with some black and brown fabric paint.

I washed the t-shirt and ironed it first so there wouldn't be any shrinkage.

I then basically free-handed the image really lightly in pencil, put a piece of card in the t-shirt between the two layers of material so there wouldn't be any bleeding through and then just painted the guitar on!
I used masking tape to mark off where the frets go so they would stay white.

Once it had dried, I covered it in a tea towel and ironed it to seal the image in.

The dad of the baby this is for is a guitar player, so should hopefully like it!

Oh, I've also got a t-shirt for age 4-6 months so that the poor newborn doesn't always get its arm pulled out to be played as a guitar!

Top Gun Aviators Baby T-Shirt

My friend is expecting her baby boy next month, so I thought I'd get on top of issues and make the little bambino some t-shirts!

First up is the Top Gun special!
I had some t-shirt transfer paper lying around from somewhere and printed out an image of aviator sunglasses I found on Google images on this special paper.

The tools needed: transfer paper with image printed on, t-shirt, baking paper, scissors, iron!

First I washed the t-shirt so there would be no shrinking once the print was on.
I then ironed it and followed the instructions on the transfer paper:

• Print image
• Cut out image
• Put face up on t-shirt
• Iron with greaseproof paper for a matt finish or silicon paper for a shiny finish (I used some Backpapier - baking paper) which we had on hand and can confirm that that turns the image into a matt finish
• Let the print cool
• Re-iron with the paper in between the image and the iron
• Rewash
• Re-iron
• Done!

I'm actually considering making myself one, I love it so much!!

Here's the image printed on the special paper and cut out ready to go

With baking paper on ready to iron the transfer

The finished product!

Canvas Art

I have actually already made this for my Dad for his birthday, but somewhere between here and his house the parcel went missing!! It's either damaged at the bottom of some postman's sack or sitting pretty above a postman's mantlepiece! Either way, my Dad never got his present!

I decided to remake it and hand deliver it when I fly to England so that there won't be any more mishaps!

I bought a 40x40cm canvas, some little mdf wooden letters and a few mirrored ones.

I painted the canvas a sort of off white and the letters 5 different shades of red.

I then glued the letters down to form the shape of a heart and spell out the words to the Beatles song:

All you need is love
Love is all you need

Happy Belated Birthday, Daddy!

Oh Come All Yee Guests!

After working on the guest beds every Thursday evening for what seems like a very long time, they are finally done (see the first post about them here)!

I did them at the woodworking centre I go to so I could get advice from the carpenter there if needs be.

What took the most time was probably carrying out all the pieces of wood each week and then having to tidy everything away at the end of the evening. If I had done it at home then I would have just left everything lying around until I was done!

Here's the carpenter, Thomas, cutting all my wood down to size on the table saw:

Here's some of the interesting machines that they have at the centre - all probably from 1900s but better than some of the modern rubbish you get!!

So, here's a breakdown of how they were made:

I made the foot and head pieces by screwing dividers and rails to the header boards. The screws are then covered up with another header board that is just glued and clamped into place.

The posts are attached to the headboards/footboards using thick dowels and biscuits. This involved using a drill to drill the correct depth and size for the dowels and using a buiscuit joiner for cutting out the disc-shaped holes for the buiscuits. I then added glue, the respective joining wood and then clamped the whole thing together until dry and secure!

I added some extra "feet" onto the bottom of the posts so I could paint them a different colour to the actual posts.

 
I then used a router to cut into the posts to fit the moutings flush into the wood. This is how the side rails are joined to the headboards/footboards so the beds can easily be taken apart.

I rounded all edges off using the router so that there are no sharp edges and the beds have a more professional finish.

The boards on top of the headboards/footboards are only attached using biscuit joins that aren't glued down. This is so they can easily transform into bunkbeds. You have to remove the boards from the two headboards, as these will be the bottom bed. The posts then have holes drilled into them and 25mm dowels that will slot in. The footboards then have holes drilled into the bottom of them and will sit on top of the bottom bed to form bunkbeds.

The sides of the bed  also have the leftover bits of wood screwed to the sides so that the slats (which will be bought) can rest on it.

These beasts were quite a struggle to get back home, let me tell you! Beech wood is a really sturdy wood, which is great for the stability of the beds, but not so good for carrying when the age of chivalry is dead! I couldn't believe it, but no one helped me carry the beds out to my car or load them in! I had to negotiate them up the stairs and out of the fire door that needed to be opened every time and then try and slot them into the back of the Golf like a Tetris game! I then had to unload them all at the other side on my own as G wasn't home either! My forearms took the brunt of the work and were covered in bruises the next day!

I can't decide whether to finish the beds by painting them white and then staining the feet and tops of the headboards/footboards with the same chestnut brown as the bedside tables that will go next to them or to keep them as they are au naturel - should I take a vote?? 

Here they are with the nice covers we got from my family as a Christmas present!

 

Just one thing left to say then ...


Visitors ... ready, steady, go!