Friday, February 22, 2013

Let's Discuss

I'm floored by everyone's feedback on the mudroom. Thank you! I'm pretty darned thrilled with it...

Let me paste something that I'd emailed to Ana about this, that I think says all that I can say about it,

"What I love most about this project is that it's just 4 boxes. Four boxes from three sheets of plywood that add seating, storage, accessibility, function (and, of course, style) to my home. This project came in at just under $200 (yes, that includes hardware and paint!) and I spent probably between 10-12 hours putting it all together. "

I tend not to go into a lot of detail on my builds because I feel that the details are covered in the plans and that I'm just being redundant. With that said, I've noticed that a lot of you guys have had a lot of the same questions, so let's talk about it!


Paint Color

I wish I knew as much as you guys do! I found a Valspar Paint + Primer in the OOPS bin at Lowe's.

Door Grooves

The plans call for you to cut 1/8" deep grooves with a circular saw. I do not have steady hands. If I had cut those with a circular saw, we'd be seeing Dr. Seuss-like squiggles in the doors.

I removed all blade guards and the anti-kickback device from my table saw (not recommended!), set the blade to 1/8" and set my fence at 5 1/4". I made one pass on the table saw, rotated the door 180 degrees and made a second pass.

It's probably better if you use a circular saw...

Hardware


These are actually supposed to be for windows!

Umm... WHOOPS!

I got these from Lowe's for about $3.50/each. When I was looking for hardware for these doors, I wanted to have the option to not have shelves inside without the doors being pushed in, and also wanted a way to prevent the doors from swinging open into the side of the car. Sure, I could've gotten a door "catch", but that, plus a pretty knob, would've been more expensive (and not nearly as cool!).

Misc.

I used three sheets of plywood for this. There was enough lumber for the frame and one shelf with the three sheets. Luckily I have a on of scraps, so was able to put together a few more shelves, but keep that in mind if you don't have scraps and need to buy more lumber.

Cut Layout


All three sheets were cut into three 15 3/4" strips (referred to as 1x16s in the plans). I didn't figure out the 1x3 cuts because I had a ton of scraps so I used those. But I think for the whole system you'll need two 1x3s.

Well, I think that's it! How weird do you think it is that I used window hardware for my doors?

You know what? Don't answer that..!

1 comment:

  1. Not weird. Actually a great idea. I used them for a closure on a drop down table. They are perfect for a nice tight closure. Those things are not going to accidentally come open. and for the record, I had no clue they were specifically designed for windows... I just loved how they worked and looked.

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