Wardrobe

I've got a notion to build a couple of wardrobes for our bedroom. As an idea, it has scarcely reached the "half-assed" stage. There's no set design yet. They would be roughly 32W x 24D x 84H. As there's no way to carry objects that size through the house, I would need to make two boxes for each unit, to be stacked on top of each other on site. That would probably necessitate installing the face frame on site as well.

My question involves materials. The wardrobes would be tall, well above eye-level, and would be located in two corners of the room. As such, the only surfaces that would show would be the doors, the face frame and one side of each unit.

I've taken an awful long time to get decent results finishing much smaller projects. I haven't got the time or gumption to take on the finishing of something as big as this. So I'm considering prefinished plywood, or possibly even melamine for the basic boxes, with a prefinished ply panel on the visible side. Is melamine a nighmare for a relative novice?

As for the doors, I'm not sure what to do yet. We have a couple of similar wardrobes that have "faux" panel doors made of flat 3/4" ply with 2"x1/4" strips appliqued on to simulate vertical 3-panel doors. (I didn't build them).

I did build some simple panel doors for another project, but they were a good bit smaller. I could conceivably use thin prefinished ply with solid frames. Either way I would somehow need to finish the face frames and door frames (and perhaps some molding at the top and bottom)for a reasonable match, and without getting any of the finish on the prefinished material. Presumably I'd finish those pieces before installing them. I'm wondering if a deliberate contrast might be easier for me to accomplish than a "match".

I'm asking for basic pointers, pros and cons, pitfalls a weekend warrior like me is likely to stumble into, etc. My goal is to make something functional and decent-looking in a reasonable amount of time.

As always, thanks in advance.

Reply to
Greg Guarino
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  1. You should be able to move an object that size through normal interior doors. Moving might fail, though, if you have tight corners such as a stairway.
  2. You raise some interesting questions. If it were me, I'd scour the web for wardrobe plans. No sense trying to be a pioneer or re-invent the wheels. I've gotten some terrific ideas from looking at what others have done.
Reply to
HeyBub

Or, if the wood itself looks good (walnut, maple, or cherry plywood), just some wipe-on poly or shellac wiped on with a pad is hard to mess up.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

If you reduce the height to less than 80" I would think you could get them through the house (assuming standard door height). If you are worried about the weight, roll them on dowels or lengths of PVC pipe. __________________

Melamine isn't much different than ply. Both tend to chip when crosscut, the mel in any direction. Both need something applied to visible edges.

One can mitigate the chipping by joining with tongues into dados; IOW, hide it. I use 1/2" wide tongues with 1/8" shoulders into 3/8" deep dados or rabbets.

The iron on tape for mel board is easy to apply. ___________________

You are going to make two boxes, stacked so make doors for each box. That would be simpler than trying to make 84" doors. Just make one box high enough to hang whatever you want to hang. _____________

Masking tape and reasonable care keep finish off of adjacent areas. _________________

We have two large walk in closets, his and hers. Mostly, they are for hanging but I made a wardrobe with shelves for each. They are about the size of yours but are about 24" shorter.

I used eastern red cedar for the cases...easy to work, relatively inexpensive and smells good. And, no reason to finish it (especially inside). I used butternut for the face frames and doors as I had it but there is no reason I couldn't have used the cedar. Had I used cedar I would have probably used an acrylic sealer like Seal-Krete on the outside of doors/FF just to help them shed finger oils and dust.

Using lumber, you have to glue up the boards to make the panels. I don't find that much more time consuming than messing with ply wood and its ugly edges. One can also make solid, overlay doors, much easier than frame & panel and they look fine.

Reply to
dadiOH

Yup. That's what I've got.

Sounds like a good idea.

Reply to
Greg Guarino

Another easy way to finish sheet goods is with wallpaper. Can't do that on mel but can on particle board. Outside, an applied molding can make it look like a panel.

Reply to
dadiOH

I've got a notion to build a couple of wardrobes for our bedroom. As an idea, it has scarcely reached the "half-assed" stage. There's no set design yet. They would be roughly 32W x 24D x 84H. As there's no way to carry objects that size through the house, I would need to make two boxes for each unit, to be stacked on top of each other on site. That would probably necessitate installing the face frame on site as well.

Greg.. This brings back memories. Building kitchen cabinets for our new house. Same dimensions as your cabinet. Ceiling height was 84 inches. Got it into the kitchen OK. Went to stand it up. No go. Forgot the top to bottom diagonal was more than 84 inches. Cut height down and made a toe kick section to slide under. Lesson learned. this was in 1970. I still have a lot to learn and this site is great learning from the experts. WW

Reply to
WW

...

The suggestion is to have it short enough it'll clear any obstruction in the fully upright uncomfortable position...

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Reply to
dpb

I'm probably better at geometry than I am at woodworking. My ceiling is

8'. I figure to make the wardrobes well short of that.
Reply to
Greg Guarino

  1. Buy pre-finished 3/4 plywood
  2. Build the boxes
  3. Build a sub base to set cabinet on.
  4. Build a face frame
  5. Finish with gel stain and varnish.

The face frame is optional depending on your taste.

No face frame means flush mounted doors.

You need four doors for a cabinet that tall in my opinion.

You might also consider a wardrobe on top and drawers on the bottom.

Like this:

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Reply to
Pat Barber

My Dad used to make shelf units with what I'll call "full" dadoes, meaning that if the shelf was 3/4" thick, the dado would be 3/4" also. Could you explain, for the uninitiated, the advantage of making a thinner "tongue"? Does it leave the uprights stronger? Or is it cosmetic in some way?

Reply to
Greg Guarino

On 9/13/2012 1:03 PM, Mike Marlow wrote: ...

Well, if OP says he has an obstruction in the path, then I presume he knows his home better than I.

Reply to
dpb

Well, that's remarkably like what I was planning, if the word "planning" can be applied to the random musing that I've done so far.

Haven't tried gel stain yet. But I have lots of scrap pieces, many of which already have test finishes on them. Time to make some more I guess.

I had some similar cabinets made some years ago. They have two full-height vertical doors. As I mentioned before, they are "faux" panel style, 3/4" ply with 2" x 1/4" strips glued on to mimic three vertical panels. I haven't had any trouble with those doors, perhaps because they are essentially a solid piece of relatively thick plywood. Are you suggesting that a tall true panel door might warp?

I can get over my fear of drawers. :)

Reply to
Greg Guarino

Greg Guarino wrote in news:k2qsit$o9n$1@dont- email.me:

Snip

I made some cabinets for an entertainment center using maple plywood, and some 1/4x1" maple strips as "banding". It was a pain to get them down to be even on both sides with the plywood. The iron-on maple banding veneer was much easier. Finished with blondest shellac as a seal coat, plus a couple more coats. Then shellac- alkyd(?)poly mix, and finally poly- pastewax mix with a touch of shellac. The latter a couple of coats. Then rubbing, and the finish is looking like it will last.

Reply to
Han

I think I can be of some assistance here, which is rare given my modest knowledge. I used a rabbet plane for a similar job. I set the fence on the plane to the thickness of the edge piece, so I couldn't accidentally cut into the face of the plywood. Then I set the depth stop so that the plane would cut the edge piece exactly flush with the surface of the ply. Someone with more developed skills might be able to do this by "feel", but it worked nicely for me.

The iron-on maple banding veneer

I have to say, that looks like an argument for prefinished ply, at least for a busy guy with limited skills. I count six or seven steps, something I might try on a smaller project, but not on this one.

Reply to
Greg Guarino

Greg Guarino wrote in news:k2tgd7$giu$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

Great idea for a needed tool I don't yet have! Thanks!! Which brand and model do you have?

Well, I do take my (retired) time, that is true, but shellac dries in minutes, so several caots go on really fast. The other coats don't take that much time either. So for me a little more time is fine, versus the (likely) expense of prefinished ply. Although, maple ply of good quaity isn't exactly cheap.

Reply to
Han

Greg Guarino wrote in news:k2t1nd$ci4$1@dont- email.me:

This is where making a mock up might come in handy. If you take two pieces of cardboard, one to represent the base and one to represent the largest side, and move it through the area you'll get a feel for how it will fit.

If size is still a concern, there's all kinds of "knock down" style fasteners that will allow you to finish the project in the shop, disassemble it and reassemble in the house.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

There's something I hadn't thought of. Any pointers to a source?

Reply to
Amy Guarino

This one:

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's a Stanley #78, inherited from my Dad, who's still around but not using such things anymore. You can use the right arrow key to see some more views.

What do you do between coats?

Reply to
Amy Guarino

Sorry for the name confusion, more than one person in our family uses this computer

Reply to
Greg Guarino

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