Hi,
I have an alcove that I would like to convert into a wardrobe.
I think I will construct a frame from floor to ceiling and on this I will hang doors and plasterboard.
I would like to have a clothes rail run across the wardrobe. I could run it all the way across or I was wondering about running it 2/3rds of the way across and having shelves in the remaining third.
The problem is what to attach the pole and/ or shelves to? The walls are plasterboard with a bedroom and airing cupboard on the other sides, so no brick to screw into. Judging from previous experience, the walls will be 9.5mm plasterboard supported only at the edges by
1.5"x1.5" timber with "egg box" cardboard glued inside to give rigidity, so no studs either ;(I don't really want to take the walls apart to add studs because I don't want to disturb and redecorate the adjacent room at the moment.
I did wonder about attaching some 18mm plywood to the walls using hollow wall anchors. I figured this would allow me to fit rails or shelves at any height later on. Then I found out that good plywood is now £42 per sheet! (shuttering is cheaper but not as pretty) and the alcove is 76cm deep so I would need a sheet per side, and possibly a third in the middle, if I wanted to divide the space.
The merchant no longer sells blockboard, which I think is a great shame.
That only leaves me with mdf or chipboard. I have no experience of mdf but what about chipboard? If I painted some 18mm chipboard hopefully it would not look too ugly and might do the job for a quarter of the price? Hopefully much of it would be hidden by the clothes.
Is there a better way?
TIA