Master Closet – Part 5

We picked up the crown molding after I finished my last post and started getting it installed.  We had a couple hiccups, but no major issues.  It is all up except around the rear cabinet which is going to require some modification.

The crown molding sticks out 5″ from the front of the cabinets.  There isn’t enough room on the sides of the rear cabinet to fit both pieces, so we are going to have to trim it down.  Fortunately, the piece across the front of the rear cabinet will partially block the view of the modified sides pieces.

I ended up not getting the drawer slides ordered as soon as I had planned, then they took another week to get here.  Buying them locally would have cost around $20 each – I got them for around $7 each with shipping although it was still nearly $200 for all 27 pairs of them.  Ouch.  They are all full extension slides with 70 or 100 lb weight limits and the majority of them are soft close as well.

We didn’t want to start on the drawers until we had the slides and made sure we knew how everything was going to go together.  I had originally planned to use MDF boards for the drawer boxes, but we had concerns about the drawer slide screws working loose in the MDF.  Instead, the sides and backs of the drawers are going to be poplar and the front piece is primed MDF.  I am going to trim the front with MDF to make recessed panels which is why I am using MDF for the front.

It took a lot of numbers to figure out what width board each drawer needed to be, how long each piece is, how many I need of each, etc.  Then, I had to figure out how many boards of each width we needed.  The store didn’t have enough 1x8s, so I’m going to have to go back for more.  I cut and assembled one drawer and made sure it fit before I cut and assembled more.  The first one was ok, so I continued on.

As I write this, I have all the boards we bought cut and have assembled 11 of them.  I gave the poplar boards a quick sand after I cut them to remove the rough edges and smooth them out.  We are going to leave them unfinished for now, but they could be clear coated in the future if we decide they need it.  I drilled pocket holes in the front and side pieces.  The holes will be visible inside the drawer on the front piece, but they are on the back of the back piece where they won’t be seen.  The front and side pieces are attached inside the side pieces so that the joints are stronger to the constant pulling on the drawers.

We also bought some 1/4″ plywood for the bottoms.  We need to cut that down and attach it to the bottoms with glue and staples.  None of the drawers are very deep so they won’t be holding a lot of weight.

Then, we’ll need to figure out the drawer slide spacing and get them installed on the drawers and cabinets.  If all goes well, I’ll then be able to attach the 1×3 trim to finish off the front of the drawers.  The Kid is now off for Thanksgiving Break, so I’m not sure how much we’ll get done this week.

Happy Thanksgiving!