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Option 1: Buy a double wardrobe with integrated drawers for IRO £300-£400.
Option 2: Buy the timber/MDF, maybe a router, circular saw, decent Workmate and some other bits, then build to spec. All for roughly the same or less £s.
Other projects lined up at home are;
- renovating the chimp's garden playhouse
- adding insulation/T&G/partition to summerhouse
- building workbench and storage in utility room
- building office desk and storage in spare room
Advantages of option 2 are gaining more tools/kit as well as man skills, thus enabling me to do a better job of the above too. Disadvantages are I could get it dramatically wrong.
Any home DIYer peeps made a wardrobe from scratch? Haven't yet found any plans online, so anyone have any ideas?
Ta
I recently built a vivarium from scratch (same construction as a wardrobe but a bit smaller). I enjoyed it but material costs weren't far off what they cost from the shops.
For a wardrobe I built (built into an alcove) we bought mirror doors from Ikea and I built the frame to fit them - was quite succesful.
if you use faced mdf make sure to get some iron on edge banding for the bits where you have to have a sawn end 'on show'.
I built a 'built in' cupboard to house a GSH boiler. It wasnt to bad as I was basically shelving a full room height alcove and putting a door on. The hard bit was finding a door to fit the space that I liked and then build the supports into the walls to meet that size. B&Q ready made cupboard doors are pish.
Its not a really hard job and working with wood is fab. I learned a lot about getting a good finish, or in my case how to hide a bad measure or poor saw cut, ha.
Looking at your post the dilema might be job priorities, not how hard the cupboard is to build. 🙂
I recently built a vivarium
Cool. Never heard of one of those.
we bought mirror doors from Ikea
Was thinking of something similar as I presume the Ikea ones are decent enough quality. If not, there are others online.
Iron on banding is a defo. Ta
I have. I made a frame using CLS timber then clad it in MDF with 18mm shelves and a hanging rail. Doors were 18mm MDF. Cost less than £100 and fits the space perfectly.
It was made using a cheap circular saw and cordless drill, easy enough to fill, sand and paint for a good finish.
Vivarium;
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I scraped the white grip fill off the channel afterwards 🙂
Done both, bought and DIY'd.
You can't go wrong with the IKEA PAX wardrobes, we've a huge set in the spare room. Well made and good quality.
But I also built a set for my Mum as upstairs in her cottage the walls slope from about shoulder height, so she wanted two double wardrobes that were about 2/3 height. Made from MDF and then painted. Not quite as well made as the IKEA ones and not much cheaper, but exactly what she wanted/needed - so she's happy.
Already had the tools, but did get the extra clamps I needed as a thank-you present - and don't under-estimate how many clamps...
Carcass is easy it's the doors that are hard to make pretty, buy some nice door/draw fronts and make the rest yourself.
Looking at your post the dilema might be job priorities, not how hard the cupboard is to build.
I can't disagree. Those are just some of the jobs (haven't even mentioned the driveway, garden, fencing etc)!
The wardrobe is a good starting point though, as the money saved can go on tools/kit to help the other jobs. Just been having a look at some of the fitted wardrobes we already have and I reckon, like jimmy748 says, that the carcasses should be the easier bit.
If you're doing your carcass from MDF, sort your design out in advance and get all the big cuts done at B&Q or your timber merchant. Not quite so many man points but a lot less hassle than bringing home and working with 8x4 sheets.
Been thinking along same lines lately, [url= http://uktv.co.uk/home/item/aid/655886/displayVideo/Hi ]Phillipa makes it look so easy[/url], just and debating how to do the joins for things like wardrobes.
Never used one but is a biscuit joiner worth buying for MDF? And are the cheaper screwfix jobbies alright?
I used some pocket joints at the weekends and they are a lot better than dowels or biscuits as they hold the joint whilst the glue dries so you don't have to clamp it.
You do get visible holes in the wood but you can either 'hide' them underneath/on top where they won't be seen or buy coloured bungs to go in there.
one I did earlier;
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they're inside the box so I'm not worried about leaving them visible.
Tinribz - you can buy biscuit cutter bits for your router which are fine for doing 90 degree joints as long as there is space to wave the router about. I've used one successfully, but also concur with the advise about the pocket hole jig.
If you've not already got it, order a free copy of the Axminster Tools catalogue as well...
Never heard of a pocket hole jig. Seems like there are a fair few accessories for them too, so methinks I'll stick to something more simple. Been looking at this [url= http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erb380rou-2100w-router-230-240v/81664 ]Erbauer router[/url] so maybe that'll do the trick. Need to decide what else I need a router to do first.
Hijack, re those pocket joints. In rebuilding my caravan I've found the ends of the shelf were fixed to the side walls with a wide hole drilled part way into the shelf and a round plastic insert which fits into it. The insert supports the screw as it comes out of the side of the shelf parallel to it.
Does that make sense? I need to know what the plastic insert is called.
Phillipa makes it look so easy
Indeed she does. Will have to check out some similar vids.
Joiner here, so done rather too many of these over the years. Cut edges are the problem with mdf unless cut slowly with a sharp blade. I use No.0 biscuits to locate the shelves and just screw through the sides with a 5 by 50 screw (5mm through hole pre drilled through panel and 3.5mm pilot drill into shelf edge).
I round over the edges with a 3mm radius router bit and lightly sand the edges. 1 coat of Acrylic Eggshell, rub down (important on edges!) then a coat off oil based Eggshell. I would make the doors the same or use Birch Ply for these (famous for not staying flat though!). veneered board good too but I think iron on is pish as it looks amateurish; I would use matching glued on lippings (a horrible amount of extra work though).
Hi I have been a cabinet maker for years now and The router will be one of the best tool you will have bought if you are going to make units,cupboards,boxes,drawers etc etc
Two sizes of router 1/4 and 1/2 which are the shank size of the cutter
Have a look on the web for cutter sets Trend are a great make but expensive I have a few of the cheap cutter sets as well as trend
Have a read or visit youtube re using a router
You can use the router to put mouldings into an MDfF door and as long as you prep the door I.e sand the moulding In between each paint coat it will come out nice and smooth dusting as you go , a foam rad roller for varnish is great for that
Email me if you want to know more and I can send some pictures to you of some units,cupboards I have made
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