Building a 2 holer outhouse!

Jim Mattheiss

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467
Location
Long Hill Township, NJ
We want to build a cabinet for the dining room of our ranch house where the kids ( 9 and 12 ) can store there book bags and other school stuff.

As a joke we want to make it look like an outhouse. My sensitive 12 year old daughter doesn't think it's funny, but my wife does!

The basic design would be to build a 36" high, 34" wide and 17" deep cabinet in the form of 2 vertical lockers.

I have attached a primitive attempt at a sketchup drawing of what I want. I've used AutoCad, Turbo Cab and some other drawing programs. This Sketchup takes a little getting used to . . .

The case will be out of 3/4 BB plywood with a face frame on the front edges. There would be 2 doors opening on 270 degree hinges to swing out flat against the side of the case.

Option 1 on the doors would be to take some pine boards, put a bead detail on the edges, run them vertically with a z brace on the inside. There would of course be the requisite crescent moon cutout. I've heard that a sunburst was the "Men's Room" symbol and the moon was the "Ladies Room" symbol. I can't seem to find an example of an appropriate sunburst symbol. Can anyone point out some examples?

Option 2 would be a simple flat panel door. The panel would be plywood. I would make the crescent moon an applique as opposed to a cutout so you wouldn't see the ply edges.

The finish will be distressed paint and possibly a crackle finish. My involvement is supposed to end with delivery of the unfinished cabinet, but we'll see!!!

I'm not very fast in the shop, so this thread might take some time to get to the final pictures.

Cheers

Jim
 

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Well folks, I finally finished the project - almost a year after the original post.

I started work on the cabinet in August 2009 and it was completed in time for back to school in early September 2009. I had built a set of doors at that time, but I didn't care for the way they turned out.

I put the cabinet in the living room without doors. That gave the bookbags and school supplies a home off the dining room table and living room couch.

The cabinet is 3/4" BB plywood with a 1/2" BB back panel. The face frame, top and base trim are all solid wood - supposedly mahogany I bought off Craig's List last summer.

The doors frames are also mahogany and the inset panels are oak bead board (bought at the Borg).

I need to put the knobs on and mark it done.

Picture 1 is the interior of the cabinet with the doors open.
Picture 2 is the cabinet with the doors closed.


Cheers

Jim
 

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Jim that way to cool for kids to "dump" their kit in the outhouse.:D I see the finish part seem to extend to your department as well no distressed finish with crackle paint Eh!:rofl:
 
thats a nice cabinet for the school books and bags...I think its also something that you can have for 30 years without the novelty of an outhouse design wearing off. Its a pretty piece of furniture, and Im sure youre 13 y/o(I added a year for your build), is much happier with daddy now that you saw her side of things. On those little princesses!
looks like mahogany to me, what did you finish it with?
 
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Having been raised on a farm with a two holer on site, I never envisioned such fine cabinetry. We never had it so good, as I recall... We had one door with a devider wall between each compartment (not saying much for modisty or privicy in the privy... ) Your's is a work of art :thumb:
 
That is indeed, one beautiful outhouse. I had a nightstand project that drug-on a year. Everything else always seemed to come first. Your piece looks great.
 
Yes - you are all correct - the overall concept changed in my mind as a painted object wouldn't match in the living room. The cabinet is in the Living Room of our house - right inside the front door. It also seemed a shame to paint over all of the mahogany - the top and trim details are solid wood.

The finish is Minwax Sedona Red Stain with a Polycrylic top coat. I'm happy with the finish but need to expand my finishing horizons. I was gunning for a deeper, darker red - Bombay Furniture Co look.

I need to peruse the Finishing threads here, as there is always room for improvement.

Thank you all for all the kind words.

Cheers

Jim
 
Great looking outhouse. For finishing you might want to look into dye's instead of stains. Both Trantint and Trans fast make dye's that allow you to control the color much better then stains. While I still use stains occasional I find that I can control the color much better with a dye. In the funiture refinishing business this is a must.
 
Don:

That's exactly what I was thinking. The only place I've seen them is at Woodcraft, which is an hour away. I have a Rockler embedded in a Equipment store 40 minutes away but I don't think they carry any of that.

Cheers

Jim
 
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