closet insert

allen levine

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new york city burbs
My daughter has an average sized closet in her new bedroom.
It is 60 inches in width, 96 inches to ceiling, and 22 inches deep.
She asked me if I could add some hanging length and a few small shelves that are reachable. The one long shelf on top of the pole is too high for her to see what is on it.(84 inches off ground)
There is little I could do for her, I dont own wall stretchers, and I suggested using the guest room closet for her overflow, but she insisted I figure it out or install one of those closet systems by ru**erma*d.
The closet system was only 50-70 bucks for what she wanted, and she was paying for it, but I had to open up my mouth and tell her Ill take care of it.
I drew out a picture, she loved it.
This is not furniture, nor will I waste serious time with joinery or dovetail drawers.
After I had my main electric line go out on me today in the garage, and its hard for me to run 2 machines at once till I get a new line, I decided to just cut up a sheet of plywood, skip all the dados, and go with butt joints and glue.
Im making a 12 inch wide center cabinet,16 inches depth, with 4 drawers, and 4 shelves.
Maple ply, maple ply drawers, not sure what Ill use as drawer fronts yet, either mahogany or maple. I will glue edges of same material over exposed plywood edges.
The cabinet/shelves are 84 inches high. There will be a shelf going across at top, just for excess storage, like the shelf thats in there now, and on each side of the cabinet, there will be 2 2 foot closet poles. One at 40 inches off ground, one at 80 inches.(12 inches from back wall) I gained 3 feet of pole hanging, although nothing long will go in closet. Long coats or dresses will have to go in another closet.
Like I said, had to compromise somewhere.
Had a rough start today, lost electric in garage, broke cell phone when I dropped it in HD parking lot, and Im sluggish and tired from infusion treatment the past few days. didnt do much, but I got the box screwed together and the drawer slides in place.
Not even sure if Ill plug the screw holes, just throw some finish on it, clothes will be blocking it anyway. Like I said, she wants it quick, and Im in the middle of the buffet unit.
The unit will be attached to back wall and floor for stability.
 

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that sounds very similar to what i got roped into a few years back allen. my sister said her daughter wanted a closet insert, just a few drawers to put things in. i thought cool, told her i'd do it, thinking that it was just a normal closet, couple of feet wide, couple of feet deep. well, that went out the window when my sister showed me the closet. 6 ft by 6 ft, oh lordy....
well, i divvied it up in 3 sections horizontally. bottom third had cubby holes for 12 pairs of shoes, and 4 drawers on each side. 3/4 of the left side of the center section is an area for hanging clothes, behind a pair of raised panel doors.(you think i had that jig just for the fun of it?:rofl:). the rest of the right side of the center was adjustable shelves. the top third was divided into thirds, with the outside ones being cubbies with a pair of raised panel doors each. the center was left open. the whole thing was made of borg pine, finished with amber shellac. it looked pretty good when it finally was in place. only had 1/16" on each edge for clearance.
 
OK. Let me see if I have this straight. You've had so much trouble with your IV treatment they thought they might have to call 911. Then the electricity went out in your shop. So, with a few extra minutes in the dark, in pain, you knock out a closet insert. Do I have that right?:huh:

OK. I'm finding another hobby.:rofl::rofl:
 
the reaction was monday afternoon, was not a pleasant experience.she did call 911, I told her to forget it, the benadryl was kicking in.(iv benadryl works fast)
My guy took an extension cord of mine today, cut the end off, wired it into the small box in the garage and I plug the other end into an outlet in the house, and that now powers the lights and the small air compressor.
I pulled all the other cords with heavy duty short extensions to the new electric line in the garage, but I dont think it will handle too heavy a load.
Today was mostly the festool plunge saw and crosscut, then mostly assembly.
Ill try to start the drawers tomorrow, hopefully by sunday I can put some finish on it and move it into her house by later next week.

my wife didnt believe it when I got up with the IV still on and wanted to go out and figure out how to do some work in the garage. She took a picture of me so she can show me later on what a jerk I am.(boy, I got really fat, not good)
 

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OK. Let me see if I have this straight. You've had so much trouble with your IV treatment they thought they might have to call 911. Then the electricity went out in your shop. So, with a few extra minutes in the dark, in pain, you knock out a closet insert. Do I have that right?:huh:

OK. I'm finding another hobby.:rofl::rofl:

Ditto. I Surrender. Allen Wins...
 
construction is done . Ill have to attach shelf and rods when I install it into the closet.
I was being restricted today, because of health related stuff from infusions, so it took me till around 10 this morning to convince my wife building furniture isnt work, its relaxing, soothing, and overall its pure pleasure for me.
I had to get in before she gets home from work shortly, summer hours. didnt want her to catch me working on it anymore.
I used all strips I had no use for, and a piece of 6/4 13 inch long sapele, and thanx to tod for reco'ing Ellis blades a while back, Im now resawing most of the stuff I need for thinner boards, without just planing away a 1/2 inch material.I think my old tool guy wasnt selling me top of the line bandsaw blades. Could be my imagination, but since I switched to ellis, I dont have any issues.
A 3/4 inch blade went through the 7 inch wide 6/4 piece of sapele very easily, though, without dust collection, I had to wear a respirator. Incredible dust, I was coated red.
Im going to lightly sand it down, and just apply some prestain coat, then maybe just apply some wipe on poly, let the sapele borders and drawers go natural color. I used birch wood handles, I had 2 already, they are only 85 cents each. didnt pay to spend 3 hours setting up lathe to turn 4 knobs.
I should have it installed in her closet by next week.

It was a real pain in the neck today. Everytime I turned on the jointer, with the dust collector, the breaker tripped. I gave up and just jointed and planed what I needed without the collector and had to sweep up a huge mess.
Getting back to the buffet next week is going to be full of headaches without my 2 electric lines.
 

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didnt think of this much as a big project. Just breaking down some sheet goods and putting in a few drawers.

Im headed off to Long Beach and a walk on the boardwalk, need to smell some salt water air.
 
...Im headed off to Long Beach and a walk on the boardwalk, need to smell some salt water air.

Yeah, I'd think some rest might be in order. :D I get worn out just reading about your projects. I can only imagine how you must feel. :p

The closet insert looks great, Allen. :thumb:
 
did on site installation today

wow, I dont envy contractors or handymen.

I probably did the easiest thing today installing the insert and rods, but working in confined area in the heat(she does not an AC in her room, I dont understand what is wrong with this child), was a bit more than the simple task I thought.
Not a big deal, ripped down all the old boards hanging things, and used some of the old pole. Expanded it from 5 feet of hanging to 8 feet of hanging.(even used the same baseboard molding, just denailed it and rehung )
I want to thank Alan once again for having patience with all my stupid questions and always giving me the exact simple solutions.
All I got paid was a kiss and thankyou daddy Im going to the beach, and off she went.
Its a job being a daddy, no matter how old your little girl is.(but its a good job)
She told me shes going to paint the walls tonight so it will be fresh
My son is putting on an accordian door or a bifold door tonight, they went to the borg to look at options.
I spent the next 45 minutes cutting down 3 doors. Ya gotta love the plunge saw.
 

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