I made progress on my walk -in wardrobe island, but I had a pretty big setback yesterday because I did not draw attention all afternoon and cut the pieces for the drawers all afternoon, just to see that I cut most of them the wrong size. I accuse my brain that it is difficult with numbers and mathematics.
So let me appear a bit again. When I recently shared my progress, the island looked like this …
The basic building looked ended at that time, but I still had to remove the top and add a few more parts to the basic structure. I cut parts of 1 × 2 to fit on the top of each opening. I drilled pocket holes in each end of each piece with my Kreg pocket hole template and used these pocket holes to screw the parts into the sides of each section.
Here is a look at where both parts screw into the middle part of the plywood.
And here is a closer look where it is screwed into the end piece and is merged with the plywood.
With all these connected 1 × 2 it looked like this …
Here is another look from the side of the island …
I had already created a frame for the doors and the drawer at the front of the sides with the side cladding and on the underside with the lower cladding. Now I had to create a frame so that the doors and drawer fronts look switched on on all sides as soon as they are attached. So I cut another strip with a 3/4 -inch quadramt by torning a 1 × 3 with my table saw, and I attached it all the way across the top of the 1 × 2 lines that I had just fastened.
And with the connected piece you can now see that the doors and drawer fronts sit in this frame and give them a firm look as soon as they are switched on.
So I could actually attach the top. After I carefully measured to ensure that it was just the whole way, I simply nailed through the top and in the frame of the base to secure the top. You can see where I used wooden fillers to fill these nail holes.
I also added wood fillers, in which the side cladding hit the plywood top, so that it is as perfect as possible when grinding and no small cracks between them.
Here is a look at the top on. You can see that this upper frame is about 1/4 inches below the worktop.
Then I was ready to build the drawer boxes. I started measuring the width of the opening, which was 34 7/8 inches.
These are the drawer slides that I use. I am not particularly over the brand as long as you slide ball bearing drawers with soft closures. You can get them to Home Depot and Lowe’s, and they are all pretty much the same, regardless of the brand.
The drawer slides are 1/2 inches thick.
It should make it easy, right? You take the width of the opening, subtract a custom and that is the width you build the drawer box. Simply peasy. Or at least it should be.
So I spent hours cut and sanding all parts for the drawer boxes. For this I decided to keep it easy and make the absolutely simplest form of the drawer box possible. I cut a lower piece for every drawer. Then I cut two parts to go back and forth, and cut to the same width as the lower piece. And then I cut two parts for the ends, cut to one centimeter more than the lower piece, so that the side pieces would cover the lower piece plus the sides of the front and back pieces. Nail all of them together and you have the simplest drawer box possible. No unusual cuts or unusual tools required.
So I cut everything, put together the first drawer box and then realized that I had forgotten to subtract this inch for the drawer when I could cut all parts of the floor, front and back. POOH!!!! Such a rookie error !!!
She was so frustrated. Thank God I had only put together a drawer box and decided to test it for fit before I put together the rest. I would have cried ugly if I had put together all ten drawer boxes before I realized that I had cut them all the wrong size.
It’s not a big deal. I just have to spend time today to reduce all of these pieces (all apart from the side parts) to the correct lengths (one centimeter shorter than you) and grind a little more, and then I can have them built. At least I cut them too long instead of too short! If I had cut it too short, all the plywood would have been wasted. So that’s a very simple solution, but it’s still a pain.
When I noticed my mistake, I didn’t have it in myself to go out and repair these parts. Instead, I got the entire wooden filler on the base and made it ready for grinding so that I can prepare and paint it.
I also tried to find out exactly how I will do the drawer fronts and doors. I woke up between two different designs, but I think I’ll just keep it. I bought this pull from Lowe.
I think I will only cut the drawer fronts out of 1/2 inch plywood and then put the edges nicely on the edges. I’m still not sure if I will use a train per drawer …
Or two pull per drawer like this …
I tend to two because the drawers are so wide (almost 36 inches wide). And as soon as the cladding is attached, I will simply end the edges with a wooden venus edge strap.
That is the plan for the moment. I had hoped that I would be ready today to carry out drawer fronts and doors, but instead I have to trace and repeat what I worked on yesterday. It is so frustrating when that happens, but that is sometimes to be expected. I try to give myself a bit of grace because this island is probably the largest piece of furniture I’ve ever built, but at the same time I am ready to get ready!
