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Looking good, Daniel.

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Dan, just a thought. You could get 9mm MDF and cut it a little bigger (so it overlaps about an inch, so that both doors would at to 2 inches, assuming you used 2x2 for the frame work), clue it onto the front of your drawers to cover the framework. Take it right up over the outer stringer. It would give it a smooth minimal finish now that the hard part has been done.


BTW thats just a thought as it looks great the way it is.


Gary.

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Gary.

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Thanks guys.

It's been slow progress but it's not something you can rush really. There's not always a huge amount you can be doing at any one time, but it is getting there.

@Gary. That's exactly what we're going to do. Did have front panels on the drawers initially but took them off as I was using 18mm MDF and it was a little heavy. If you see the picture of cupboard door and tallest drawer, you'll see I've glossed up the side of the stairs. The idea was to have a panel made up the same thickness as the drawer fronts so when the drawers are closed they sit flush with the panel on the side, the glossed part is the amount I'm overlapping by.

Glad you can see that's the best way forward, makes me feel more confident about it! Would 9mm MDF warp that thin?

Small but significant progress today. I finally got the drawer fronts cut. Bit nerve-wracking as my measurements needed to be spot on else it'd have looked awful. I plumped for 12mm MDF in the end. It's sturdy enough without being too heavy, but thick enough not to look naff.

For the photo the panels are just sitting on spacers, but you get the idea. I can't actually fit them until I get the handles now though as I'll have nothing to open the drawer with. These are the handles we're getting, flush with the surface:



All that leaves me to do then is paint the inside of the drawer front white to match the rest of the drawer, then give the outsides a couple of coats of undercoat before giving them a couple of colour top coats.





The end cupboard door is also cut, but it needs some trimming to fit. I'd rather get the drawer fronts on and fitted/adjusted and work with the door after. We were going to fill the gap above the drawers and below the stair rails with MDF of the same thickness so it looked seamless. However, we've had a change of heart. It doesn't look too bad as it is, so what we're toying with is completely sanding it back and having a thick stripe of bold colour above the drawer fronts to add a bit of 'pizazz' If it doesn't look right, we can always paint over it.

I also boxed in the fuse box etc today. The front flap will have a strap so it doesn't open all the way to the floor, I just need to finish sanding the top before it goes on, then I can paint it. The front flap is going to have some newspaper type racks in for storage of (more!) of Shaneeka's shoes (her little slip ons).







So, doesn't look a great deal but it's a huge step forward again today!

Looking good Daniel. I'm off for 2 weeks, so I better get my tools ready

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Gary.

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So, yesterday I decided to crack on with the drawer fronts. This, I thought, was going to be the most difficult part but really it went without a hitch. I spaced the fronts up from the floor and then spaced the gap between them, then proceeded to pencil in where the screws were going to go. This was the most difficult part because I was essentially drilling the holes through the front panels into the drawers behind, but I was doing it blind as obviously the drawers needed to be fully closed to do this to make sure everything was in the right place. Pleased to report only one screw hole was drilled wrong though, so thats not bad at all! Measure twice, (drill!) cut once!

I also needed to make a small additional frame for the largest drawer and the top half of the middle drawer. This was for the drawer fronts to fit up against and for additional strength:





The middle drawer front panel had a little flex towards the top and the large drawer had a lot of flex because both drawers have quite a small mounting area (even though the tallest drawer was fixed all down one edge, the opposite side was only mountable at the bottom, around 4" worth. Anyhow, the fronts are on, the handles have been cut in, the MDF has been sealed ready for paint and the screwholes have been filled (awaiting sanding which will mean a small bit of MDF seal around those again). Quite pleased with the days work!









The last door to go is obviously the cupboard door. This will be tricky as the wall on the right with the door frame on is a little out. I would have fitted that yesterday too but it's going to need a bit of jiggery pokery and I didn't have time. I think it's also going to need a small frame on the rear a lá tallest drawer just to sturdy it up a little.

The newel post sticking down a little will make the door a little harder to do. But great job so far. The only down side is that SWMBO will want you to do more and more lol.

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Looking good. Are you going to have a cat flap for moggie access ?

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l l

With regards to the newel, that part is going to have it's own panel hinged from the bottom/or magnetised so clips in place. The door is going to be the angled part then across where the shelf is then down. This avoids any tricky door hinging then! That shelf is just for my winter work clothes so doesn't have to be accessed that often. It's not really been too hard to do, it's just time consuming with one or two head scratches thrown in for good measure! And I think total cost for everything to date (right down to screws etc) is about £470. Sounds a lot I know but I now don't intend on having to buy anything else to finish the job. I have paint, door hinges etc, so it's the home stretch after the door is completed. I'm quite lucky really, my OH isn't too demanding because I quite enjoy a bit of DIY so I'm always doing something! I don't give her a chance to get ideas

Mike: with regards to a cat flap, we did toy with the idea but we're not going to. What we're thinking of doing is recessing a box in the base of the door for her food and water to go in so we don't have to move her mat everytime we want to get in the cupboard. The litter tray we'll just bring out at night as we keep her in while we sleep (and we're quite lucky, she lays at the bottom of the bed and sleeps when we do!).

Hi guys.

You'll be pleased to know that it's time for (probably!) the final update!

So, last time I posted, I'd fitted the drawer fronts. This left lots of undercoating to do, lots of sanding, lots of painting. As it stands, I've got to re-paint the drawer fronts as two of the 4 have come out a slightly different colour because I needed a second tin of paint. But that aside, it is virtually finished.

So, I filled all the damaged parts of the side of the stairs ready to completely sand and flatten off before giving it all a coat of primer undercoat along with the doors:





With everything white, it gave us a good opportunity to try out a couple of 'feature' colours for the side of the stairs. We wanted something totally different as the hall/stairs/landing are very neutral, with the exception of the blind on the landing and the impending purchase of Eames style coat hooks for the wall. We tried a couple of colours, but then this happened....:



Bold? Yes. Brave? Yes. Divided opinions? Yes!! We took a punt: the idea after all was to be different, but subtly bold and eye catching (if there is such a thing!). But before the final colour could go on, I needed to make the cupboard door. I spent a good 4 hours building this, chopping in the hinges, building the frame up etc on Saturday. Everything went perfectly, up to the final cut, which was the handle. I made a complete cock up, and cut the hole for the handle the wrong size. Fail. I couldn't start the door again from scratch, so the solution was to cut an MDF ring the right size for the handle that would fit in the hole I cut out. An hour later, it was in and filled ready for sanding/paint on the Sunday:





So, Sunday involved a lot of sanding and glossing. We opted to finish the drawer fronts and electric cupboard inn Almond white Satinwood Gloss. This is the colour of the hall and stairs etc, but being a satinwood means if it does pick up the occasional scuff or dirty hand print it can be wiped off fairly easily. We were going to use the original 2" solid wood top that cam off the original electric cupboard, but whoever built it didn't build it square, whereas mine is. This in turn means the top now doesn't fit, so thats got to be sorted out:



Looks ok, and ties in nicely with the drawer fronts. So, here is the big reveal!





The cupboard door needs a tiny bit of adjust meant, and I feel it is going to need planing along the left edge just a touch, but thats it! I've got a panel cut to size for the storage shelf above the door, but I'm just waiting on some fittings before I can fit it properly. But other than a quick re-paint of the 4 drawer/doors, the top panel and the top for the electric cupboard, it's finished!

Really pleased with it, looks really smart and very bold with the orange strip of colour. I am also toying with some very low-output LED strips to run about 4" down from the top of the drawer fronts to give it a very subtle glow at night (sounds tacky I know, but actually looks really cool!). But thats a 'maybe' for the time being.

Amongst friends, the colour is a bit marmite. The other colour it was up against was a rich plum colour, but although it stood out, it didn't really suit the colours in the hall. The orange is very vibrant but does tie in with the wood colour, and really pops against the almond white.

Dead chuffed with how it's turned out-and I've been keeping tabs on materials. To the nearest pound, it's cost me £515. Sounds a lot for a DIY project, but it's really not for the amount of materials and time thats gone into it. All we need now is a new carpet for the stairs and landing, but I've decorated the hall, stairs, landing, fitted and bought the laminate and drawer project built for around £750. The carpet will set us back about £300, and I'll fit that myself too. I don't think thats too bad for a complete transformation of those areas.

But now, I'm not allowed to do anything else apparently-although I'm already lining up a few more projects I'll stick some shots up when the drawers are all tidied out and properly organised so you can see it in all it's organised finished glory!

you should be proud of that work Daniel. Looks good, when you coming to do mine.

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Gary.

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Great work there Dan, dunno about the orange though

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Looks good Daniel. Well done.

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Orange is the new black apparently.

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James
Mac4Mac Founder
(use mac4mac as PW)

12.9" iPad Pro, Magic Keyboard, Pencil 2
21.5" iMac Quad Core i5 8GB RAM (Plex Server) ~ iPhone 15 Pro
AirPods Pro ~ Apple TV 4 (64GB) ~ Linksys Velop Mesh Wi-Fi