Sunday, May 20, 2012

DIY Jewelry Cabinet Part 4

This is the last part of my DIY Jewelry cabinet posts.  If you haven't yet, read the first 3 to see how I got this far and what is what, as it is explained in those posts, and I would rather not repeat!  Now, here is my step by step (or pretty close) on how I constructed this beast!

1)  I started by sanding down the rough ends of the wood I purchased as well as the long pieces that I will use for the cross pieces.  I drilled holes in the cross pieces (this is where the cabinet/drawer pulls will go).
2)  Because the pieces were cut to my measurements, I didn't have to do much measuring here.  I used the "L" brackets to hold all 4 pieces together to build a sort of frame.  I used 2 per corner on the inside of the frame.



3)  After the frame was built, I attached the door to make sure it fit properly, apparently the wood was ever so slightly bowed in a couple spots, so I just moved the "L" brackets a bit and screwed them back down.
 After I had the door on and fitting to the frame, I took the door off.
4) Measuring where I wanted the inside cross pieces to go, I marked them on my frame and screwed in screws from the outside to the inside.  The screws went through the ends of the cross pieces to hold them in place.


5)  I painted 4 drawers from an existing jewelry box to use and used them as a visual template as to how I would implement them into my current project.  The result was a kind of cobbled together piece that is better viewed than explained.  Basically, I used a piece of wood which I cut to the length of the inside of my cabinet and the drawers were to go under it.  For spacers between the drawers, I caulked pieces of left over wood that I used as cross pieces.  Confused yet?  Look at the photo!  I then drilled deep enough holes to fit plastic shelf brackets into the frame for the shelf to sit on.
6) At a few points between other parts of the project, I cleaned and painted all of my cabinet/drawer knobs and the door hardware.

 7)  The cabinet is more or less ready to put together now!  Now comes the staining, painting and clear coating.
8)  With cut open trash bags laying on my kitchen floor as a makeshift tarp of sorts, I applied 2 coats of stain to the cabinet frame, cross pieces and shelf.  After the stain had a night to dry, I clear coated it for protection and shine.
9)  The cabinet door received 3-4 coats of the white latex paint over the course of a couple days.
10)  After all was dry, I caulked the earring and ring holders to the back side of the cabinet door. I painted an extra piece of the cross piece wood teal and added and bunch of cup hooks to it and  caulked that to the inside of the door as well.   I also painted a little mirror I had to match the color scheme and added that to the inside of the door.  I let the door set flat for a couple days to let the calk cure so it wouldn't slide around.
11)  Once the door pieces had time to dry/cure, I put the hardware back on the cabinet along with a hasp to lock it if I want and added the Eiffel Tower decal... still unsure about that, but it looked too plain. I may get a thin mirror to replace it, we shall see.  I then added the door to the cabinet.

12)  I screwed in all of the drawer/cabinet knobs as well as many cup hooks.  I also added a spinning hook thing which was re purposed from the same jewelry cabinet I took the drawers from.

13)  I screwed the door back on to the cabinet, testing the fit and making a couple adjustments.
14)  I screwed in two "L" brackets with the top edge and one hole sticking out from the top of the cabinet to be used as the hangers for the cabinet.
15)  I had to wait for the back piece and it was still in my mom's garage, so it was a couple day wait time and I wanted to get it done!  But, once I got it cut and painted (3 coats of white paint)  I was able to nail it to the back side of the cabinet.




DONE!  Finally!!  It was a pain in the butt to get it onto the wall because for some reason one side the hook kept tearing the wall, so I had to move it to another wall, not where I wanted it, but it works. I got it all filled and wouldn't you know, it's FULL!  Now to go back through and do a little spring cleaning of my jewelry to make more room.