Craft Room Project: Doors & Hinges

I don’t have a photo to go with this post because, even though I’ve gotten a lot done in the last couple of days, it isn’t really visible progress.

I finally started working on building the doors for the upper cabinets that are in place. Of the 6 I need installed before I can work on the counters, I have 5 assembled. I have one more to glue and clamp and they will be ready for touch ups and paint.

After I worked on the first two, I did a check and realized that there is no way that the hinges I bought are going to work with the way I designed these cabinets. At least, not in a way that doesn’t leave a gap. So after much debating and research, I caved and went with a hidden hinge. I will lose that little pop of color on the white cabinets, but the overall lines will be cleaner and a little easier to finesse.  This is one of those times where form should not come before function.

I did a little practice test of my drawers to figure out exactly how I want to build those. The test came out great, but I went with a much more entailed process that makes them more labor intensive. The upside to that is they will be stronger and more durable.

The test also gave me the idea to make some lidded boxes, similar to the drawers I built for my recessed shelf area, to use on some of those open lower shelves. I’ve been a little unhappy with the fact that all those were open and dust is one of my biggest complaints, so those boxes will solve that and give an little extra something visually to the space. I won’t be building them anytime soon, but I love the concept.

Once I knew for sure the design, I got all the pieces cut and ready for the main container part for the actual drawers. I’m waiting to start building those until I get an insert for the file drawer and to figure out how I want to divide up the other two. Just getting all those pieces cut and grooved for the bottom panels took about half of my day today.

I’m estimating having the doors built, painted, and installed by mid-week. Hopefully, if no other random things pop up to pull me away, I should be starting the counters by the end of next week.

The one thing that will delay that is if we get any cool days at all in that time as I still need to get out and finish painting the new garage door. I have the main sections done, I just need to paint the trim, but it has been brutally hot and not even morning shade has been comfortable enough to work.

It has been awesome working in the basement, though, because it is down right cold. I keep joking and telling everyone in the house that if they get too warm, they can come down and keep me company, but I might put them to work. Funny how no one has come down for more than a few minutes.