DIY: Spices shelf

Background

I'm sure that this is a problem that anyone who has a small house will understand. The cupboard that holds all of our fundamental ingredients such as herbs and spices is absolutely crammed full. The problem is a lack of space, but it isn't a lack of volume.

The jars that spices come in are about 10-12 cm tall but there is a great void of space that is unusable. This blog article is about how I came up with a solution to make that volume usable again.

So much lost volume above the spice jars

Solution time

Having a little mosey around my garage I found a piece of 15 mm MDF that I thought would be the perfect size for a shelf.

My initial idea was to screw three batons into the walls of the cupboard but Charlotte refused to allow me to cause 'damage'to the cupboard, so whatever I did would have to be free standing.

I marked up the board to give me the shelf top plus two sides to support it.

Material is marked up, ready to be cut with the jigsaw

To ensure that when I screwed the top to the two sides the address would go into the middle, I marked the width of the support off.

Marking the material thickness

I pre-drilled the holes so that I knew they would cause the screw's to be in the right place.

The holes were pre-drilled before screwing

Finally I assembled the pieces together and jobs done!

Assembled unit

Even though this is one of my simpler projects, I still had that twang of excitement to see how it would turn out. So pulling everything out of the cupboard to get the shelf in and then fill it back up was done eagerly!

The result

Moving those herb and spice jars onto the shelf has made that space that usable and as result has freed up a massive area for other storage (free at the moment).

Jobs' a good 'un!

Bank Holiday Weekend Project : Sorting out the cupboard (Part 3)

Background

So with the 2015 August bank holiday weekend, I decided to start doing some DIY by ripping out the existing shelving. The very first thing I did was to make some custom shelves to fit in an odd-shaped corner to be used for storing shoes (read about that here), the next part of my project was to then create a micro-cupboard just for the electric meters (read about that here). The final part of my project was to install some shelving at the top of the cupboard - and that is what I will be talking about in today's blog post.

Apologies that this blog doesn't have the usual number of pictures that I usually put up: I was very much time limited.

The Plan

Of course the first thing I did was to review the SketchUp model that I had made. It's been very useful for visualising an idea, but certainly in the case of manufacturing the electric meter cupboard, it doesn't capture complexity, thankfully in this case, I think this will be simple as I intend to support and install the shelves in the same way as I did for the shoe-shelves.

The Parts

Off to B&Q to buy:

• Four off - 15 x 15 x 900 mm pine batons (only required two in the end)
• One off - 1220 x 606 x 12 mm MDF

Despite the required dimension according to the model, i decided that by cutting the MDF in half length ways would mean that i have a true square cut for the front edge and maximise the material use.

Cutting down the large sheet of 12mm MDF to the required dimensions.

The next job was to prepare the supports. I decided to cut two 20 cm pieces and one 50 cm piece from each baton. Then, to make my life easier when assembling in the cupboard, I pre drilled a 3 mm hole every 5-6 cm in every baton. To try and make my work a bit neater, I then used a 15 mm drill bit to bore out the top few millimetres to enable me to counter sink each screw.

To install the batons I had a little dilemma. The only robust reference point in this cupboard was the 10-inch piece that I put around the back and right hand side that is used to support the coat hooks and coat rail.

I set the first batons (lower ones in the picture below) 4cm up from the wooden border, this would allow plenty of room for taking things on and off the coat rail. From there the next shelf up was set 30cm up.

Pinewood batons up as support

With the supports in place, I brought in the shelves that I had already made to do a dry fitting. I I had to do a reasonable amount of sanding down on the left edge (as looking in the picture above) because that wall wasn't square before the shelves would fit. 30 minutes of sanding later, I had two fitted shelves.

Shelves now installed

I didn't get to enjoy the shelves being fitted for long before it was all taken out for an initial painting - just plain white emulsion paint for this first coat.

A few hours in the sunshine which we were blessed with today and the paint was dry enough to let me install the shelves. Just as I was putting the shelves in I was struck by the thought that when I first installed the shelves it was a tight fit and that with the addition of paint they may not fit back into place. But I was relieved that the shelves actually went in easier.

Shelves installed, with baskets for storage

The final touch is some wicker baskets that we found in B&Q, actually part of a rack, compared to similar baskets that I had found, these were a significant improvement despite being £20 for the four because the baskets have a metal wire frame in them which greatly improves their durability.

Despite hoping to do all of this over the August 2015 bank holiday weekend, it took considerably more. Three weekends over a month-and-a-half and a plethora of trips to B&Q!

By the end of my project I had created a shoe rack with a unique design to fit inside an awkward place. Then i made a small cupboard to conceal and protect the electricity metres and fuse box. The final step was covered in this blog entry where i made some more shelving to finish the cupboard renovations off completely.

By the end of this project I had spent nearly £200 although a significant chunk is 'invested' in tools such as the jigsaw, PPE (Personal Protection Equipment), paint and clamps. Excluding those costs my costs were:

• 2 off sheets of 12mm thick MDF @ £11.24 ea
• 1 off sheet of 6mm thick MDF @ £8.17 ea
• 8 off 15 mm pine batons@ £1.74 ea
• 1 pair of magnetic catches @ £2.28 ea
• 2 off Butt Hinges @ £1.42 ea
• A set of wicker baskets @ £20.00 ea
• 1 off 4' rail @ £7.98 ea
• 1 pair of rail sockets @ £3.48 ea

Grand Total : £81.15

Bank Holiday Weekend Project : Sorting out the cupboard (Part 1)

As men we have several ... ... expectations on us. Drink Beer, overtly eye-up other women and like football. Well I fail admirably on (1) and (3) but I think I make up for it by doing some DIY Actually on August Bank Holiday weekend!

The project is quite simple actually, which is good since although I definitely enjoy DIY, I've not done that much of it actually, since I left home especially not at eighteen to go to college.

So the plan is to rip out the awfully done shelves and rail, including the sliding doors that are currently in the cupboard next to my front door. Then I want to install nice new shelving as you can see by the picture below. Finally, boxing off the electric meter to prevent the switches getting interfered with by incoming shoes is the load on the plan.

Cupboard design in SketchUp

Part Zero

There is of course the step before doing anything, getting what you need, so its off to B & Q (I get a 10% discount there - not that really stems how expensive they are in the first place) to stock up since I've not really done any of my own DIY. I do not have anything, even the basics, so it was a big shop: screws (ended up buying a box of 1200 in a variety of sizes), Wood Glue, sheets of MDF (12mm and 6mm 606 x 1220 sheets), a jigsaw (Bosch) with blades, batons of planed pine (12mm square, approx 1m long).

And the best bit .. the bill - approximately £ 100!

Part one

The shelves to the left are intended to hold shoes as a neat way to store and hide them effeciently with the space. Initially I had to work out the best way of cutting the material down on paper before taking actually to wood with the jigsaw.

I got six shelves out of the 12 mm sheet with enough material to make at least two more no problem if needed. Heading back inside to do a test fit I noticed did the doorframe wrapped around the inside of the cupboard wall too so had to take out a 15 mm deep notch to accomodate for that.

Notching for the doorframe

Next step was to decide at what height the shelves would go at this Took a little bit of thinking I got myself muddled up. Because with the simple division ... I've got a 1.2 m tall area for the shelving, and I want 6 shelves, but obviously there will not be a shelf at the top of the 1.2 m Region! To knock off a bit then do the division. Simpleton moment over the wall got marked up.

Shelf locations marked up - triple checked!

I then cut my batons of pine strips down into 12, 6 at 130mm and another 6 at 120mm. Pre-drilling with a 4 mm drill bit and then a screw initialised. The space I had where I would be attaching these batons to the wall is very confined, so I would not be able to apply large amounts of pressure because I would not be able to get myself into a position to achieve the leverage, that's why I pre-drilled the pine batons first to reduce the resistance did I would be facing.

Batons mounted 

With all 12 batons secured, the shelves went in.

Initial fitting

The next step was to tidy up the shelves: the square corner just Looked to offensive to the eye (let alone being practical) so I used a dinner plate to trace around it.

Rounding marked up and ready to cut

At this point I'm really starting to love my jigsaw and getting the hang of it so I managed to cut pretty well to plan.

Jigsaw-ed cut, now a last swipe with some sandpaper

I think the rounding off made a massive difference - I think that's far more aesthetically pleasing to the eye!

Final installation

All that remains is for my girlfriend to paint the shelves and then the task is done! Next I'll be tackling the electric box ...