Pottery Barn Locker Cabinet Knockoff

I love this pottery barn wood locker cabinet.

The online store has them in white, red and espresso color with different style doors.

I am trying to finish Aidan's bedroom and need a couple of those to store his books out of sight. I particularly like the red cabinet. It would add a nice touch of color to his gray walls and dark furniture.

After doing some research, I was able to sketch a design based on the plans I found on this website. This plan is for a double vintage wooden locker cabinet but I wanted two single cabinets so I made a few modifications.

I was so excited to get started that I forgot to document this furniture making process!
If you follow the instructions on the website and put your engineering mind and skills to the task, you will end up with a something like this....

My cabinets measurements:

The cabinets:
16 inches deep X 72.75 inches tall X 16.5 inches wide.
The doors:
14.75 wide X 69.75 tall
The Shelves:
15 inches X 15 inches

Tools Used:

- Circular saw (I find it easier to use than the table saw for trimming the door width)
- Miter saw  (for trimming small pieces)
- Router (for door grooves resembling paneling)
- Kreg Jig Pocket hole kit (for joining the top and bottom pieces to the side panels)
- Kreg Jig shelf hole kit
- Brad Nail Gun (for attaching the back panels and foot trim)

Supplies:
Instead of buying large plywood panels and cut them to size as the website suggests, I purchased:

- 6 wood furniture panels that measure 72x16 for all four sides and both doors. (photo here)

- 3 panels that measure 48x16 for the 2 tops, 2 bottom pieces and 5 shelves. I am missing a shelf in one of the cabinets though, So if you want 6 shelves (which makes more sense), then I suggest you purchase a longer panel. My local Lowes was out of them at the time and I was in a big hurry :-)
- 2 (1/4 inch thick x 2 x 2) wood pieces trimmed to 1.5 inches high X 16.5 wide to fit the front foot of the cabinet
- 4 (3/4 inch thick x 2 x 15) wood pieces to support the middle shelf for cabinet stability
- 1/4 inch thick paneling for the back
- 6 (3/4 inches) Hinges
- 2 Cabinet handles
- 4 Cabinet magnet latches for the tops and bottoms of each locker
- Paint or Stain
- Sand paper
- Kreg Jig Wood Screws
- Nails for Brad nail gun

I added the metal plaques. Those were a great find at $2 a piece from Pottery Barn.

Movable Window Seats

Are you looking for storage ideas?
Do you want to take this project with you when you move?
Is cheaper the better?
Quick and Easy to make?

I put together a simple movable window seat to store our coffee table books and entertaining media. I gained precious storage and seating without loosing much space.

Tools used:

Kreg Jig
Kreg shelf pin Jig
Miter saw
Band saw (a jig saw will work too)
Table saw for ripping bottom shelves (I used the band saw instead)
Cordless brad nailer
Orbital sander
Drill
Level
Clamps
Measuring tape

List of materials:

MDF 12"x96" (3 total) -$33
10 feet Chair rail molding -$7
10 feet Baseboard - $8
Kreg Jig's 1 and 1/4 inch soft wood screws -$6
Putty - already had
Sand paper - already had
Glossy and other Paint - already had
Pocket hole caps -$7
Shelf pins - already had
Thin Fiberboard backing $10

Directions:

We have 2 (35" wide) windows on either side of our fireplace.
To fit the windows and use minimal space, our seats need to be 35" wide x 12 "deep x 20.5" high
I chose to purchase MDF for this project for its sturdiness and price.

Measure twice and cut each board with the miter saw

Part 1. Cutting and drilling

1 board was cut into two 35 inch pieces (for 2 tops) and one 19.75 piece (for 1 side) - pic A and B
1 board was cut into three 19.75 inch and one 33.5 inch pieces (for 3 sides and one shelf) - pic B and D
1 board was cut into two 33.5 inch pieces (for 2 bottoms) - pic C

pic A

pic B

pic C

pic D

pic E

With a pencil, mark the outside of each side board piece (there are 4 of them) and using your kreg jig, drill pocket holes on the inside of the boards about 2 to 2 and a half inches apart. (E)

Drill pocket holes on the right and left side of both bottom pieces. (E)

pic F

I want the window seats to be flush against the wall. Cutting a small opening at the bottom of each side piece is necessary to accommodate the wall baseboard, shoe molding and electrical cords.  The bottom is the opposite side to where you drilled your pocket holes.
Measure and cut using a band saw or a jig saw. (F)
Doing so, will require you to rip your bottom pieces/shelf to fit the window seats width at the bottom. See pic C above.
I had to rip out 1.5 inches off both bottom shelves with my band saw with fence as a guide.

pic G

Use your Kreg shelf pin Jig to drill holes on the inside of each side piece so you can secure one or more shelves with pins. (G)

Part 2: Assembly and cosmetics

Assemble the sides to the top piece first using your Kreg Jig drill bit and screws and assemble the bottom pieces using a level. (Sorry no pictures here. I do not have a tripod and cannot assemble and take pictures at the same time. Bummer.)

To give each window seat more support, I screwed the pieces I ripped off the bottom shelves to the back and top of the window seat using the Kreg Jig kit.

Cut your chair railing and baseboard at a 45 degree angle to fit the top and bottom of your window seats and nail them using your brad nailer

Putty the nail holes and imperfections

Part 3: Sand, paint and add backing

Sand with 150 grade sandpaper using your orbital sander.

Prime and paint with the color of your choice. I used what I had on hand (exterior white paint) and let dry.
With a sand block, lightly sand over the dried paint and paint two more coats of paint. This time I used glossy paint to match my baseboard paint.
Nail a piece of fiberboard to the back of the window seat as pictures above.

Cover all showing pocket holes with the plastic caps and add the pins to hold the shelf/ves.

Accessorize and top with a custom made tufted cushion.

If you have any questions or need more information and help about this project, feel free to ask.

Master Bath Re-Do

Greetings!

Here is a project I have been working on. I am not quite finish with it but wanted to give you guys a sneak peek!

Builder grade bathroom mirrors are always so large and plain so I decided to build a small bookcase to give a more separate distinct look to our sinks.

I still need to frame each mirror with case molding as well as paint the walls and maybe even add some beadboard wainscoting... but you get the idea!

Materials:

Wood boards without knots. (I chose Aspen and I only needed 2 pieces. Each board measured 4'x7"x1")
Crown Molding
Baseboard Trim
Fiber Board Backing
Nail Gun
Trim Nails
Liquid Nail
Wood Putty
Kreg Jig Tool
Kreg Jig Screws
Kreg Jig Pocket-Hole Plugs
Jig Saw
Circular Saw
Sand Paper
Paint of Choice

Instructions:

1. Measure the height from the sink counter to the top of the mirror and the space between your two sinks.
I needed my bookshelf to be 45'' H x 15'' W x 7'' D to fit that space without being too cumbersome or too narrow/too long.

 

2. Cut one of the boards into 4 pieces measuring 12.75" each with the circular saw and set aside
cut the other board to measure 45 Inches
Follow the instructions on your Kreg Jig and drill 2 holes on the right and left side of each small board. 

3. Measure the height and depth of the back trim of your counter and with a jig saw cut out the piece at the bottom of both side boards so that your bookcase rests against the mirror without any gaps.

4. Sand all boards

5. Attach shelves to sides. I used a small piece of wood to keep my shelf board square and held it all together with a clamp. (Note: if you are working alone, Kreg Jig has a special clamp that will fit in the hole on one side and lays flat on the other side so it can stabilize the two pieces together while you screw in the wood screws)

Screw the top shelf with holes facing up so you don't see them underneath. All other shelves should have the holes facing down. Cover the holes with Kreg Jig pocket-hole Plugs

Special Note: I wanted the bottom shelf to be at the same level as the back trim so I had to rip the shelf and make it only 6.25" deep instead of 7". You can skip this step! (I like to complicate things a bit)

6. Attach Crown molding and baseboard trim. Sorry, I had camera problems and could not document this step. You can purchase a crown molding kit from Kreg Jig to help give more precise cuts if you are a beginner. Since I only had four 45 degree angle outside corners to cut, I had no problems using only the circular saw.
Glue the baseboard trim and nail gun it together. Putty the holes and gaps if you have any and let dry for a few hours.
Do the same for the crown molding.

7. Prime and paint your books case.