Stair Project... Done!

I promised myself that my next project update would be the final one...didn't realize it would take another four weeks, but as you will see, there was quite a bit of work to finish up. Also, we took off a week to take care of the lawn and flower beds.

Before assembling the two smaller drawers, I had to fix the miscut sides. They were cut 1/8" too short on one side, and I decided to fix it instead of wasting four pieces of plywood. Using a circular saw, I cut slivers of wood 1/8" thick tapering down to nothing over about 2'.

I used a router to shave off the excess after the glue dried. No one will ever notice...
With that hurdle overcome, the boxes can be assembled. The bottoms were glued, nailed and screwed down. When in doubt, make it stout!
Since the tops plywood edges are exposed, we decided to veneer them.
The drawer fronts were cut from 1x12 poplar, and I used a Roman Ogee router bit to finish the edges.
Here's the platform for the pullout pantry with the glides attached.
With the platform installed, all we have to do is put the pantry on top and screw it down.

But first we have to build the pantry. During the design process, we were debating what shelf height was required. We decided on five slightly smaller shelves instead of four taller ones, but first needed to test our design.

Can of soup = pass...

Cheez-Its = fail. They'll have to find a home somewhere else.
I decided that the front and back panels of the pantry needed to be more substantial, so I glued two pieces of 1/2" pieces of plywood together.
After each shelf was assembled, the exposed plywood on the edges were veneered.
Now it's assembly time. The first two shelves are in place.
The next three are screwed in, then the back panel is attached. All exposed pocket holes are patched and the pantry is primed and painted.
Before installing the pantry, we decided to pull the floors up. Seemed like a good time to do this since the pantry itself is pretty heavy and may scuff the floor during installation. The plan is to re-do this area so that the floors extend into the small 4"x36" area to the right, inside the pantry door jamb. Seems like a lot of work for a small detail, but the floors install rather easily.
Here I lift the pantry onto the sliding platform. It's not light!
It works!
And it fits! It's a miracle!
At first, I thought I would have one glide oriented sideways at the top of the pantry to provide lateral stability. This is what I've seen on other pullout pantries. But the glides we bought didn't seem to be designed to work sideways, so we decided to put them on the sides. I had to add some support for the right glide.
Here's the top glides installed.

It took a weekend just to do the trim work. Here all the trim is in, and the walls are taped in preparation for painting. Also, the floors were re-installed so they now entend into the pantry.

Between coats of paint, I work on the custom pantry doors. They are a shaker style to match the doors in our house. The door frames are made from 1x3 poplar, and the center panels are 1/2" birch plywood. Now it's time for patching, sanding, priming and painting.
These magnets mounted to the door and jamb are designed to help keep the door closed.
Doors are installed!
The glides on the side of the pantry barely miss scraping the door. Just like I planned it :O)
The pantry was designed so that you only need the right door open to access it.
Here's a closeup of the some of the trimwork.
Now we can install the glides and drawer boxes. All of them fit! A small miracle considering the glides have a 1/16" tolerance to work with.

Cendy gives a hand to help attach the drawer fronts. The strip on the left was attached temporarily to help us keep the drawers in line.

Here are the finished drawers.

And we're done!

Here's the "before" picture...

the concept rendering...

and the finished product.

Stair Project Weeks 4 & 5

It'll fit...it has to fit...

It fits!
Now that the drawer box is screwed down, I work on the face frame. First is the tricky stair-stepped piece which is cut from a 1x12. On the floor is the cardboard template I cut as a test run.
Some 1x2's finish out the face frame. They're tacked in so I can cut them precisely to fit. Now I take them all out to screw them all securely together.
Here's the completed face frame, ready to be re-nailed to the drawer box.
The next phase is the drawer box design and assembly. Here's the two larger drawers. The beer box is in there for scale - looks like we can fit two cases in there...
I would've had all four boxes done today, but I spent some time fixing some miscuts. Remember kids - measure twice, cut once.

Here's the current status. The wood facing has been installed around the pantry doors, and all the nail holes have been filled with putty.

Stair Project Weeks 2 & 3

The new goal to finish the stair project is April 22nd. Hold me to it!

Here's the latest progress.

The last three spindles were trimmed and installed. All except this last one were screwed in through the bottom. I decided to use my Kreg pocket hole jig to screw this one in through the side. Using their self-tapping screws, no pilot holes are needed. I didn't have enough clearance for the drill, so I found that you can even use a regular screwdriver to drive the screws.

The last spindles are in, and now it's time to work on the custom cabinetry.
First a base is created out of 2x4's.
Using the Kreg jig, I screw these 2x4's into the floorbeams for extra strength since they'll be supporting the pull out pantry.
Plywood finishes off the base for the pantry.
I'm getting a lot of use out of the Kreg jig, but the first shelf I built with it was definitely a learning process. I'm not going to wing-it as much with the next cabinet. I give myself a B- on this shelf - not bad for a first try. Wood putty and white paint will cover up all the oopses.
Wood veneer is used to cover the exposed face of the plywood. All you need to install the veneer is an iron, some foil to protect the iron, and rolling pin. The heat from the iron melts the glue and the rolling pin is used to ensure a good bond to the wood.
The veneer is real wood, and will give a nice finish to the edge after it's painted. Without it, the layers of plywood would probably show through the paint.
The next cabinet will go under the stair stringers and will house four drawers. Here's the setup for drilling the pocket holes.
I drew the drawer cabinet in CAD, and the process went much smoother this time. Here are all of the pieces cut with their pocket holes drilled.
The trick is the clamp the heck out of the pieces that you are screwing to prevent movement. The joints are glued for extra strength.
The drawer cabinet is finished. There will be two large drawers and two smaller drawers. Next I need to create the face frame for this cabinet, and also the drawers themselves.
Here's the current status with the shelf installed.