Closet Island Progress (Plus, I Found Baskets!)

Let me again up a bit. A few days in the past, I shared my design for every of the drawer/door sections. That design seems to be like this, the place I trimmed out every part as a complete fairly than trimming out every drawer entrance and cupboard door individually…

So yesterday, I needed to end up with including the iron-on veneer edge banding on a number of the drawer fronts and the 2 doorways. Including the sting banding to the perimeters that had the 1/4-inch trim was fairly easy, however including the sting banding to the perimeters that didn’t have the 1/4-inch trim was a bit trickier. Right here’s what it appeared like after I ironed it on, and you may see that it required a bit extra cautious trimming than the easy straight cuts required on the perimeters that had the 1/4-inch trim. Notice that this drawer entrance is sitting on high of a scrap piece of 1/2-inch plywood that I used as my work floor.

After the sting banding was ironed on, I stood it up on the sting to trim off that extra piece protruding on the facet. I used a really sharp, new blade in my utility knife to do the entire trimming.

As soon as that was minimize off, I laid it again down and trimmed off the surplus from the entrance edge. Right here’s what it appeared like after it was trimmed. You possibly can see that the surplus is gone, however it’s nonetheless not very fairly.

I present you that to make a degree that sanding wooden veneer edge banding is a crucial step in making it look good. Don’t skip this step! Sanding the sting banding to make it mix in with the plywood is what provides it that completed, stable wooden look. I used 100-grit sandpaper for this, and sanded all of it by hand. This isn’t one thing you’d wish to use a sander for as a result of you possibly can simply take away an excessive amount of veneer, or sand an excessive amount of off of the nook with a sander. Sanding by hand provides you far more management. Right here’s what it appeared like as soon as it was sanded.

As soon as I acquired all of them sanded, I used to be prepared for primer. I used my new favourite primer — Zinsser Bin Shellac-Based mostly Primer. I ought to have taken the image earlier than I poured it and made a large number, however I forgot. 😀

I really like this primer, and it’s now the one one I’ll use after I’m portray uncooked, unfinished wooden. It’s the identical primer I used on the wooden ground within the studio earlier than I painted it, and that ground has held up amazingly nicely, even with a hyper 100-pound canine who likes to play in there — the identical canine who received’t let me contact his toes to chop his claws.

It’s additionally the identical primer I used on the porch ceiling that used to seem like this…

After which two years in the past, I primed it with the shellac-based primer and repainted it, and as of this morning, two years later, there’s nonetheless not a single knot bleeding by. (There may be, nevertheless, some trim that must be cleaned. 😀 )

Anyway, like I stated, it’s now the one primer I’ll use on uncooked, unfinished wooden that I wish to paint. The one drawback with the shellac-based primer is that I don’t like placing it into my paint sprayer as a result of it required chemical substances to scrub. So I apply it with a brush and/or a curler. For my closet island drawer fronts and doorways, I used these 4-inch rollers for easy surfaces.

I usually use the 6-inch rollers if I can, however since these drawer fronts are type of small, I went with the 4-inch rollers as an alternative.

I acquired all of them primed, after which all of them wanted to be sanded earlier than they are often painted. The primer dries in a short time (inside an hour), after which I sanded them by hand utilizing 220-grit sandpaper for a brilliant easy end. Right here’s one of many sections primed, sanded, and prepared for paint.

I wish to stress that primer doesn’t must look fairly to be efficient. I by no means do a couple of coat of primer. There’s completely no want for the primer to be stable white. So long as each space is roofed, and it feels easy as soon as it’s sanded with the 220-grit sandpaper, the primer will do its job and the paint (so long as you’re utilizing an excellent high quality paint) will cowl superbly.

In different information, I acquired baskets!! I didn’t discover these myself. Somebody discovered them and left a touch upon my final publish about needing to seek out baskets (or make one thing) for these cabinets. However as soon as I noticed these, I knew I needed to snatch them up instantly. They’re good!

The bummer is that I ordered ten, and I solely acquired 9. And I acquired these 9 in three completely different shipments over the course of two weeks.

I did get a tenth merchandise, however they despatched me this as an alternative. In a separate cargo. All by itself. Yeah, I don’t assume it will work. 🤣

So I must get that straightened out and get my tenth basket, however I feel these will work completely!

Earlier than I noticed these baskets, I had deliberate on constructing my very own packing containers, and I bought these label holders for them.

I’m nonetheless going to make use of them, however they get a bit bit misplaced on their very own as soon as they’re towards the hampers.

So I’m going to chop a bit piece of 1/4-inch wooden to make use of as a backplate for the label holders. I’ll paint them darkish blue to match the darkish blue trim on the hampers.