First Floor Bathroom Cabinets! Holy Cow. Part Two.

Boy, have I got a load to cover.

Let's get down to it, shall we?  Pop a squat, let's go.

Oh!  Oh!  Cabinets!!  They're for real!

So all right, last we left off stain was a'-dryin'.  And the bathroom was in this state of near doneness.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I purchased some STAINABLE wood filler* in the hopes that it was actually stainable.  I say STAINABLE as such as that's what the packaging said.  Yelling at me that it was stainable in big bulging bold red letters.

But hey, guess what?  Liars!  Totally not stainable!  Again!  I have yet to find "stainable" wood filler that's actually stainable.  Tips, folks?  Lemme know.

Yeah.  Stainable.  My a**.

Ok though.  After the stain dried everything got the light sanding it needed to achieve the color I was looking for.  Or close to it anyway.

Ok ok ok.....truth be told, in the end, I can't say the color ended up exactly like I envisioned nor hoped but it was good enough and I didn't want to ruin the aggregate by screwing around more.  Shrug.

Then it was time for math.  Ahhhh math.  Havin' twitchy flashbacks about math, I was.

Printed out my drawing* again, this time with angles and dimensions so I could cut the lil' trim bits.  Which yeah, was tricky; would it all line up in the end?  Gasp.  And yeah too, some angles I free cut.  Yikes.

Angles and dimensions.  Ya know, helpful things.

Hey, remember?  I'm not a carpenter.  I am a roulette carpenter:  spin the wheel, take your chance.

Once all the bits were cut and laid out, I had to pick them all up again to stain the endgrain.

Cuttin'.  Piece by piece.

Good tip?  Number the pieces on the back and make a map to avoid confusion later.  Trust me.  Super good tip.

Map of all the bits and pieces.  Thumbs up.

While that stain was drying, it was time.  Time to see if Mike was right about the gold interiors.

Hey! It's a can of gold paint!  Yeowza!

And ya know what?  Lo and behold, the man was right.  And yes, he very much reveled in hearing me say it aloud too though I always give him credit when credit is due.

Only applying one coat to the unprimed birch plywood, it did this weird mottling thing that made it even cooler, as if it were gold leaf or something neater than a mere slapping on of gold paint.  Nice, right?  Mike is smart.

Gotta admit, this came out cooler than I anticipated for sure.  Go Mike, go Mike!

Once everything was dry for the final final time, it was *clap clap* assembly time.  Let's get these puppies done!  Done!  Roar!

Using my handy dandy compressor and nail gun along with a thin bead of Gorilla glue,* I tacked all the trim detail bits on from behind, from the inside of the door.  Did not want to see itty bitty nail hole divots on the front, noooo thank you.

I ran out of clamps quick too.  Heh.

Time elapse....After checking to make sure the lil' bits were immobile and cleaning up glue seepage, sealing these bad boys up was next.  And I think I've found my new go-to sealer with this Paste Wax.  It is so nice.

Wipe on, wait ten minutes, buff for a baby butt smooth hard eggshell finish.  It is sweet.  And a tin appears as though it will last darn near forever.

It might be hard to see here but the bottom left corner has wax applied, the darker area, the rest does not.  And hey!  Look at all those "stainable" filler dots!  Neat!  Ahem.

At this point, I did indeed require assistance as my arms were jello from wiping and buffing.  Well and ok, the biggest cabinet was freakin' heavy.

Mike aided in getting the box upstairs and into the bathroom which was kind of him although I didn't leave him much of a choice.  Once it was in the bathroom, it finally seemed less too-large.  Whew.

Whew.

Next?  Attaching the doors to the cabinet boxes.

Yeah, stressed out over it I was.  Yep.  Drilling holes, what if things don't align, omg, this is scary, pace pace pace.........       But, it had to be done so I ducked my head and fell into the task with the middle cabinet first.

I used this particular ruler* to measure for hinge placement as I could get the zero end exactly right up to the inside wall, unlike a tape measure end.

Aaaand no surprise here.  Even though the door aligned with the cabinet box sans hinges, once it was hinged and attached, no align-y.  Boo.  This bit me in the rear later too.

Yeeaaahhhh, that's not so great.  Though now in thinking back, I wonder if a center third hinge would have lessened that.

The top cabinet?  Easy peasy.  The big cabinet?  A little tricker given its size and me born only with two hands.

But!  But rather than going up and down stairs gathering items to take care of this task, I finally got to use one of those spiffy totes* the kind DeWalt people sent.  Sure beats my tip of a jar filled with screws.

After a wee bit of Tetris with the storage cubes, I got both screw guns in there, drill bits, the hinge hardware, and everything else I needed to attach the large door to the large cabinet.  It was so handy.  While the tote itself was heavier empty than I anticipated and would have preferred, it was not difficult for me to carry the whole shebang.

This thing is cool.  It's got those removable cubes but at the top there in the lid, those are fold out bins with a ton of small compartments for screws and such.  Cleverly thought out.

And man, it was user friendly all right.  These will be following me all the time now.  With all the storage in there?  Yeah, it was great.  And like I said, infinitely better than going up and down the stairs five hundred million times gathering tools and supplies.

I love DeWalt.  No, they did not pay me to say that.  They did send me the totes to test out though, fyi, and my opinions are my own.

Right, so the big door was a tad of a struggle, gee, shocker, heh.  Somehow magically I got the door on and it lined up near just right.  Wheeewwww.

Then oh my, folks, I was seriously coming down the home stretch here.  Getting butterflies in my tummy and stuff and junk.  Time to grab the middle cabinet.

This is when I discovered that I attached that door upside down.  Ahhhh, yesss.  That was exciting.  How did I know?  The trim, the one angle piece that "connects" all the cabinet doors was not lining up properly.  See my drawings above.

Soooo, more holes but alas, so it was and I got the door the right orientation.  I was really reaaally hoping the flip would correct the misalignment but sadly it did not.

And when I got the cabinet on top of the big one (and damn, it was weighty, whoooie) the door wouldn't close.  Boo.  Big boo.

Upside down door AND it's all jacked up.  Literally, heh.  

So.  Rats.

I grabbed a piece of pallet wood and whatever else little bits and shims and propped it up until the door closed properly.  Amazingly, because of its overbite, you don't see the shimming when the door is closed so it looks, heh, it looks exactly as I designed it.  Fist pump!

Heh.  Who says a wrong can't make a right?!  Amiright?  Heh.  Rolling eyes here.

For a hot minute I thought I was going to need an assist again as the middle cabinet needed to abut the right wall but no, I got creative.  Hey, I'm tellin' ya, I do not do well with 'no you cannot do that.'  Heh.

Try this at  home?  Iiiii dunno.

Checked for level and attached the middle cabinet to the big one and into the wall studs then backed away slowly, nervously dragging my impromptu contraption away with me.

Look!  Look!  It lines up!  I think I was most proud of this moment.

Stood and waited.  Yep, for real, I did.  Stood.  Waited.  Didn't breathe.

Caught my breath then went and collected the last cabinet, plopped it on top, lined it up, and screwed it into the middle cabinet.  Although, I did discover in my hasty anxiousness to finish, I forgot to add a second screw.  Doh!  No worries.

Back away slowly again.  Slowly.  Wait.  Wait.  Nothing creaking.  Nothing falling.  No splintering nor cracking nor splitting.  Drywall is still attached.

Huh.

This is me every day.  Peeking, peering, checking to make sure all is good.

So what was my materials list after all that?..........:

• 3/4" birch plywood
• 1 1/2"x1/2" poplar utility stock (the angled pieces)
• 1 1/4"x1/2" popular utility stock (the door framing edge pieces)
• Marine Gray stain*
• Ink Blot stain
• Kona stain*
• Ultra Cover Rustoleum, gold, oil based
• Paste Finishing Wax*
• 90 degree hinges with full overlay* (these here are exactly what I bought)
• magnetic catch* (for the big cabinet door, extra shutting security really)

By the way, here is an excellent guide on how to choose a hinge.  Save it.  Me?  I printed and laminated it because I'm a dork like that.

But in the end, hey, ho, the cabinets are done.  And wow.  They're done.

How do I type up "jaw on floor, done?"

Weirdly I didn't do a butt wiggle dance or have any kind of celebration whatsoever.  And I'm not sure why.  Maybe because I just cannot believe it?  Likely.  I'm still hoping that desire to do a little dance arrives.

Done.  Holy cow.

And despite the not-so-fabulous craftsmanship, they really don't look half bad.  In fact, I might dare to say, they look pretty good.  Just don't get too close.

Check out that gold!  Ohhh Mike!!

Huh.  Who woulda thought?!  Me building cabinets.  Crazy.

Totes crazy.

I did it though!  Overcame that fear and did it.

Look at that.  Cabinets.  Four years later.  Cabinets.  Ahhhhhh.....

Speaking of four years....today exactly is our four year moved in house-iversary.  Wow!

But yay, cabinets!!!

Hey wait!  There's more!!......................................

(See the whole entire bathroom completed here!!!)

*The "stainable" wood filler,  Gorilla glue, metal ruler, DeWalt Tough System tote suitcase, Marine Gray stain, Varathane Kona stain, Paste Finishing Wax, hinges, and magnetic catch are Amazon affiliate links.  The AutoCAD link is an AutoDesk affiliate link.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.
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