PAX traditional fitted wardrobe hack

our project room had been waiting for months due to work commitments, and the looks from Ms. W were worse, so when the work finally calmed down I told myself I had to get some good points. This led to "the wardrobe of the project."

The freestanding wardrobe full of depth we had before made the room feel small, so to maximize floor space and storage space at the same time, I convinced Mrs W a shallow cabinet would be better equipped to meet our needs. We both love the traditional look of hand painted measure but to order a section of 3.6meter cabinets handmade would have cost a fortune so I decided to tackle this project myself, with the help of Ikea and PAX.

I spent some time researching what was on the expensive cabinets that made us like them, and realized they had some key features: framed

1. raised base with a molded skirting
2. wardrobe sections. " 'By borders in solid wood.
3. a ledge looking solid or upper molding.
4. sections with different depths, rather than a completely straight race.
5. combination of shelves and cupboards.
6. paneled doors, some with mirrors.
7. Good use of LED lighting.
8. hand-painted eggshell / satin finish.

I use this list to work out how I could build custom pieces around PAX frames to get the look we wanted. After many sketches, I began to understand what might work.

The first step was to build a platform to raise more wardrobe on the ground and realize that the traditional quality Viewing. I used CLS wood for this purpose, laid flat, cut with a miter saw and simply screwed together. It was important to the platform was perfect since all other parts will be referred to it. I spent a lot of time ensuring that the sections were the right distance from the rear wall and ensuring that all angles were perfectly square:

small 3mm plywood square is handy leveling, and a number were necessary because the grip rods under the carpet at the back makes top. I used metal supports to screw the platform floor chipboard, through the carpet. The idea was that if we decided we did not like in time of five years, all could be removed without much impact on the room. Cutting chipboard to size to cover the top was more difficult than I thought because of the different depths of the sections, but once it was done, it was screwed on top. It is important at this stage to ensure that the edges of the chipboard are perfectly in line with the edges of the CLS or the skirting later would not square:

now, the platform was perfectly level and perfectly sized, it was time for the next stage of the project: PAX frames. The carcass is formed by a 210 x 100 x 35 and 210 x 50 x 35 five white frames stained oak. Looking back, two strong executives should have been plain white finish as they should be painted white later and primary Zinsser better glue grain melamine dish that effect. I bought all internal accessories simultaneously. Again, with hindsight, I would have chosen simple white shelves for the extreme right and extreme left frames to make them easier to paint later.

When building standard frames PAX I had to make two changes. The first is subtle enough and took me a while to understand when I conceived the very beginning. But if done correctly, it will avoid a long, narrow gap existing at the bottom of all the cabinets when it is completed. The sketch below shows a side view of the construction of the normal PAX wardrobe:

As you can see, the board is indented on the sides of frame, which is usually logical, but this hack we need to lie flush with the edges of the sides. If not flush, then the marked departure "problem" will result in a gap behind the filler pieces, we'll add later. It would not look good. The sketch below shows how the kickboard position is moved so that it is aligned with the edge of the sides:

The pink parts are drawn parts additional to add later - the CLS platform, a plinth and a filler piece. You can see that by moving the flush kickboard, the load can run through fonts executives wardrobe, no space to the board, and if positioned correctly, the plinth will fill perfectly onboard the platform and filling. This means no gaps, and not mess with different thickness filler pieces, which would have led me crazy.

The first amendment was therefore PAX frames to re-drill the holes for the pegs Kickboard down to the flush with the edges of the sides PAX we just talk. Just make a difference (in one axis) on the existing holes would not work as the offset was small and the holes to join. Fortunately, turning kickboards ankles end up far enough from their former positions, thus avoiding this problem. I made an acrylic model consists of a rectangular shape and a shaped piece L-screwed together to obtain perfect holes every time.

This procedure was repeated throughout the PAX frames. In hindsight, I would have done the double sided model so it can work both sides of each frame PAX without having to undo and return to the shaped piece L.

With PAX frames built all now looked like this:

Fortunately, the width of the room perfectly matches the correct number of PAX images and the necessary gaps. However, this does not mean that the extreme right and left frames were tight to the wall and therefore were slightly seated on existing baseboards. This led to the second personalization just for the extreme left and right frames, which was at the bottom 5-10mm map of the offending side and add a staggered piece of particle board, screw on the side. This extra room is located away from the baseboard and firmly on the platform:

I joined the pairs of adjacent frames PAX provided with the usual join screws and stepped back to look at all the woodwork was to follow.

Two lengths of 8 x 2-inch planed were created by screwing and gluing 6 x 2 x 2 inches to 2 inches long. These are essential elements of the overall structure, and are screwed through the sides of the pair of middle wardrobe and also the outdoor wardrobe pairs. The front of this piece should be aligned with the doors of the PAX unit when closed. I used a piece of wood as a spacer to ensure that this shift was correct. You will see later how these pieces get the look of a solid carcass wardrobe rather than a modern door to watch the door.

Two executives were then created from 3 x 1 inch planed for the far right and far left PAX units. These would be the part of shelves and cabinets party and even to the traditional wardrobe look, a great boarder is needed here. Get straight pieces to fit perfectly to the uneven wall was a challenge. I found the best way to do this was to place the wooden length against the uneven wall and then slide a flat pen against the wall, with its point on the tree, down the front. The pen creates a line on the wood which is completely offset with respect to the wall of the half of the diameter of the ball. A plane or a saw can be used to cut the line, and the part is then perfectly fit the wall. It is preferable for this flight line at an angle, making the final adjustments easier. The frames were completed by adding small cross on top and bottom. Once cut and marked, chassis parts were attached to each other with dowels with a dowel jig. They are not yet bonded as other parts needed to be added later. The frames were attached to PAX wardrobes with small squares of plastic.

Remember the filling pieces I mentioned at the beginning? Well now it is cut and added to the funds from the rest of the PAX wardrobe frames. They have been screwed on the sides of the units PAX well as scooters. Without changing kickboard mentioned earlier, there would have been a nasty gap here between the filler pieces and kickboards, but the fix worked and everything looked very tidy air. With these charges in place, their front was not only level with the doors closed PAX units but also the edges of the platform, as expected. Here is how it all seemed so far:

Then came the plinth that was cut from 6 x 1 planed inch mitered corners and made to fit in existing wall base with a contour gauge. The plinth is screwed to the uprights 8 x 1 inch and the filling pieces, and also stops cabinets slide back on the platform.

Then, 2 x 2 inches planed timber was used on top of cabinets, again to achieve this aspect of the solid casing. I screwed up the pieces and miter the ends of the uprights 8 x 2 inches and up and across the tops of PAX units. room dividers were added to the joints -dowel left and right frame were used here and these frames were then disassembled and reassembled with glue. Two small frames were constructed using ankle joints and glue to form small doors for low cabinets. They were articulated with solid brass hinges to the left and right frames and magnetic catch was a nice finishing touch. I used standard Bergsbo doors for this project, which are then painted. Everything now looked like this:

Small cabinet doors were sent to the back to accept 6mm ply panels that are glued and pinned up . The top molding, or cornice, was miter and screwed with small blocks for the best pieces of 2 x 2 inches that were mounted earlier. I then used again the router to create a simple molding on the top edge of the baseboard. Stepping back he started to feel like it was all coming together. All custom parts may still be removed easily at this stage. Here's how it looked:

I then removed all the parts and put them on the ground to start painting. Two coats of water-based primer were used on all bare wood with a light sand using 240 grit sandpaper between coats. Here they are after their first primer coat - which is a handy photo as you can probably do that all the parts are:

After much research and testing with different primers who claimed to be suitable for melamine, Zinsser BIN was chosen for the position. This stuff is really hard, adhering well to the glossy surface. However, it dries quickly, giving you about 5 seconds before the paint will start to slip, if you use a brush. The use of a small roll gives a little more time. The inside of the far right and left of PAX wardrobes have been lightly sanded, wiped with mineral spirits and then primed with two coats of Zinsser BIN primary. I saw stars with the fumes after doing this, despite all the windows being open. Furthermore, the facade and the edges of the doors are primed in the same way, like IKEA shelves that would be used in the extreme left and right units. As mentioned earlier, the primer better stick to the flat white melamine that melamine grain effect and with hindsight, I would have used units and white PAX shelves to the left and right units. Then all the parts and wooden doors, units and PAX left and right shelves for these units were covered with two layers of Craig and Rose Roman White eggshell paint. This may seem a little crazy to paint the white doors IKEA, but the look hand-painted adds to the body of the illusion that it is a traditional custom wardrobe very expensive, not to mention the need shade of white to match everything else.

Then, for the final touch. I added LED lighting strip inside the right and left units to light shelves, stick the tape to the back of the frames I had made. I am a local store to cut the mirror glass to enter each square recesses in the middle of three doors. Five pieces of industrial grade dual sticky foam front are used to bond each mirror to the recess, so they should not fall. The mirrors were a great addition and really complete the look.

The screw holes in the baseboard were filled and painted like the small gaps in the joints tab ledge. The picture below shows the project finished wardrobe, less buttons, which were added later.

After a lot of searching around we finally ordered and mounted some stunning solid brass, antique finish buttons at the doors of the cabinet and cupboard

I hope the description is sufficiently detailed to others use a similar approach. You can really get the look of a traditional wardrobe built on costly measure at a much lower cost, if you have a little dedication and some good tools. Another advantage is that you can use the wide range of internal fittings PAX to get the perfect arrangement inside. Furthermore, the approach is very modular, so if a part is damaged, it would be fairly easy to remove a section and replace it.

Happy hacking, and feel free to ask questions!

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The author

reubenwilcock