Some Counsel Please

[Tom Hamilton]

Spend a couple of afternoons this week in the shop working on the ganddaughters storage lockers.

This is the project in the Lowe's flyer recently PICT0006.JPG.

I'm making three for the granddaughter's and their mother, our daughter, says, can you make them so they are side by side, but later, if I want to separate them they will look good as free standing units.

So, me thinks, I need some counsel.

Currently the lockers are in this form: PICT0004.JPG 15" wide, 15.5" deep and 60" tall. Idown sized the Lowe's plans to reduce cost and size.

They get face frames, a door 32 " long from the top down to the bottom of the middle fixed shelf. There are adjustable shelves in the space above and below the fixed middle shelf. The bottom shelf has a dowel 2" above, like in the sample pic, to contain balls and other rolling objects.

Here's a couple of questions I'm unsure about:

If viewed as one unit, should I join them with a common top. That is, one piece to over all three lockers?

Of join them with one piece of molding on the front and two ends.

If viewed individually, should I have three separate tops in the closet to put on when needed? Or more molding. Or something else.

Or, what other ideas would you all suggest.

The material is MDF, primed with KILZ, and will get an "Eggplant" color semi gloss finish to match her kitchen walls.

All comments are welcome.

Thanks for your consideration.

Tom Hamilton

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Either way would work, but if you want them to look like one piece now, I'd make a top that will span all three and attach a moulding to so it so the top will fit on the cases like a lid. You can screw them together at the bottom and middle to hold things tight.

[Tom Hamilton]

Thanks, Dennis.

I like the lid concept.

Eliminates fasterners, biscuits, etc in the top and makes it easy to use the lockers separately in the future.

Best regards, TJH

[Steve Stube]

My 2 cents. If you already modified to lower cost and size, why add it back with the extra material and effort. Face frame each and bolt together and it would look like the sample, right? Six 1/4" X 20 screws at each joint/side, 2 ea. at or near the top, middle and bottom. I'd also make provision to attach to the wall behind (don't know if backs are planned for or not) so if the little ones should hang on an open door they don't end up crushed by the units and contents should they tip over.

[Tom Hamilton]

Thanks, Steve. I'm going to use post and screw fasteners to join the units and french cleats to hold them to the wall.

Yes, the little girls WILL swing on the doors, no doubt.

Thanks for the ideas. Tom

[Tom Hamilton]

Project complete! Delivered and installed!

After some prodding they produced the appropriate smile

girl's lockers 002.jpg


and then ran off to play, so you can see the whole effect:

girl's lockers 004.jpg.

Thanks for looking, Merry Christmas, Tom

[Jim Becker]

Those really rock, Tom!! Nice job...and it appears that the new "owners" appreciate them, too...

[Steve Stube]

Very nice Tom. You let the girls pick the color didn't you:-))

[Brian Jarnell]

I would have used Blum overlay hinges,save using face frame.

[Tom Hamilton]

Yes, Steve the girls did pick the colors. The base color, "eggplant" is an accent wall color in the adjacent kitchen. The girls picked the trim colors, lime green, pink and turquoise, for the bulletin board frames and the picture frame sitting on top! What was your first clue?

Brian, I actually did us Blum hinges, my first time with them, man are they easy. I chose the face frame design for the experience and a preference for the look.

Thanks for looking. Merry Christmas, Tom