DIY Understairs storage and Wardrobes

kenny_david

Hi everyone, I'm planning to build some storage cabinets under my stairs and some bedroom wardrobes, but I'm not sure what type of wood to use and where to buy it. I'm looking for recommendations on what type of wood would be best for these projects, as well as suggestions for where to buy it. Should I buy the wood online or locally(Waterford City Area)? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

awec

For the under stair storage, most of the under stairs storage is actually just flat pack kits. Those companies that install it are not building bespoke stuff for each house, they are just installing the kits.

Some of them sell the kits for self install.

rob316

You would use 18mm mdf. Easiest thing is head to your local B&Q with all your measurements and they will cut the boards for pretty much free. €50 for 8x4 sheet of 18mm mdf which is about the same everywhere.

For the wardrobes at least, I wouldn't bother making them yourself. I've been there & done that and there's a few reasons:

1. There's feck all difference in price between Ikea flatpack and building your own from scratch (probably more expensive to to it DIY, it was for me anyway).
2. Far more time consuming to build your own.
3. The materials you will get will almost inevitably shrink or expand, which will distort the fine tolerances required for drawers in particular. (The exception in my case was OSB- the MDF & planed timbers both shrank/expanded).
4. Ikea flatpack will look better, and you'll be able to easily swap out doors/drawers/rails/whatever easily when you want to.

Also, MDF looks like sh1t no matter where you put it or what you do with it.

I'm not afraid of DIY: I've put down every floor & skirting board in the house. I've rewired & re-plumbed about 90% of it. I've decorated 100% of it. I'm happy with 90% of my house (I doubt I'll ever get to being happy with 100% of my house, although my wife lives in hope on that score!).

But it's important to know when you're beaten. I ripped out the wardrobes I built myself & replaced them with Ikea. And I'm very glad I did- the result is far better.

The reality is that Ikea is almost certainly going to be be able to produce a nicer looking wardrobe cheaper than you can. No offence, but if you're looking for advice on what sort of materials to buy for a wardrobe and how to buy them, then we can be reasonably confident you're not a master craftsman.

(I'm not sponsored by Ikea).

hesker

Top tip: If you’re going to DIY it spend the money on decent tools.

I bought a Makita track saw and can get professional cuts on any kind of wood, including the laminated wood that a lot of wardrobes are made from. B&Q will make a balls of cutting laminate.

I bought IKEA pax wardrobes and IKEA TV console units and cut them to fit so that they fill exactly the space available. This didn’t include custom width drawers however just the carcass and shelving units. It came out perfect.

I plan on making my own wardrobes from scratch later this year or next using something like cherry veneer laminate. But I’ll be pricing it vs customising the IKEA stuff.

With the track saw I’d be confident of doing a good job.

By the way I was a bit surprised to see what the console units were made from. Two strips of roughly 3” chipboard at each long edge with corrugated cardboard in the centre. The pax wardrobes I bought a few years earlier were much more solid.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120248603#Comment_120248603

Ikea use a range of different materials.

The smaller, laminated furniture tends to use that honeycomb cardboard inside. The Besta TV units etc are all cardboard inside. You can usually tell by the thickness of the pieces, if it's pretty thick it's likely the cardboard as otherwise it'd weigh a ton.

chooseusername

"Clever Closets" or "Smart Storage" are the same crowd, one is UK, other is IE I can't remember which.

All they need is the angle of your stairs and a photo of the area. The drawers and carcasses are standard, and the painted MDF fascias to suit your stair angle. Drawers are push close, push open, so no handles or knobs, can be a bit temperamental, otherwise they're fine. No affiliation here, I used them in UK and Ireland and satisfied with them. I had the company fit them, 3/4 hours

rob316

"MDF looks like ****"

Ok tell that to every joiner that uses it. MDF will look like **** if its not prepped and painted properly, done right its looks fantastic.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120253790#Comment_120253790

Miaow.