Hi, all. Long time.
Welcome again to Saturday Morning Home Repair blogging, where we talk about fixing houses and the things in them that are supposed to work for us. An ad hoc cadre of building professionals and gifted amateurs attempt to answer questions that arise from readers, and offer encouragement and advice for those inclined to do things for themselves, if they can. We all do a lot of things, collectively, and can probably help out with insights from our vast experience. Or sometimes, we just gab.
Well, we finally got around to a project that’s been on the list since 2002 when we moved into our now-101-year-old home. In the kitchen was a small, scabbed-in cupboard with 3 crooked, wood scrap shelves. I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture of the inside of the thing, cuz it was fairly ugly. Here is the wall where it resided. You can see where it was by the little round, black knob under the pans. We used it as well as we could, but it seriously lacked.
So. You know the routine. I started measuring and squinting and imagining. The Mister and I negotiated various variables. Then we re-negotiated them. For instance, from the very inception of this, 15 years ago, I would have a laundry chute to the basement. Adamant, I was. Resolute as hell. In the end, I willingly gave up the laundry chute after having carried that need/want/must-have in my head for a decade and a half.
For shelving, I landed on the Rev-a-Shelf brand with double shelves and the nice “pull back” glide. They’re perfect. Super sturdy. Each shelf holds up to 100 pounds. You can adjust the height of the top of each pair. They anchor 3 ways — bottom, back and sides, for great stability.
We settled on 3 double shelves fitting into just about 6.5 feet in height.
One challenge was that the cupboard had to fit between the now-decommissioned chimney to its left, and the air duct from the basement to the second floor on the right. In order to get the maximum width, MrCJB sawed off half of the 2x4 on the left where it was in the way, and sistered in another two by four by the now-sawed-down 2x2. And by “sistered in,” considering the chimney and the water pipes to the 2nd floor, I mean “crammed in like a madman.” There was JUST enough space to get that 2x4 in place. Lucky.
Another frequent challenge is the persistent fact that nothing in this old house is straight, true or square. Well, almost nothing. On Saturday morning, the first thing I heard from the kitchen was “WHAT THE HELL?!” “Oh, great,” thinks I. “What’s the matter, dear?” “THIS BASEBOARD IS ACTUALLY LEVEL!!” Hahahaha!!
Next, MrCJB sawed the wall down just to where we could get to a tight electrical wire. We then loosened that up with a new piece of wiring so that it could drop down under the new cupboard. More sawing, placement of a bottom deck to hold the new shelving, and then MrCJB was off to build the box in his tool sanctum.
We placed the box, painted everything, MrCJB added the cleats and shelves and anchored in the new Rev-a-Shelves. Fronted it with 1x2s. Piano hinge for the door.
And, fairly suddenly, more storage than you can imagine, all completely pull-outable.
Still to come is a really cool closing hinge that I got from a marine supply place.
Total project about $450 with throwing in things we already had on hand. No more than $500 without.
Yep, we’re happy.
Decided to pile the pics down here, cuz it’s easier.