Building a Wardrobe.

When we moved into our flat in Wadestown, Shellie and I claimed a large bedroom, the only problem was it didn't have any storage space. For the first while it was quite a mess. We moved a couple of shelving units into a spare bedroom down the hall and hung all of our clothing in a wardrobe down the hall that wasn't being used, this was less than ideal but worked nonetheless.

In the months following I came up with ideas on how to optimize the space in our bedroom and to contain our stuff. One of these ideas was to build a wardrobe that would live in our room and not down the hall.

Over the next few weeks I constructed a wardrobe that would fit our needs. It would be over 1 meter wide and tall enough to house two bars full of clothes.

I had the help of my friend Adam, and Shellie also helped out.

1900mm X 600mm.

One solid wall piece.

After completing construction of the guitar stand Adam and I set to work on creating the wardrobe walls. Using sanded down pallet wood we measured and cut the timber, laying it out so it was 1900mm tall and 600mm wide. We used five other pieces of timber to screw to the laid out pieces, thus forming one solid wall piece. This was harder than we initially assumed it would be as our pallet timber was imperfect, bowed slightly in places, and not all the same thickness, this meant an inventive and rough technique was needed to force the timber together in places before screwing it all together so that it aligned neatly.

Over the next few weeks I finished off the second wall; I cut in half a steel beam to create two smaller beams of even length; and I made both a top and bottom base which the two walls would sit in and be attached, this I achieved by nailing four 4X2 pieces together much the same way as I had for the guitar stand.
Before lining it all up I used my jigsaw to cut out gaps where the two beams could slot in; this was an error of judgement as I hadn't made an allowance for the top base which had an overhang that covered the gap. This cost me time in cutting a new piece of timber and a new gap.

Lining it all up

Top base overhanging the gap for the beam.

Before nailing the walls to the bases and constructing the wardrobe as a complete piece of furniture I needed to make it pretty and safe. A lot of the screws I had used were longer than the wood was thick so they stuck out dangerously. Being the safety buff as I am I needed to find a way to remove them. I called Adam over and he provided me with an angle grinder which he taught me how to use. The two of us took turns removing any sharps from the two walls, using the correct protective gear. Safety glasses for our eyes and earmuffs for our ears. The grinder is a dangerous tool and we had to clear the area from anything that could catch on fire from the sparks, a perk of having a friend who is a volunteer fire fighter in has spare time.

Adam taught me how to use the Angle Grinder

We removed sharps from the two walls.

We cleared the works bench of things that could catch on fire.

That evening I brought the pieces of wardrobe into the bedroom, I couldn't construct it elsewhere in the house as it wouldn't fit through the hallways very easily. Shellie helped to hold the walls steady while I nailed the pieces together. when the box was completed with the two bars inserted into their gaps I assessed the wardrobe, it had quite a bit of movement, so I cut and sanded down two braces to cross the back of the wardrobe, these stabilize the whole wardrobe, stopping excessive movement.

Shellie helped me by holding the walls still.

The two back braces stabilized the wardrobe.

The finished wardrobe fit the corner of our room snugly. The next night I took delight in filling it with our clothes. Now we no longer have to walk the length of the house to pick out the next days clothes. 

Our new wardrobe filled with clothes.

Creating a wardrobe from nothing but pallets was an exciting opportunity to learn some new D.I.Y. techniques, to learn how to use tools I haven't explored before, and to add another piece how furniture to our room that tells a meaningful story that purchasing an ugly plastic rack never could. By reworking old materials into something new I am adding my work and my daily life to the wardrobe. I am creating a new history for materials that already have a prior history, to me that is fascinating.

I don't know exactly where this timber came from originally but I can decide where it will end up after I am finished using it during my time flatting. Likely it will be used again as a wardrobe by someone else, taking with it the history of its creation and my use of it.