2008-05-23

Building a Craft Area for the Wife

2008-05-23

I've been so busy making things for my garage work area that it was something of a necessity that I make something for one of my wife's craftwork areas.  My wife has a love of sewing, scrapbooking, and semi-precious jewelry making.  Unfortunately, her work area has become too cramped and cluttered to do much of anything.

Cluttered craft area

Her work area has been entirely makeshift for the past several months.  This is evidenced by the odd collection of folding tables, a haberdasher's cabinet, a plastic bin drawer, carboard boxes, and a misfit end table.

Cluttered craft area

As can be seen here, this situation really isn't very workable.  It's time the missus had a crafting area she can really work with.

Cluttered craft area

So I've drawn up some diagrams for a wraparound work area with a built-in cabinet.  This layout will give her nearly 30 square feet of workspace, 24 square feet of storage, and 16 square feet in which she can move about.

Craft area design

I'm also going to build a two-part wall-mounted shelf that should give her easy access to the supplies she uses.  Each unit will follow this design with the option of adding a lift door to the front later on.

Craft cabinet design

After the wife and I emptied out the craft area of all her stuff, I got to work and cut up a number of 2"x2" pine boards in accordance with the design I drew up.

Cut 2x2 boards

First I mounted the back support brace, making sure it was perfectly level.  This wood brace is secured to the in-wall studs using 2½" screws.

First back brace board affixed to wall

Then I attached the perpendicular brace on the left adjacent wall, again using 2½" screws to secure the brace to the in-wall studs.  The level is used again to assure that the second brace is also parallel to the floor.

Second brace affixed to left wall

Finally I secured the wood brace to the right wall and called it a day.  I'll pick up with this again in the morning and am hopeful I'll make a lot of headway then.

Third brace affixed to right wall

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