Hollywood Style Linen Cupboard

We were in need of storage!  Luckily we had these ugly sliding doors that led out to a balcony which had become obsolete.  The perfect space for a linen cupboard.  I realised that if I put one in it would cut out all that lovely outside sunlight so lights had to be included.  This is what I have come up with.

I love reusing stuff that's been thrown out.  Yes it's more work but at least there's less landfill!

Materials:
Old packing crates (I managed to find 3 large ones being thrown out).
Old Skirting Boards (Kick Boards)
Screws, Nails and Wood Glue
2 Pine (2x4's)
Wooden battens (for strengthening the structure).
3 Doors (again I found 3 doors being thrown out from the 1940's).
2 Door handles (I bought 8 old 1940's handles for $3 from Reverse Garbage).
2 Door locks (these I used just for the springs).
Danish Oil
Wood Stain (Cedar)
6 Hinges (Easy Hang they don't need rebating!).
LEDs (I bought a 5 metre length with a control unit from Jaycar for $149).
Wallpaper (I used some old 1970s gold striped wallpaper which we picked up for $20, it was all mouldy and ragged edges!).
Gold spray paint
Sizing (this is like a latex glue which is perfect for hanging wallpaper).
Primer
Yellow Perspex (for the floor of the cupboard from Reverse Garbage)

Tools:
Router (I am in love with this machine, it does almost everything so easily!).
Circular Saw (or saw bench)
Sander (I used a belt sander)
Hammer
Screwdrivers
Pliers
Dremel (or some such)

The first thing to do was remove the sliding doors - that was really quite difficult but unfortunately no pics.  The floor slopes so I had to make a footing that was level for the floor of the cupboard to sit on.The frame was built from old skirting (kick board) boards that were being thrown out.  Our house was built in the 1940's and a granny flat was added at the back, so this is a covered walkway between the two.

Then I measured the height, length and depth of my space.  It was approximately 2.1 x 2.1 x .5 metres.  I cut my outside frame to these measurements and screwed them into the wood frame left by the sliding doors.

I cut the plywood packing case to fill in the back of the cupboard and then braced the panels with battons glued and screwed!

I divided the cupboard into three areas to match the door sizes.  I used pine for the posts.  The shelves are packing crate plywood.  Here you will see the wood has been primed and the battons painted gold - WOW!

Next was to cut the doors to size, hang and see they fit comfortably  On one door I created a lip to hold the other door closed. Strip the doors of their varnish with a belt sander and then stain.    New stain went on and was then varnished with Danish oil.  I find it better to stain first you get a better result than using a stain and varnish mix.

Lisa managed to pick up some seventies wallpaper for a song ($20 really, though she can sing).  The wallpaper was mouldy and ragged at the edges and needed cleaning up.  After hanging the paper it smelled of mould for about three weeks afterwards.  The outer frame was painted black.

The beauty of stain on plywood wood is it really brings out the wood grain!  The spacing of the shelves was worked out to accomodate our needs.

Finally the 'new' doors were hung and lights were taped to the inside front edge around the perimeter.  The yellow perspex was cut to size and put on the floor of the linen cupboard.  The door handles look fantastic!

This is better viewing than TV!!!!!  Sad to say.  Watching it go through all the colour changes gradually is mesmerizing!  These are a few of the colours.