How To Build A Simple Cupboard

I am excited to have another project for my new family room crossed off my list! I am going to show you how I built it today :)

I am just sharing the basic cupboard today. You will have to wait for the room reveal to see it all styled, what goes inside, and how it looks with everything else.

The idea for this cupboard all started with a light switch …

This light switch was in an awkward spot as far as decorating goes because there really wasn’t anything I could put on the wall right there. I tried putting a wreath up once even though I am not a big wreath person (GASP! Did I just admit that?!?). It fell off a lot and I wasn’t in love with the look. So I decided to cover it up :)

These are actually old fence pickets we got for free when someone took down their old fence. I cut them to size using my miter saw. Here are the sizes and how many of each:

There is a piece of plywood measuring 18×16 that will be for the back. The 18 inch boards will be for the door. The 16, and 16 3/4 inch boards will build the basic box of the cupboard. I decided to do butt joints with this cupboard instead of mitering the edges. The reason I don’t have two 16 and then two 18 inch boards (since the cupboard will be 16×18 when done) is because two of the boards will be sitting inside of the other two to form the box. You need to measure the thickness of two boards together and minus that from the length, hence 16 3/4 instead of 18 inches.

Here is an example of a box that was mitered:

And here is an example of a butt joint which is the type of joint I did this time:

After I cut the boards I sanded the crap out of them. I wanted them as smooth possible. This will be a cupboard that will get opened and closed a lot so I didn’t want there to be any chance of getting a sliver.

Because I was going to be putting it over the light switch I needed to cut out a hole in the plywood back. (If you are not going to put yours over a light switch then you can obviously skip this step) I put a little toothpaste on the switch then held the board up to where I wanted it on the wall. I pushed it into the toothpaste to mark where the switch was. Then I traced the light switch plate. I wanted a little bit of wiggle room so I used the switch plate as a straight edge and made it a little bigger.

Then you need to drill a hole big enough for the jigsaw blade to fit through and then use the jigsaw to cut out the rectangle.

Here is the box all put together. The thinner 18 inch board will be nailed to the box because the hinges will attached to it later.

Now on to the door :)

To attach the 18 inch boards together I used a kreg jig and drilled at an angle. That way I was able to screw one board into the other. (Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic taken at night)

I didn’t like the look of it and even though it was on the inside of the cupboard I wanted to add some trim.

To hang it I just screwed it directly into the wall.

When I cut the wood the ends were not grey like the rest of the boards so I stained the ends ( and the back) using Minwax’s Weathered Oak.

(source)

I love the look of the butt joint for this cupboard because of the barn wood. It seems very primitive and rustic. If I had built it our of new wood I would have done a mitered joint.

I can’t wait to get building the biggest project of all for my family room. It is going to be EPIC!!!

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