Family Version of TINY House Living

I bet you have seen the photos and guides how to make your own Tiny house out of a small trailer. Tiny houses are great for cost of living and keeping things simple. Many tiny houses are between 200 to 400 square feet. Also most tiny houses are for one person or a couple living together.

My family lives in a nice older home (1920ish) that consists currently of two bedrooms on approximately 950 square feet floor space on the main floor and a full basement. If the standard for tiny living is 300 square feet per person and I have a family of 6 then we should be tight at 1800 square feet.

We have successfully and mostly comfortably stuffed 6 human beings into this area half the size of tiny. I am going by real estate sizing which doesn't include basement footage. The basement is a little smaller than the main floor but even if it's included that only brings me to around 1700 ft.

This has been accomplished by a variety of storage and organizational efforts. My main line of offense for creating storage space is to utilize vertical areas of the walls that are otherwise blank. To put it in a word, shelves. I build lots of shelves for all manner of storage from closets to kitchen to designing new bedrooms in the basement for the older kids.

Step 1: Contents

This Ible is quite long. There are many pictures in some steps and it may not show them all without you prompting it to do so. Some photos will also have notes/captions to try and further explain things. The ** indicate a new or important overall concept.

Intro

Step 1 Contents

Step 2 Materials

Step 3 Tools

Step 4 1x4 Shelf Bracket **Important**

Step 5 Large Living Room Display Shelf

Step 6 Photo Rail and Small Shelves

Step 7 Coat and Key Racks

Step 8 Wii U Remote and Charge Shelf

Step 9 Kitchen Organization

Step 10 Pot & Pan Hanger **

Step 11 Bedroom Clothing Storage **

Step 12 Bedroom Shelf Expansion

Step 13 Jewelry Shelf

Step 14 Hall Closet Organizer

Step 15 Car Seat Hanger

Step 16 Stroller Hangers

Step 17 2x4 Bulk Storage Shelf**

Step 18 Basement Bedroom Design

Step 19 Storage Bed

Step 20 Storage Bed 2

Step 21 Water Main Closet

Step 22 Water Main Closet 2

Step 2: Shelf Materials

I love to do wood working. All the shelves I make are designed to be relatively cheap and look good for their purpose.

Basement shelves for large storage capacity are 2x4s and CDX plywood. Living area shelves I make out of 1x or one by, lumber. This means a board that is .75 inches thick and availible in a variety of widths. At most lumber yards they will be a half inch thinner than they are named. So a 1x4 is actually .75 x 3.5 inches. I build small shelves with 1x4 or x6s and then large shelves with 1x10 or x12.

Many exotic and high qualitu hardwoods are availible in 1x deminsions but are also expensive. There is also many different plywood shelf choices. a common one is laminated mdf. MDF is sawdust that us glued and pressed into a mold that creates very smooth and strong material and it makes a good shelf. the bad side is its heavy, not pretty and releases dangerous chemicals when cut. Lamination process is the act of gluing a pretty surface or applyimg a large sticker, to the MDF. Many kitchen countertops are of this variety and also cheap furniture.

All of those are good options but being frugal as I am...My number one choice is standard white pine. My local lumber yard gets great sanded 1x pine in a huge variety of sizes from 1x4 to 1x12 up to 20ft lengths. It is sanded to at least a 120 grit quality, or as smooth as most cheap bought store furniture (think walmart) and it is a fraction of the price of most hardwoods.

Another money saving idea I imply is to build homemade wood shelf brackets instead of buying ugly expensive metal ones. It is the most complex part of my concept of shelf construction because it requires some miter cuts. These can easily be done with any saw, even a hand saw so dont be discouraged.

Step 3: Tools

I believe most everything in this 'ible could be done with a tape measure, hand saw, pencil and straight edge and a screw driver. A miter saw box or jig would be helpful for the angled cuts though.

All that said power tools really make life wonderful. A power miter saw and a drill will make this easy. A jig saw or handheld circular saw also will work.

I own many other tools, including an air compressor and different style nail guns. These really make things easier but are not always needed. Table saw or circular saw to work with plywood is almost needed but many of the things here are made using pre-sized lumber that doesn't need to be ripped at all. Cutting it to proper length with a miter saw or circular saw is much easier than a hand saw but isn't the only way. There are many tool advice articles out there and I don't want to get too far off focus.

Great things have been built with little more than hand power and rocks or sharp sticks. Over thousands of years metal and electricity have made things go easier and faster but never be discouraged. Lots has been done with little. I always ask my self how would a cave man do it? Or how would someone in the middle ages or Renaissance period achieve this goal. It helps me to keep things simple. All that being said, we live in the digital revolution and new tools computer controlled tools are just the tops. CNC is beyond most human accuracy and something like a laser cutter would put my productivity through the roof but for now all I can do is dream, plan and enter instructable contests lol. Please vote if anything in here inspires you.

TIP: Always drill pilot holes to prevent splitting.

1x lumber is thin and prone to splitting. The best way to counter this is to use pilot holes for all screw connections. There are many options several I have listed in my wood working primer but the best is a special wood working drill bit known as a counter sink pilot combo bit. This is a small fractional bit that matches the hole needed for your screw shank and there is a large bore that clamps to the bit at an interchangeable height that clears a hole for the head of the screw. If you don't already have one and you do much wood work you really owe it to yourself to get a set. They can can be found cheap online or harbor freight.

Step 4: 1x4 Triangle Shelf Bracket

This concept is the most important part of this 'ible. It is fundamental in most of my shelf building.

This bracket design is the root of many of my shelves. It is a simple build made out of three pieces of 1x4 lumber. You could use other lumber for different effect. 2x2 and 2x4 Make a very heavy duty version of this design and gives it an industrial look.

1. Cut two pieces of 1x4 with square cuts. They can be the exact same length or on can be a little smaller than the other. The length depends of the depth of shelf you are making. For example if building 1x12 shelves I would make the bracket piece between 9 and 11 inches. All brackets probably should be the same on each shelf but it can create a neat visual effect to vary them as well.

2. Place the board that will support the shelf in a lap configuration, (put it on top) of the board that will be secured to the wall. I recommend using glue and screws to join them, but use what ever joinery method suits you. The reason we want the shelf side of the bracket board on top of the wall board is so that the fasteners are not bearing the load.

3.Cut the third piece of 1x4 at a 45 degree angle. Hold the board onto the shelf bracket and scribe a pencil line where you want it to meet the other end of the bracket. Please see photos for this step. It looks simpler than it sound. Cut the other end of the 45 degree board.

4. Attach the 45 degree cut board to the L shaped piece already made.

DONE!

Step 5: Large Living Room Shelf

These are my favorite shelves I have made to date. I put a ton of time and energy into these because they are going to be seen by all who enter my home and I wanted them to be decent. They hold art, nick-knacks, lamps, scale models, framed photos , favorite Lego's, scent wax warmer, and anything else really.

Materials... The wood is pine. The shelf brackets are made of 1x4s and the actual shelf is made of 1x12 and 1x6. I used the trim work around the windows in my house to support a large amount of the shelf weight. The trim acts like a cleat. Anything heavy would need to be put over an actual bracket. Window trim like mine is probably not available in most homes but more brackets would work great.

This next text is mostly repeated from the last step, read on if you missed it. I added the prior step to further explain all this text with more photos.

The brackets are made from 1x4s that are built into a triangular design. Engineering proves that triangles are incredibly strong and with a miter saw or hand saw and miter box they can be made easily. The size of the triangles will vary based on lumber size.

To construct cut two pieces of 1x4s with 90 degree square cuts. One piece needs to be a little longer than the other to make them my style, but this is adjustable. I use drywall screws and often glue on these joints for strength.
The first joint is to create an L shaped piece out of the 2 pieces of 1x4 just cut in above step. The part of the L shaped piece that will stick out perpendicular to the wall needs to sit on the top of the piece that's parallel to the wall. This way the weight load will be on the wood and not the screws holding the joint together.

Next is to cut the third leg of the triangle. This piece of 1x4 will be cut at 45 degrees on each end. This may seem difficult, but is easy with miter tools. For consistency I cut out one board and trace it out as a gauge to make sure all the pieces are identical. To get the initial size of this piece take a 1x4 and cut on corner off at a 45 degree angle. Place that one one side of the L we made. use a pencil to mark where the 45 degree piece meets the other side of the L.

Finally glue and screw this leg of the triangle onto the L price to finish the bracket. Pilot holes make this part much easier.

The space between the 45 degree board is where the screws will go into the wall. Place a level on the top of the bracket to make sure it's square to the world. Make sure to find a wall stud to secure the bracket. Using a long level to make sure the next bracket is aligned properly is the easiest method. Using a board with a small level on it can work fine also. It is important that all brackets are aligned or things will possibly fall off or the shelf may look funny.

For securing the shelf to the racket drill screws down through the shelf into the top part of the brackets. I also screwed down the shelves this way to the window trim.

Step 6: Photo Rail and Small Shelves

The photo rail is a shelf i made to hang over a different window that is used entirely for displaying framed art. It has simple 1x4 construction. Since it is held almost entirely by the window frame trim is has almost doesn't need brackets. To create the rail that holds the picture frames I used a piece of very small trim. The trim is approximately 1/4 inch thick and 3/4 inch wide and is the length of the entire shelf.

I used a pin nailer and glue to attach the trim board to the shelf. This could be done with a hammer and wire brads or a heavy duty stapler. I cut the trim piece long and trimmed it with a flush cut hand saw.

The brackets for these shelves support the end and help to keep the shelf perpendicular to the wall. I call them double triangle brackets. They are made by sawing a board the same width of your shelf into exact triangles. By that I mean making a 45 degree cut across the board leaving only a triangular piece that is still the length of the 1x4 on one side. Check the photos for inspiration here because I feel I didn't nail the wording here.

For each end bracket use glue and screws to attach both triangles to for attach right angle. This is now joined to the shelf piece. To secure the shelf to the wall run screws through the the bracket that lies along the wall. These brackets may not look strong but they will hold up very well.

Step 7: Coat and Key Racks

The first problem solved is my homes lack of mudroom or enclosed porch. We needed somewhere to hang coats, jackets, diaper bags, and purses. The materials used were a 1x6 and 3/4 inch wood dowels. Using a spade bit the same size as the dowels, drill through the 1x6 at a slight upward angle. The use wood glue to secure the dowels. If the dowels fit a little loose use some hot melt glue alongside the wood glue to keep the dowel from moving while the glue dries. After the glue dries use a flush cut saw or oscillating saw or just sand the back of the dowel down flush with the back of the 1x6.

I have also made key racks using this same method just smaller dowels. We painted all these shelves when we did the living room last spring to make them blend nicely.

Step 8: Wii U Remote Charge Shelf

The Nintendo wii u has a great touch screen gigantic portable device as its flagship remote control. It's a fabulous peice of video game hardware. It's also somewhat fragile and needs to be charged regularly. Being we have toddlers and infants around anything that fragile needs protected and charge cords are dangerous. To solve this problem I made a cute shelf for the wii u remote that hides behind our tv.

Too hide the clutter of wires behind my TV I made a simple shelf out of 1x4 to fill the gap between the TV Stand and wall. I notched a space I the shelf legs to make it fit tight to the base boards. The top of this shelf has cut outs for the cords to run through. The wii u comes with a charger base that helps store the wii u mote and charge is at the same time. All of e has to do is set it on there and it charges. It is much easier than plugging in a cord every time. It's well designed.

The shelf itself was made entirely of scrap wood and uses the same triangular bracket methods as many of my other shelfs. This shelf is unique with its fence that goes around it to hold the wii u remote safely in place. It was made with very thin plywood that was pin nailed to the shelf. There is a small groove cut into the back of the shelf to make space for the charge wire. The wire has to be held in place while screwing the shelf to the wall. The groove is bug enough for the wire but smaller than the connecter head so it will not fall out.

BONUS in the background you can see the shelf I made for infinity characters. The TV also tries to hide it but it is a little too big. Guess I need a bigger tv lol.

Step 9: Kitchen Organization

Using the same 1x4 bracket design and 1x12 pine boards I created a wealth of storage in my kitchen. These shelves act as a floating pantry. You can see the strength of the units here. It holds up several gallons of juice, canning jars and dry goods.

Construction is identical to the big living room shelves. Please refer to those steps for instructions.

For the purple owl mail holder... Materials to build is 3/16 inch laun floor underlay plywood. It is very thin and somewhat flexible, also very lightweight but crazy strong with used correctly. I don't have any good measurements as i made this on a quick whim. The side pieces are one long piece that i cut the angles out with a jig saw, attached them to the a full size back piece. Then the bottom of each tote and the edge go on. All pieces are supported with small cleats just like my big shelves. All joints are glued and held together with 9/16 inch staples. This wood is too thin to use practical sized screws.

It is screwed with standard screws to the cupboard behind it. It will hold a ton of weight. We fill it with mail, notebooks, all manner of office supply, our laptops, phone chargers, and then the babies pull on it for fun. They did rip off the one piece off the bottom and i will repair when they are a little older.

Step 10: Pot & Pan Hanger Plus Tupperware

Tupperware is every kitchen storage nightmare. My tiny poor designed kitchen amplifies this problem. Different problem, same solution. I made a shelf to hold much of it.

This shelf uses the 1x4 bracket one one side and then uses trim work as a cleat system to support the rest of it. These methods are explained above.

Unique to this shelf is below the main shelf is a smaller floating shelf to hold smaller items. Then below that is custom hooks for holding pots and pans.

The lower shelf is hung from the top shelf by three vertical boards. The shelf and vertical boards are made of 1x8 pine board. On the backside of this shelf is a 1x4 that keeps things from falling out the back.

The pot rack was built into the bottom shelf. Before installing the shelf board I drilled many holes through the board with a 1/4 inch bit. I spaced the holes in pair like fashion to group two holes near each other (approx 1.5") the go down 4 to 6 inches and put another pair.

Next I made the hooks out of #9 galvanized baling wire. This is very stiff stuff. It is hard to cut and bend and I feel you could maybe use something lighter, #9 will never fail you. A good alternative may be uncoated 10 awe copper wire used for grounding a house. This is often sold by the foot any home stores whereas #9 galvanized is more of a farm store item and has to generally be bought in large rolls. I'm sure you can find it if you try though.

To make the hooks is easy. One piece of wire is going to make two hooks. Cut a length of wire around 6 to 9 inches. Place the wire into one of the holes drilled into the shelf board. Bend the wire to the paired hole and push it through. Try to keep the wire length coming out of each hole even. Use a hammer to smash the wire through and pound an indent into the shelf where the wire will live.

Next strength the wire coming through the bottom of the shelf to your asthetic desire. Then using pliers or vice grip bend a nice C shaped curve at the bottom of the wire to be the hook end. My pots and pans vary greatly in handle thickness so my hooks vary in size to account for that. I found larger diameter hooks worked better all around. Test with your cookware and adjust until it woks good for you.

Using this wire and style is both strong and cheap. Screw hooks, eyelets and Small hooks are all expensive and can look tacky sometimes. #9 or copper wire will look industrial or farmy and be much stronger with a hand made look and feel no store bought peice can match while being totally do able for any DIY'er. Warning bare copper will eventually turn green from oxidation and moisture. This may stain cookware. A coat of sealing varnish may reduce or eliminate this.

Step 11: Bedroom Clothing Storage

My girlfriend and I bedroom has a walk in closet with some shelves in it already. being we share that room with two infants the little kids stuff fills thw whole closet. Well and some of her shoe collection... Babies take a lot of gear. Especially when one is boy and the other girl.

Then the bed room has our bed and a toddler bed and a crib. (Literally when not typing this I am working on 2 more bedrooms for my home they will be featured in this article) All this stuff left very little room for our clothes. There was space for one dresser that held about half my girlfriends stuff. So I replaced it with shelves.

These shelves are made of 1x4 lumber. The boards are spaced out with about 1/2 inch between all of them making the depth 16 inches. This corresponds nicely with laundry baskets. All of the shelves are spaced about 18 inches vertically from one another except one short one for oddball stuff like the clock.

To build the shelves is simple. I measured the space between the doors and the height of the ceiling. I needed to use as much space as possible. The mechanism holding the shelves up is a cleat system and drywall screws.

I cut the vertical runner boards and laid them out on the floor if my shop. next I found three small prices of scrap plywood that were 1/2 inch thick. Their length doesn't matter. The plywood goes between the vertical runners to keep them spaced properly. I start at the top and put the plywood spacers between the runners then I use a 16 inch cleat across all runners. Once this is installed I pull out the ply spacers and move them to the bottom and repeat. Once the spacing is set from the cleats it should be equal from top to bottom.

Lay the left and right runners next to each other. This way the cleats will be installed at the same level on each side.

For a shelf this big it cannot be carried through a regular door. The shelf had to be put together in the bedroom. Once thw top and bottom shelves were installed the rest is a breeze. A couple screws in each end of the shelf into the cleats.

I did add some vertical boards to a couple shelves to have somewhere to screw the whole unit to the wall.

Side note this stain on this shelf is minwax jacobean. Its a great color if you like dark tinted wood.

Step 12: Bedroom Shelf Expansion

The huge shelf system in the bedroom has not kept up with my girlfriend's shoe collection, so I figured some place to store some plastic totes would be helpful. Using the door frame trim and some cleats on both the wall and the existing shelf would make a place to make "wing" shelves off the original.

Construction was simple using the same 1x4 boards as the rest of the shelf. Measuring the wall to the shelf gave me the dimensions of the new shelves. Then I cut the boards and stained them to match the rest of the shelf. To install the wings I screwed the cleats to the wall and to the existing shelves. Then spanned the shelf boards across the cleats and put a screw in each end. It was a quick install and now we have "NEEDED" shoe storage lol.

Step 13: Jewelery Shelf

This organizer shelf I made for my girlfriend to hold all of her jewelry. I know little about jewelry but she says it turned out great. I literally grabbed wood out the scrap bin to make the entire shelf. The expanded material used for ear ring hanging is a product to filter debris out of rain gutters. I made this for her birthday and then she loves to paint, so she picked the colors. The zebra print at the bottom are all removable tiny boxes made of sanded lathe board. The zebra bit is ribbon that is hot glued to the front of each box. There are dowels of all over for hanging necklaces. The dowel design is the exact same as for the key rack or coat rack.

Step 14: Hall Closet Organizer

This little shelf is for keeping a few items in our hallway organized. It is designed to hold our vacuum cleaner and a laundry basket then the top is for a large tote that acts as a toy bin. My girlfriend runs an in home daycare so we keep baby stuff on hand and it totally fills up all free space.

The construction of this shelf is identical to the bedroom shelf. It is spaced out 1x4's. All the joints are cleat style held with drywall screws. This shelf is unfinished wood since it is not easily seen.

Step 15: Car Seat Hanger

Also in the hallway is special hangers I made for car seats. If you have ever had kids you know how clunky these can be. Plus the straps and climbing are hazardous to babies small enough to need the seats. Being we have no entry parlor Or mud room storing these was a challenge.

Unused vertical space was the key again. Thankfully our old home has high ceilings making room to hang a car seat on the wall without banging my head on it.

The hanger is a simple triangle made of 2x2 lumber. The straight sides of the triangle are around 10 inches but will vary depending on seat size. Then a piece of plywood cut into a 45 degree angles triangle attached to one side. I put some kind of stopper at the top end to hold the seat from easily sliding off.

I then drill deep countersinks into the side that screws into the wall. When mounting theses it is important to locate a wall stud. If not the leverage will surely rip the drywall.

Step 16: Stroller Hangers

Yes more baby gear. Strollers are very necessary for any kid and when you have a bunch comes in big strollers. When its nice its no big deal to store them outside for short periods of time but here in Midwest that doesn't fly year round. Heck one day I had a squirrel come tear the stuffing out of the seat of a stroller to make his den.

Solution.... Vertical storage.

Strollers do fold up and become much smaller and if my shop wasn't coated in fresh saw dust every week I could make room for them but I made a clever storage in the house. The basement staircase in my home has a ton of vertical space. It is at least 9 feet.

There is an alcove where my fridge sits in the kitchen (that creates a great shelf for our canning gear) that I used to hold up one side of a 2x2 peice of lumber. The other side is held up by a small plywood cleat. The 2x2 spans the gap over the staircase.

Using nylon rope and a small store bought pulley tied to the middle of the 2x2 and then at the other end of the rope is 2 chain clips that wrap around the handle of the stroller. Clip on the rope and pull the stroller up the wall until I can easily walk under it and then tie the rope off to a boat dock style cleat. A boat dock style cleat is an H shaped tool that the rope is wrapped around. They are availible at hardware stores but I made a simple one from plywood. Also to make pulling the rope easier I drilled a hole the diameter of the rope throuhj a 3/4 inch Dowell, strung the Dowell on the rope and ties a knot behind it to create a handle.

I use this to suspend two different strollers at the same time. One a light weight single kid stroller and the other a heavy 2 kid stroller. It works great for me.

WARNING. Any time you suspend something above you by rope make sure you think of the saftey aspect that it may fall down. I am not responsible for you being hurt killed or property damaged. Look into the weight being suspended and all materials doing so. Rope and rigging equipment can be very safe if done correctly or it can kill you. BE SAFE.

Step 17: 2x4 Bulk Storage Shelf

This shelf is located in my basement. It is a large heavy duty shelf made of 2x4's and 1/2 inch CDX plywood. It is designed for storing a lot of stuff. Mostly my Music gear and odds and ends. I estimate each shelf could hold at least 200 or 300 pounds of equally distributed weight.

All the frame work of this shelf is 2x4 lumber. At each corner is a vertical 2x4. Each horizontal shelf is made out of 2x4 rectangle that is supported by the vertical 2x4 and a small 1x4 cleat attached to the vertical 2x4. The joints are made in such a way that each side of the corner on the rectangle is able to screw into the vertical 2x4. Please see photos for more info.,

Step 18: Basement Bedroom Design

One of the battles I'm currently waging on my tiny house is adding two more bedrooms in the basement. That wi.. put me from 2 to 4. It has been a challenge that has Included concrete saw for egress widow to rewiring half the house and learning to do drywall. It's not a weekend project. From the photos you can see most of that is behind me but drywall is kicking my but. At time of publish these will not be done but I can show you the big picture now

These bedrooms are both small. I fact one is tiny at 10x11 ft. Lots of storage will be needed to manage in a tight area and be comfortable. And broken record... Vertical storage. Knowing what the kids have and guessing what that will grow into as the become teens helped my design a lot. I have lived in tiny dorm rooms with roommate before and I took that knowledge and applied it here.

I came up with some major principals.

Store stuff to look at: art knick nacks, tv lava lamp and so on

store stuff not to look at: mainly clothes

Workspace: homework hobbies and makeup/hairdos

Comfort sleep space: obviously the bed.This may be the most important part of a bed room but when your young the room as to be so much more.

Thinking about how to integrate all these concepts helped me to design what I hope becomes a very usable space. The rooms will have built in shelves on the walls that have dedicated shelf height electrical outlets for lamps, fans and novelty items or maybe a small tv or video game system.

Next each room will have spacious built in desks for all manner or uses. The girls room desk will double as a vanity with a mirror and storage for makeup and outlets for hair equipment (read as dedicated breaker).

The boys roo is big enough for a regular closet which I will show construction of. The girls room has a closet of sorts but it is designed to hide the water main entry to the house and the automatic sprinkler plumbimg. It's construction will also be shown.

To compensate for lack of closet the girls room will have a custom built storage bed with large drawers that pull out.

Step 19: Storage Bed

This will describe the build process of the storage bed.

The design is essentially a large plywoodbox. The size was dictated from the measurements of a twin XL mattress and the height is 28 inches to fit easily through a door and the staitcase.

The materials used is 1/2 inch cdx plywood and a few bits of 2x4s for support. CDX plywood is cheap but doesn't finish nicely and cuts a little rough I chose this knowing this is to be fished with paint and not stained. To fix any rough spots on the cdx I used drywall mud as filler and sanded smooth with 120 grit sand paper.

For the drawers I used full extension ball bearing drawer slides. Shop for them on ebay for best deals.

The construction process is still underway but it's almost finished. To begin I made the rectangular frame. Next I put a cleat all the way around the frame. The cleat will hold up the wood that supports the matress. A center devider also goes in. The devider will separate the drawers from the chest storage area.

Next the face of the rectangle frame has to have the drawers openings cut out. I scribed the area to be cut using a large T square and cut the openings with a jig saw. The supports for the drawer slides are made of 2 X2 lumber and installed at this point. It is CRITICAL to get these equal to each other and square. Drawer slides have to be well aligned or they will not work propperly. I am not a drawer master and have no great hints for this.

Step 20: Storage Bed Part 2

The drawers are just boxes with no top. Again precise size and squareness to match the drawer slides is required. There is room for adjustment and don't be discouraged if they aren't perfect the first time. 3 out of my 4 drawers had to be cut down on because they were too wide. Don't fret just adjust.

To match the drawers to the slides I laid the whole bed frame on its back. The slides were screwed to bed and then I pulled them out as far as they would go vertically. I propped up the drawer on a piece of scrap wood to hold them up above the frame and then square them up and screwed the slides to the drawers. It reads confusing because I really am not a drawer guy. When I get better methods for making them I will update this or make a new ible. Hopefully the photos and photo notes can help explain this part more.

With the drawers installed the next step is drawer faces. This is just a piece to cover the gaps around the drawer itself. This is where the drywall mud comes in to make the cheap plywood finish much nicer than it should without sanding on it for months. Nicer grade plywood can solve that too but it's much more expensive. Also this is the point to install drawer pulls. Before screwing the drawer face to the drawer I put them all together and drilled the holes for the pulls so they would all four be equal.

The final step is to make the chest lid. Behind the drawers in the unused space is going to be a chest. It will only be accessible by pulling off the mattress. It's not ideal but will work great for seasonal items and rarely needed things.

The bed is designed to fit specifically on one wall in the girls room. It will be covered by three sides. The design of this effected the framing of the bedroom and placement of the door. It should all go together like a puzzle. Will update when finished.

Step 21: Water Main Cloest

The girls room unfortunately also has the main line plumbing for the house and the plumbimg and controls for the automatic sprinklers. For safety and asthetic reasons I didn't want these just out I the room. So I built a cloest around it. It is more of a cabinet than a traditional closet. The plumbing made it impractical to be able to hang clothes up so I made shelves.

Materials used were 2x4s for framing. 3/8 CDX plywood for the walls (I didn't want drywall since it may Crack from the cabinet doors). And the shelf material was reclaimed pallet wood. There is a specialty printing shop in my home town that gets very nice pallets for the rolls of paper. These pallets use nice sanded wood that full rounded over edges so to not tear the paper.

Step 22: Water Main Closet Part 2

There are a TON of PICTURES for this step. Most of it is explained in image notes. Please take a good look.

The concept for framing a wall is somewhat universal. Horizontal boards go across the top and bottom and the vertical studs hold it up. If you live in a wood framed home this is how it is built. I'm not going to go into framing because there are much better places to learn that building science.

Once framed I measured out where the shelves should go. I used a lot of left over scrap materials and pallet wood to make these shelves. They are basically a cleat support design. The wood is thick enough to to support itself though.

At the top there is less room because of the sprinkler plumbing so the shelves are smaller. One this section I made two shelves supported by a horizontal member at the back and a 45 degree triangle bracket on the front.

The plywood that makes up the walls I cut to be proud of purpose. I then used a router with a pattern bit to get it cut perfect after it was screwed down.

At publish time this is not totally finished, but the shelves are. I need to make the cabinet doors yet and finish drywall and paint everything. The storage bed is going to go right along with this shelf and they were actually designed to work together. Follow me to see how it works out.