For Christmas I made my girlfriend a wardrobe for her puppy (a shih tzu with more clothes than me). This is my first instructable, so bear with me. I may have left out steps or been imprecise with measurements. If so, please comment and I will attempt to answer any questions.

Step 1: Planning

To begin I planned out the basic dimensions. To make it proportional to the puppy, I designed it to be about 40 inches tall, 28 inches wide, and 18 inches deep. I wanted a craftsman look to it, so it's constructed mostly of 1 by 2 pine and plywood paneling. At this point, since I live in an apartment and only had limited access to a friend's table saw, I also planned all the slat cuts I would need to rip in the pine for the panels to slide into.

Step 2: Skeleton

I ripped the slate cuts into the pine, cut them to size, and arranged them where they should be located to check to make sure the cuts were all in the right place. I also drilled 1/2 inch diameter holes half way through the top portion to run a dowel between for hangers. The half inch square dowels in the pictures, will be used to make sliders for the drawers.

Step 3: Side Paneling

Once things were in the proper place, I measured and cut 1/8 inch plywood for panels. I used a plywood with a deep color for high contrast. I then connected the various pieces of wood with the panels slipped in using glue and a few wood screws countersunk and plugged with wood dowels. In the second picture, I glued the 1/2 inch square dowels to the sides of the wardrobes for the drawers to run on. This picture is of the side of the wardrobe near the bottom. The dowels run most of the depth of the wardrobe.

Step 4: Back

Once the sides were completed, I cut the panels for the back, and glued/screwed the back wood and panels to each side of the wardrobe.

Step 5: Face

Once the back was assembled, I cut the paneling for the top and middle of the wardrobe (the top of the first drawer). I then attached the wood top frame the face of the wardrobe for the doors and drawers.

Step 6: Doors and Drawers

At this point, I laid the wardrobe down and measured the door cuts true to the actual wardrobe. Once I framed the doors, I cut the paneling for them and glued/screwed them together. In the second picture, I cut the wood for the sides of the drawers, and ripped cuts in them for the bottom of the drawers. I cut plywood bottoms for the drawers and glued/screwed the box of the drawers together.

Step 7: Trim

As I wanted to make this design relatively simple, I planned to add a trim over the top of the wardrobe and the top of the doors to hide holes from the slat cuts, and the end cuts of the wood. This is the top of the wardrobe. I ran some 1/2 inch square dowel along the inside to give it dimension.

Step 8: Drawer Face

I wanted the face of the drawers to look simple, but I've also never done drawers before. I designed them simply, but also screwed the face of the drawers directly to the sides of the drawers. this left some rather large holes in the face of the drawers. To cover this up, I decided to make a paw print pattern run up the drawers. I drilled 1/2 inch diameter holes and smaller 1/8 inch holes, then plugged the holes with appropriately sized dowels. This picture is the scrap wood with the test designs.

Step 9: Connections

I connected the doors to the wardrobe with basic brass hinges, and installed a magnetic door snap for each door. The drawers slide directly on the wood dowels and required no hardwear (again, this is my time making drawers).

Step 10:

In this last picture I added chrome finished door knobs and drawer handles. This picture is pretty rough. I just started the sanding process and have not yet stained or eurothaned. The paw prints turned out okay. I needed to trim the sides of the drawers so that they lined up better.

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37 Comments

WildWhippetWoman

8 years ago on Introduction

What a sweet guy for making this for her puppy! Altho I'm not crazy about her taste in dogs (been into whippets 25+ yrs) but has great taste in men. Very nice project. Wild Whippet Woman