The Humongous Card Catalogue

Intro: The Humongous Card Catalogue

I love card catalogues but because they are so expensive I never thought I could own one. Until one day walking around IKEA I saw the Moppe set of drawers and I realized they would, with a bit of work, make a perfect card catalogue. I bought one Moppe unit and using the dimensions from the set of drawers drew up plans for the Humongous Card Catalogue.

STEP 1: Painting

I ordered 11 Moppe sets of drawers from IKEA, plus the one I already had at home, which made 12 units altogether. I was also very lucky as when I went to buy the Moppe drawers they where on sale. To give the drawers an antique look I used an electric sander to remove all the sharp corners on the drawers. I bought a 750ml tin of Dulux Woodsheen for interior and exterior surfaces. This stain also had a varnish included. I highly recommend using a paint that has a stain and varnish in one as it saves you having to paint the drawers twice saving time and money. I painted all the drawers and the Moppe box itself. To save on paint I only stained the shelves that the drawers rested on and about 5-10cms around the outside of the unit. The set of drawers will eventually be encased in plywood so the sides of the Moppe will not be seen. 

STEP 2: Attaching the Moppe Units Together

Once I had finished painting the units I was finally ready to attach all the Moppes together. I wanted three across by four down. I simply screwed each together using standard 7mm chipboard screws. I countersunk the screws and filled in the holes with filler which when dried I then sanded and painted over.

STEP 3: Attaching the Handles

The drawers had a hole on one end that acted as a handle. I flipped the drawer ends round as I wanted to use archive handles. To ensure that all the handles would be uniformly placed I created a plastic template from acetate and using a gouge poked pilot holes into the drawers. I used an electric drill (to speed the process up) and Black screws M2 x 3mm to attach the archive handles. I chose these handles as they had a label holder so I could write what was in each drawer once it was being used to store all my paraphernalia.

STEP 4: Decorating the Drawer Bases

I had some old map craft paper lying around so I decided to use it in the card catalogue. So for each of the drawer bases I created a cardboard template (13.5cm x 16.3cm) and used this to cut the map craft paper to size. I then glued these in place using PVA glue.

STEP 5: Decorating the Moppe Units Bases

Depending on what I decide to put in each of the drawers I knew I would need to take some of them completely out of the unit. I didn't like that the back of the Moppe units were just plain hardboard so I created a cardboard template of the back (31cm x 30cm) and bought some wallpaper with an old book design and glued this in with PVA. This would have been easier to do before I screwed the units together.

STEP 6: Plywood Frame

I had a sheet of 18mm thick plywood cut at a local DIY store into the following dimensions:

2 - 128 cm x 19 cm

2 - 93 cm x 19 cm

Unfortunately there was a lot of wood left over from the cutting sheet but this couldn't be helped as I had to go by the sizes available to me from the DIY store. I didn’t mind to much as I will probably use the spare wood for another project. I screwed the Moppe units into the plywood top, sides and bottom using 8mm screws. I used 10mm screws to attach the top and bottom to the plywood sides. For the top section of the plywood I countersunk the screws and filled them with wood filler. I didn't do this for the bottom piece as it will not be seen. I used a strip of walnut edging along the plywood so that the rough edge would be hidden.

STEP 7: Adding Beading to the Catalogue

Once the plywood was attached I cut strips of rounded beading cut it at 45 degree angles and using panel pins hammered the wood in place.

STEP 8: Painting Again

Once the unit was all securely screwed together I painted the outer layer of plywood and beading twice as I wanted it darker than the drawers. This was because:

1/ The plywood will stain a different colour from the Moppe units Birch plywood

2/ A darker stained background would make the Moppe drawers standout

STEP 9: Strengthening the Catalogue

I purchased some Flat Corner Triangular Brackets to screw in on each corner of the unit. This saved my having to buy hardboard for the back and reinforced the units joints.

STEP 10: Furniture Legs for the Card Catalogue

For the base of the unit I chose 8 inch hairpin furniture legs. I bought two sets of four. I placed one in each corner of the unit and one in the middle to secure the Card Catalogue and prevent it from toppling. I also bought an anti-tipping furniture locks kit as you can never be to careful when there are children and animals in the house.

STEP 11: Adding the Drawers

Once the feet were on the Catalogue it was time to place the drawers into it. I rubbed a candle over the top ridge of each of the drawers to ensure they moved smoothly in and out of the unit.

STEP 12: Final Thoughts

And there you have it. This project for me was a labour of love and I'm really pleased at how it turned out. I think in all it cost around £300 and for the size of the Humongous Card Catalogue it would probably have cost around a £1000+ to buy. Hopefully I have given you the plans and encouragement to make one yourself. 

Happy Crafting!

Comments

[Handy_Bear]

Loving that style!

[bryans workshop]

Awesome!

[mlduffy]

This is great! Wanted to do make an apothocary-style dresser for a while, might use this idea.

But, for some reason Ikea won't sell the small-drawer moppe in the US, only the multi-sized drawers. :(

[Copperhead Makes]

Thanks for the like! I still think that the moppe drawer sets that are available in the US would make a good card catalogue. You should try it with them I think it would turn out well. Thanks again Sam

[ananda310]

Excellent! Your concept, execution and end result is admirable.

I'm especially impressed by your thoughtful detailing: collaged interiors, trim stained darker, waxing, reinforcements and securing.

Your Instructable shares the same meticulous attention.

It assumes nothing with regard to anyone reading it or constructing their own. The 'How to..' couldn't be clearer (unlike many which leave one with more questions than solutions.)

As a child I loved frequent visits to the local library. The solid wooden card catalogue fascinated me. Hard to miss, simple to access and easy to navigate; it was the heart and brain of the place. Even the staff deferred to it because of its immense capacity for data.

With every move to a different city or country I'd eventually go to the library; to research or borrow. And the familiar, reliable acquaintance was always there, stubbornly mute yet profoundly eloquent.

Your piece invoked fond memories.
Thank you

[Copperhead Makes]

Thank you for your lovely comments. They have really made my day. As I said in my Instructable the card catalogue was a labour of love and I feel truly blessed to now have one in my home. Thanks once again. Sam

[indivisibl]

Really cool. With different handles this could be a retro apothecary cabinet

[hbmueller]

Fabulous project. I'd love to try this and somehow try to attach two Moppe drawers to each other side by side and reinforce the the frame of the drawers so that I could take out the middle and create one larger drawer with two false fronts to keep the style.

Thanks for sharing.

[chevymudnut]

Moppe drawer set x 12 units
I searched ikea couldn’t find anything

[Ninja]

I found them but as ulibischoff said, they're a different configuration and not suitable for a card catalog look. I think the author is in the UK but they may have found them on sale even there because they are being discontinued? That's happened with some other Ikea items I've looked for. Too bad as this looked like a very cool project.

[Copperhead Makes]

Hi I think the moppe drawers you get in the US would still make a great card catalogue. Once you turn the drawers around and put archive handles on them they will fit in with the card catalogue look. Sorry you can’t get the same Moppe drawers as here in the UK but like I said before I do believe the US Moppe drawers would work. 😊

[george57]

They are not on sale or being discontinued in UK AFAIK. They've been on sale at IKEA here in UK for quite a while IIRC.

[george57]

IKEA US only has the version with different sized drawers - picture below.

IKEA UK has the version in this project. Look here:

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/search/products/?q=mopp...

But this Moppe variant has six drawers and always has. Author wrote about 12 units - i.e. 12 of these 6-drawer units (not some unspecified number of units each of which had 12 drawers).

No idea why US does not sell it.

But the clue was where the author noted it would have cost £1000 to buy such a thing ready-made. Note the pound sterling sign.

[Copperhead Makes]

Yeah hi I am based in the UK - Northern Ireland to be precise. I think the moppe u get in the US would still make a really good card catalogue. I think next time I make another one (will document that as well) I will include wooden magazine holders on the top and have drawers along the bottom. I would like to make a long hall table with longer hairpin legs. I think it would look good.

[chevymudnut]

Yes that one would word but not here in the states
I made this for my wife out of scrap wood a couple years ago
I used a wrought iron antique sewing machine base took out great but a lot of work

[Copperhead Makes]

This looks class and I can see a lot of hard work has went into it. I hope your wife appreciates it as it’s really beautiful. I love all the different hardware on the drawers. 😊

[ulibischoff]

Found the Moppe available (in the US) as a different unit with three different size drawers (total of 32cm by 42cm outside dimensions).
So one could still make a nice project like this but with different (varied) sized drawers.

[cloerzel]

Very cool. If this was in a restoration harward catalog it would be 2300$.
Love the upcycling of IKEA products.

[Copperhead Makes]

Hi thanks for the compliment - yeah I think it would definitely cost a grand at least if I were to try and buy one of the peg. Thanks for liking and commenting 😊

[ulibischoff]

Since the Moope units are $25 in the US, I would budget around $500-$600 for this project. Hardware and (decent) plywood also are quite costly.