Sewing cabinet

We all have these.  An out dated TV hutch that we paid big bucks for back in the day.  Well, I tried to sell it and got no bites.  I wanted a sewing area on the main level of my house and then it hit me.  Turn this into a hidden sewing cabinet.

I had the movers put this in the office area then I crammed the sewing stuff that I came across while I was unpacking inside this.  So it was full.  I have to get the closet organized with all the "stuff" that was in my last craft room.

I went to home depot and purchased one sheet of sanded plywood.  It was 50 bucks.  I had them cut it to the measurements that I needed.  The table top could be 34.5 inches long per fold and still close in my cabinet and I was okay with 27 inches wide worth of working counter top space.  My legs were 32 inches tall and 24 inches wide.  I cut a little detail in them for a little bit of fluff, but also to lighten them a tad.

So I drew the cuts out on a piece of graph paper. I got the four pieces of wood in five cuts.  They are usually pretty good about five or six cuts and not complaining too much as long as they are not busy.  I have some scraps left over from the 4x8 sheet as well.

Then it took me a good day to figure out the folding and placement of the hinges.

I had a strange size so I could not get one solid piano hinge, so I used two 12 inch hinges per fold.  I needed four total. I got those at home depot as well. They were $6 each.

I used two packages of these little hinges for the legs, they were $4 per package.  I set the unit in place to see where it needed to be place.  I needed to use the base of the black existing shelf unit about 4.5 inches in to clear the doors.  I wanted to be able to close this and have it look like just a hutch.

The first set of legs needed to be place even with the boards and hinge outward from the opposite direction of the folded table tops.  That created a problem keeping the legs from swinging to the back of the cabinet when the table was folded up in the closed position.  I solved that with a simple turn "pin" made from a  couple chunks of the plywood.

Just drill the hole larger than the screw and when you screw the board into place the top chunk is not using any of the screw threads, hence swings open and closed easily.  You screw the screw down tightly into the bottom board and that holds it into place.  You will need to raise the chunk even with the leg.  So I actually needed two small scraps.

To stop the table from leaning to far back in the cabinet and stripping the hinges.  A simple L bracket.  I had this laying around the house.  I am not sure why.  But they are cheap and also available at any hardware store.

A simple junk of plywood allowed me to put a simple pin lock to hold the table in place, so that when I open the door the unit can't fall out.  I also want if my granddaughter's were to open the cabinet door the table can't fall out and hurt them.

Because this was a TV hutch there is a built in outlet.  Which is great.  I did remove the cable line, that was super easy just wire cutters to cut the metal end and it pulled right out.

It folds down in two parts, the first table and leg.

Then the last half.  Fully open it is 69 inches long and 27 inches wide.

I have more details to add and I am going to paint the table black.  But I was super excited to post today's work.  I turned this unwanted cabinet into a functioning unit for under $90.  I will post the finished cabinet when I am finally done.

Happy Reinventing.

Box Valances

These box valances were already up in this room, the room was blue and had curtains down just the ends of the bay.  I didn't care for the look and I hated the blue walls.  SO I knew I was painting this room, and I am cheap as we all know so the valance boxes were getting reused.  Plus I knew they were most likely just plywood boxes and why did I need to remake them, I was okay with size of them.

They look fantastic redone.  I forgot to take a photo of the horrible blue walls.  Now the room is a light tan and the boxes are actually a light green with a tan scroll pattern.  I am very happy with the new look.  This is an office/sewing room.  I am turning that armoire into a sewing cabinet.  I will post that build.

There are five boxes I am reusing the back covers so I had to take the staples out of that very carefully.

Here is a close up of the holes left by the brackets that were holding up the curtains.  Two of the boxes have these holes.  I was not worried about this showing through the new fabric.

I cut the new fabric for all five boxes the length needed.  I am leaving the existing fabric and batting.  Why replace that?  There was no need for that added expense.

Getting ready to recover.

See just plywood boxes.

I own this wonderful little thing... Well, it was actually a gift I gave my husband, but I think I use it more than he ever has.  I love this thing.  Under $40 at Harbor Freight.  The stapler came from that store too.  And it was also cheap.  I got it when it was on sell and it was under $20.

Just pull into place and staple down.  Note where your corners should fold so that they are unseen.  The fold over on these boxes was to the tops, NO one will ever see the top of the boxes.

Once I started recovering it went super fast.

I took the boxes down by myself but installation was a two person job.  Had to get "man" help.  So my husband had to rehang them my arms were just not long enough to attached the boxes back to the L brackets.  I left the brackets hanging and just painted around them.

Happy Recovering.