Well, we’re halfway through this challenge! Up until this point I feel like a lot of the progress has been laying a foundation for what’s to come, so I’m anxious to get to some of the more…exciting parts of this room! Don’t get me wrong, I am stoked about these cabinets, but I’m ready to move on from them towards some of the finishing touches.
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The main thing that happened this week was the construction of the linen cabinet! She is massive and beautiful and I love everything about her. Of course she’s not done quite yet, but progress is progress, right?
Here are her dimensions. The middle shelf placement I just eyeballed, but the bottom piece should match the bottom of the base cabinet that I purchased to sit next to her.
I used 3/4″ sanded plywood to build her, but I used some left over eucaboard for the back panel instead of plywood. This makes it a little lighter and a little more budget friendly since I’m using a pretty high quality plywood.
I attached the top piece to the sides with pocket holes (this mini kreg jig is the bomb and super budget friendly) and wood glue. The bottom piece I just screwed the screws straight into the shelf since they will be hidden. I have learned to always use wood glue in addition to screws to keep things super secure!
Then I used wire nails to attached the eucaboard to the back.
I attached this middle divider shelf by using 1×2 primed pine to make supports. I used a temporary shelf that wasn’t quite as deep as the cabinet so I had some stability but still access where I needed it while attaching the face, but then I switched it out for a full depth shelf before painting.
The last part of building this frame was attaching the faces. I used 1×2 pre-primed pine. I measured what the overhang on each side was on the existing base cabinet that I have and matched that. It ended up being about 1/4″ overhang on the outside, so I used one of my 1/4″ spacers to check my spacing as I nailed it in with my brad nailer.
I filled all my holes with wood filler then sanded that down. Anytime you’re working with raw wood, it’s important to use primer before painting. I used Zinsser’s B-I-N primer because it is shellac based, so it doesn’t raise the grain in the wood like a water based primer does. I will warn you, this stuff is SUPER stinky, so wear a good mask and paint in a well-ventilated area, if possible. I chose to roll this on because (1) it’s really hard to clean out of the sprayer and (2), it soaks into the wood really well so I wasn’t worried about leaving any roller marks.
After letting that dry, I did two coats of Benjamin Moore Advance (satin) in Providence Blue using my HomeRight paint sprayer. It is a dream to paint with this sprayer! Such a game changer when it comes to painting cabinets. One coat on the entire linen cabinet and all 5 doors took me about 20 minutes!
Moving the cabinet inside was definitely a two person job, but we got her in! I screwed her into the studs on the wall to the left just under where I put the middle shelf and again near the top. I also screwed the base cabinet into studs, then screwed the two of them together. She’s not going anywhere anytime soon (just like the rest of us, thanks to the virus…).
Next week I will get the rest of the shelves in the linen cabinet, her doors built (they’re going to be glass), the other cabinet doors up, and hopefully get the countertops done. So stay tuned! And as always, don’t forget to tune into what the other guest participants are doing!
With love,
Mercedes ♥
With Love, Mercedes 
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