We've been working on an Entryway System since the end of December. I found this really killer site called ana-white.com that had tons of really cool woodworking projects. I'd been looking around at entryway systems because our little entryway bench wasn't cutting it. Everything I found cost so much money - even the things that I didn't LOVE. Of course I came across a few that I did totally LOVE, but they were $1000 or more and it was something that I wasn't even going to consider. But when I found her site, I found exactly what I was looking for. It was a locker entryway system and she had several options for the bottom benches - ones with shelves to put shoes on and ones with cubbies with drawers. I knew right away that I wanted the one with drawers. As I was going through trying to decide exactly what I wanted to do, I also came across an Entryway mail sort and charging station. I knew that would be something that would come in handy for us. So, I decided that was what we were going to do.
Here's a link to the site where I chose my design: http://ana-white.com/category/plans/plancollections/braden-entryway-collection
I went and figured out what size pieces we needed, and if we had certain lengths of wood, what we could cut from each piece. We went to Home Depot and got all the lumber and a few other supplies and headed home with our supplies, eager to get started on the project.
I got started on measuring all of the cuts that needed to be made. Andy took each piece into the work room and began making the cuts. He cut every single piece where I had specified. He was working with a hand circular saw and a jig saw, so we didn't have any fancy equipment. The sizes were probably off a little, but he did a pretty good job measuring them up and I must say I did a pretty good job measuring the cuts. Once we had everything cut up, I was looking at everything and labeling all the pieces of wood so we'd know what went where and which piece was a top piece, side piece, trim, etc.
As I worked on that, I realized that the Drawer Bench that I had printed directions for were different than the ones that were supposed to go to the lockers and the mail and charging station, and the sizes were different! At first I was freaking out. I thought that I might have to go and buy all new materials for the drawers. But as I looked at it, I realized we could cut down the horizontal boards - there were just a few cuts that I needed to change, and that wasn't bad. I labeled the directions as well as the pieces of wood. Andy and I worked together to put some of the together. We ended up doing a little bit here and there. After I did the initial stuff, and we worked together on piecing some of the items together, I left Andy to do some of it on his own. I didn't want to be hovering, but the space was a little small, so I wanted to give him space to work on it. It got worked on a little here and a little there. And then there would be a week or so that nothing would get done. Then a little more. When we got to the painting part, Andy actually did most of the priming. He did a good job priming, but he used the brush a lot, and I thought it could be done faster with the roller, so I stepped in and helped. I think Andy was surprised at how fast it went when we used the roller. I started working on it with him, and we finished the painting relatively quickly.
When the painting was done, it was time to put the drawers in the drawer cubbies. We (or I should say Andy) had to put the drawer slides on and put the drawers in and then put the drawer face on the drawer and the drawer pull on the drawer front. The first one actually went on really easily! It was awesome! So Andy brought it upstairs and we had the mail sorting and charging station on top of one of the drawer cubbies and then we put the lockers on the floor until Andy was able to finish the other two drawers.
That's when we ran into problems. The drawers weren't square enough, and they were also a little off in the measurements, I think - not much. Just a little. Enough to where Andy had to go and buy a planer and plane down the sides a little bit. Of course this scraped off a bunch of paint on the outsides of the drawers... but you can only see those outside of the drawers when the drawers are open. Andy got it so that the drawers could fit in the cubby and was able to put the drawer face and handles on. He brought those upstairs and he got some mending plates that permanently attach the tops to the drawers in the back. He put those on and we got them pushed back against the wall, and they are done! Well, mostly done. I will have to go back and do some touch-up painting on the fronts and then on the inside drawers where he had to plane them. He also had to plane one of the tops of the drawer face and will have to go back and plane one of the other ones.
It doesn't look professional. And if you stand next to it and scrutinize it, you can see plenty of flaws. But it actually looks really cool. And our coats and stuff are going to be so much better organized. The kids will come home from school and will be able to take their coats off and put them right in their own cubby. Since they won't have to deal with trying to compete for hooks, they should be much better about hanging coats up as soon as they get home. And they each have their own place for their backpacks. And each of the kids and I have bins for our hats and gloves. Andy will still use the coat closet. He's not in and out and in and out as much as the kids and I are, so it will be okay with him still using the closet. He never used the bench we had before.
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| This picture looks a little distorted because I tried to get kind of close. |
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| I think we're going to move that picture that is hanging on the wall and find a nice mirror to put there. |
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| Even though it's homemade, it's sturdy enough to hold Andy and the boys. The kids will be able to sit on the edge and put their shoes on if they need to. |
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