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How to make my wardrobe look built-in?

Hi there, I am doing my own walk in wardrobe to save some money. I have been doing some research around how to order IKEA Pax and then try to do some work to make it feels like my wardrobe in built in.

So far my plan is to:

- Remove the skirting so the wardrobe can flush right up to the wall.

- Instead of installing a base I might just fill up the top gap part with some wood and paint it white.

- There might be some gap on the left or right. i might do the same too. Most likely flush to one side and fill the rest with wood.

Questions

- I noticed my builder has built the house with cornice. So how should I go about filling up the top part? Do I cut the cornice? Or do I cut a wood that has a curvature that could fit the cornice?

- Should I remove the skirting or should I just put a block of wood behind the wardrobe and nail it with the wardrobe?

- How do I cut my skirting board so it could look nice with my cupboard?

- Also the wardrobe doesn’t seem to flush nicely to the wall even if the skirting board is removed. What can I do?

Is this a project too hard to accomplish? Trying to save some cost by DIY 😂

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Jewelleryrescue

Hi @vennsoh

Your project is 100% doable no space is perfect in DIY so lets exploer options.

Happy New Year too.

Idea 1

Use timber trim to cover gap between wardrobe and wall cutting shape for skirting board. (The gap is visable but not when you cover it with trim.)Try find similar skirting board to use as trim to match the room might work. Optionally Cut skirting board with an oscillating multitool It has a a sqaure blade that vibrates and will neatly cut skirting board is position slightly closer on the wall . You will still need to use trim fo remaining gap.

Ozito 300W Multi Function Tool MFR-2200 I/N: 6290554 $99.98

23 accessories included

2 As you wardrobe between the coloumns is not custom built there is an approx 8 cm gap at the far right end as you know. So consider timber trim in between wardrobes with timber packers evenly spaced to close the additional gap rather than one panel at the end which is ok too.

3 The cornice can be cut with your multi tool using a semi circle blade (it should come with extra blades) Think carefully about the cut before you do it so you end up with what you want this will allow a simple square wood panel to fit or a box shape with panel front and back.

If you are clever make this space a little hidden safe with a pull off cover .

You can also cut timber to match the cornace for and infill panel a Contour guage will help here .

QEP Contour Gauge I/N: 6821606 $18.03

Picture 1

See your skirting board ? Now go to shop and find closest match. Now think about the same size and thinkness skirting board running up the wall now covering the gap between wardrobe and wall You will need to shape the bottom to blend with existing skirting board. So that will be a nice seamless transition from you wall to your wardrobe giving that built in look. Overlap timber with wall onto wardrobe. If you need to use wider timber than skirting board to cover that gap,

If you keep skirting board un cut you can glue strips of new skirting board to the back corners of the wardrobe down the sides tofill in some of the gap. between robe and wall

Have fun plan each bit and note it down and consider the next soution you want in bite size chunks.

MitchellMc

Hi @vennsoh,

Some good advice there from @Jewelleryrescue.

I'd remove the skirting board to help minimise the gap as much as possible. Then as @Jewelleryrescue mentioned, select a skirting board wide enough to cover the gap and run it around the cabinet to conceal it.

For the cabinet above, I'd recommend cutting the cornice and running a straight board between the two walls. You could cut the board to the shape of the cornice, but this would be a bit harder and could look odd.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

vennsoh

@MitchellMc @Jewelleryrescue Thanks for all the help again. I've tried to break things down and do it bit by bit, so I've managed to get myself some power tools for some carpentry work. I cut out some wood trims to fill in the gaps next to the wardrobe. All the sides are okay except for one which has a slight diagonal on the longitudinal direction. So it makes it hard to fit it in.

For all the gaps I did 3 measurements, at the bottom, at the middle and at the top. And I screw it a small block of wood at those 3 points so the wood trim could be nail to it. All the rest of the sides I could slot the wood in with the use of hammer to force some parts in.

For the side that's causing me problem their gaps are (bottom 35mm, middle, middle 32mm, top 27mm), the differences in gaps is too much. I tried to split that into 3 sections, one for bottom, one for middle and another for top but you can see the gap is uneven but it isn't as nice. I'm thinking of touching that up with caulking/filler and painting later to make it all looks like 1 strip but I'm also wondering if I should get 1 wood trim and then use a coping saw or something and then slowly cut the trim into a diagonal strip?

The power tools I've bought:

- Ozito PXC 18V Multi Function Tool PXMFTS-018

- Ozito 2000W 254mm 10" Table Saw

- Ozito 1600W 210mm 8¼" Corded Compound Mitre Saw

Thanks!

Akanksha

Hello @vennsoh,

Jumping in the discussion to say @MitchellMc is currently away on a well-deserved break, but our other resident Bunnings D.I.Y. expert @EricL will be happy to keep assisting you as soon as he can. Also tagging our ever-helpful members @diy_hausdesigns and @Alyce_Pham in case they have any thoughts.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime.

Akanksha

EricL

Hello @vennsoh

Will you be covering the front of the gap with a Brutus 38 x 6mm x 2.4m Building Moulding Cover Trim or similar? If so then I would not worry about filling the gap to perfection. However, if you are filling the gap and have no plans of covering it up, I suggest cutting a single trim at 35mm and sanding it down using a Belt Sander. The belt sander will allow you to customize the thickness of the trim without taking a great deal of time. Please note that the belt sander works very fast and is very efficient, staying in one spot too long will create deep valleys in the trim.

In regards to the filler, my best suggestion is to make sure that it is fully cured before you start sanding it down.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

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