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How to customise shelves in a closet?

Hi folks,

Happy Easter.

I have 5 wardrobes in my house. All of them consist of only a top shelf and a long-handing rod where we can hang clothes with a hanger only. They do not have any spare shelves. What I am trying to do is to add some additional shelves to the wardrobes so that we could categorize our clothes and stuff accordingly. Basically, I want to do something like this guy is doing here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R7kRkmXBmU&ab_channel=HomeImprovementWoodworking

I am doing some research at the moment but if someone can direct me the right way ( including what king of timber is appropriate for this case), I would appreciate it.

Or even direct me to the link where someone has done something similar.

Thanks in advace.

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MitchellMc

Hi @Sugar,

Happy Easter to you too!

In the video, he appears to be using BC grade plywood. An alternative would be to use melamine coated chipboard. We now stock a range of coloured options that looks fantastic and add more interest than the standard white coat.

You might also like to check out our wide range of wardrobe storage. If you can find units that fit nicely, they could cost you less than the actual timber to build them. Perhaps you could do a combination of custom and pre-built to get precisely what you want.

If you could provide an image of a cupboard, the dimensions and some notes on what types of shelves you need, I'd be happy to check out the available storage solutions to see what we could fit in there.

You should find these step-by-step guides useful: How to install a wardrobe insert and How to customise a flatpack wardrobe.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Sugar

@MitchellMc

Thank you for replying even during this holiday season.

I am not really after a fancy design, I am just after adding vertical plywood and a couple ( max. 4 shelves)of shelves on them.

I have found some perfect pictures of what I am trying to do. Following are the images.

Following are images from my house ( Please ignore the mess, this is what I want to sort out 🙂 )

EricL

Hello @Sugar

It's great that you've received excellent advice from my colleague @MitchellMc. thank you for posting pictures of what you're trying to emulate. I've drawn up some sketches for you to look at in order to give you an idea of how you can achieve a simple divider with shelves. Please keep in mind that the measurements I've placed are for reference only. Please adjust them to your needs.

The height of the vertical panel will depend on how high the existing shelf is. If for example, the height is 1750mm you'll need to cut a panel that high. Depth is also crucial as you don't want the panel to be sticking out. It will also follow that the shelves will be just as deep at 450mm. Shelf width will depend on where you will place the vertical panel. I suggest using Carinya 20 x 20 x 15 x 1.4mm White Round Angle Bracket - 12 Pack on all parts of the new shelving.

If you have any other questions about the assembly, please don't hesitate to ask.

Eric

MitchellMc

Hi @Sugar,

Those shelves can easily be constructed with a couple of pre-drilled side panels. You can then have a standard melamine board cut to the correct width for your shelves and top and bottom pieces. The shelves are positioned at the correct heights with shelf pins.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Sugar

@EricL you nailed it, especially with these graphics. I loved the design. And the measurements were very close. Your descriptions have been very helpful for my previous project ( Mounting TV).

@MitchellMc Thank you for showing me the easiest way. This is definitely what I can achieve in this long weekend. And I do not really need to have very fancy as this house will be turned into investment property at some point in the future. I just need this for a little better clothes organization. Having said that I would love to put some characteristics on my main bedroom wardrobe, which is bigger when I design like this. I will definitely post my result for the first 3-4 wardrobes and I will do the main bedroom one later ( once I get hang of everything).

Thanks to both of you.

MitchellMc

Keep us updated @Sugar, and reach out if you need further assistance. We'd also love to see your finished result, so please feel free to share it when you're done.

Mitchell

Sugar

@MitchellMc @EricL

I visited my local bunnings warehouse to get standard Melamine boards and Predrilled side panels. I have found them and I have to customize them ( cut to fit my wardrobe). I have two questions, hope you can help me with that.

1.) I would like to use back panels as this is going to be a wardrobe insert, please suggest to me what Bunning products I can use for the back panel as shown in the picture.

2.) How can I join ( put ) the top and bottom shelves to the two vertical predrilled side panels? I believe I need to use screws to connect them to the vertical side panels. Please see the posted image.

Thank you for your help.

MitchellMc

Typically, you'd nail a 3mm Melamine White MDF skin onto the back of the unit @Sugar. These Paslode 20 x 1.6mm 100g Bright Steel Flat Head Nails will be suitable.

When assembling, you should pre-drill and countersink the side panels and pre-drill the top and bottom sections ready to accept Zenith 8G x 40mm Countersunk Rib Head Chipboard Screws. Once you've fixed the top and bottom in place, you can cover the screws with Kaboodle Stick On Kitchen Screw Caps. I've added a rendering below to illustrate.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

Sugar

Firstly, Many thanks to @MitchellMc @EricL and to my father (who came from overseas a few months ) for constantly helping me for 3-4 hours while preparing this design.

I successfully designed what I needed for my house and my wife is happy too 🙂

Total time taken : 3-4 hours. I still need to make one more for another room

The followings are my result:

It perfectly fits under the wardrobe. it has enough space.

The size of this design is : 1500(H) X 782(W) X 445(D)

I wanted to make as big as possible so that it could fit under the wardrobe.

Process: I bought Melamine boards as instructed by @MitchellMc in previous notifications. Plus, the MDF backboard, which I did not get the right size, and hence I had to cut to the right size to fit on the back.

Precautions: While cutting the Melamine boards, it is very important to note if the edges are following 90 deg. I found that my shelves were not equally cut and later I found that the white Melamine ( predrilled and normal) boards were not cut perfectly in 90 degree when getting from the warehouse. However, there was not much difference and I could still manage to insert them and did some sanding to make even. I learnt this lesson. It will be easier for me to design next time. I learn few other things ( and my dad also) like how to cut withing damaging the surface while designing this.

The Good part: This can be taken wherever I will go. Not mounted to the house.

EricL

Hello @Sugar

Thank you so much for sharing your finished project. It has certainly made a difference, now that you have a lot of shelves where you can put your clothes in. I suggest treating your father to a meal for all the help he's provided. I'm sure this project will inspire a lot of our members to consider the possibility of putting in their own wardrobe shelves.

We look forward to seeing your next project.

Eric

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