Wednesday, August 8, 2012

How I Built our Pottery Barn Lockers!


I promised you I would share with you how I built our lockers for the garage. So strap on your tool belts, here we go!

 Ryan & the boys were gone for 3 days, so it was just us Girls at home.  I decided I needed to re-work how Coats, Backpacks and Shoes were stored in our Garage. 

I wanted to Surprise the guys and have the Lockers finished by the time they returned.  I came really close, I was to the point of having 3 of the 5 doors on when they pulled in the driveway!

I first started by sketching out the lockers and deciding on how much wood I would need to buy.  I went and saw my buddy at Stock Lumber in the finish shop and loaded up and purchased all the wood I was going to need. I purchased really just two sizes of wood. 

 The wood that the main structure would be built out of was 11 1/4 inch wide x 8 feet.  (I cut down the lengths once I got home). You can purchase wider wood for the lockers, I had to purchase this width due to the area and space I was going to be working with.  The other wood I purchased was just some hookstrip.  Its about 3 in. in width x 8 feet. (I cut the different lengths when I got home.)  I used the hookstrip for my Back Braces of the lockers, some top shelf supports and for some of the sides of the walls for my younger girls lockers to place hooks on.  I then took some of the hookstrip and ripped it on the table saw down to  1 1/2 in. to make lower shelf supports for the walls.
  
**Special Note:
Now I know when I am looking at DIY projects on blogs, I like to see the before and after shots.  So I'm going to post a picture of what this area looked like before the lockers. I typically don't like to do this because I am such a perfectionist, but I feel like we are getting to know one another by now so why not???

Ok so here is the "Before" space I had to work with , let's refer to it as complete Chaos!

Ok and while we are at it, Here is the other reason why I built the lockers, the original set of garage lockers I first built us simply was not keeping up with the demands of 5 kids and all the sports and bookbags!




  I did a lot of figuring of the space.  So I next spaced out where each of the walls of the lockers would go.  I started with a Back Board brace of where the first locker would go.  Also remember that due to the narrowness of  each locker I had to pre-paint each locker and have the hooks on it so it was completely finished as I went. Otherwise I would not be able to get my drill inside each locker to screw in the hooks.  :) here is the first wall... I simply attached the wall of the locker to the back brace with a grabber screw on the side of the wall that you can't see in this photo to anchor it. Once the upper and lower shelves went in, it made the locker more secure. I would also note that you could do a lower back brace too down low to anchor the side wall to to make it even more secure.

 Note: I already had my back wall existing, so I didn't need to make a back board for this project.  In fact a couple years ago, I put up some Bead board that I had left over and painted the garage.


Note also that the hookstrip and shelf supports do not go the width of the whole sidewall of each locker.  They stop about 1 1/2 in short of the front of the locker walls to allow room for the doors to close into them. 

On each wall, I had to figure where the shelves were going to be so I placed each of the shelf supports in their appropriate spaces... As I stated before, the shelf supports do not go the whole distance of the width of the wall, because you have to allow room for the door to set inside the locker and for the door to close into the locker at the front. (In this photo, the wall is actually upside down.  These are the lower shelf supports that go at the bottom of the wall. On the left is the "front" of the wall where the door needs to set into the locker.)

Here are a couple walls drying with paint before I placed them... Notice some of the shelf supports here towards the top are wider.  That is the full width of the hookstrip because I use it to place hooks on it.  The lower shelf supports are the hookstrip I ripped on the table saw.


Now the walls with hooks on them ready to go... 

One Locker done!!! I have the top shelf and bottom shelves in and the hooks already on for the locker next door! For the shelves, it is simply the 11 1/4 in mdf I used for the walls, just cut to appropriate widths and lengths for each locker.

Two Lockers done!! With the back brace ready for the next locker all cut in place and puttied waiting for paint. I would simply anchor each wall on an angle with a nail gun to the back brace until I had the shelves in place to make each locker more secure. (Awww, here on the right I have some spectators... our HUGE  Newfoundland dog Oscar  and our little Yorkie, Addy checking out what I'm up to...)
3 Lockers done!  At this point, I'm exhausted because I have been up late the night before painting until way late into the morning, but feeling triumphant that I've gotten this far!  
Oh wait, who's that?? A little Stowaway up early in the morning, still in her jammies and sooo excited her locker is done!  Here's how the conversation went with a 23 month old...  

Ivy: "Hi mum!"  Youuze wookin on da Wachers?" 
Me:  "Yes sweetie, yours is done!"
Ivy: "Kankyou mommie!"


So now I have all 5 lockers up and have some finish trim on the top and bottoms of some.  I next started building the doors.  
Once I had the finish trim on a locker, I measured and cut each door.  Each door was the width I bought the wood at, 11 1/4 inches wide.  All I had to do was cut the length and cut the grooves in doors...

I did this simply by figuring the width of the door and dividing it by the 3 panels which left me with a groove to be cut every 3 3/4 inches.  So I set the fence on the table saw at a distance of 3 3/4 in. from the fence to the saw blade.  Now I just want a groove cut in the door right?  So I had to lower the height of the saw blade so it wouldn't cut clear through the board.  I set the blade to where it would only cut into the board 1/4 of an inch.  Ran the door along the fence on the saw to cut one groove, rotated the door around to the opposite side of the board and repeated the same step.  

Once I had all doors cut, grooved, primed and painted, it was time to start hanging the doors.  After I figured where I wanted the hinges, I placed the hinges and hung a couple doors then placed the remaining hinges on the rest of the lockers... 

Once I did all of that, they were completed!  I cut some numbers on my Silhouette Cameo on contact paper to create a stencil and put numbers on each of them!  



Now that they are ready, I just need to move the kid's stuff in!

Here is a shot with some things moved in Ivy's Locker...

I just can't say enough good about these lockers and how fun they have been.  When we are pulling into the garage and  put up the garage door I'm often shouting  "Woot! Woot! love them lockers!"  It has really helped to keep down the chaos in the garage.  I still have some more projects I need to work on in the garage, but this is a good start!   If you would like to see more pictures of these lockers you can see them here or by clicking on the image below.
**On a Design note, wouldn't these type of lockers look so cool in a Kid's room or Playroom?


P.S.  I now have a facebook page for Chalkboardblue and a like box on the right hand side here on my blog!  I would LOVE it if you would "like" me on facebook! 

***If you would like to see more dimensions of our lockers, you can see that here or by clicking on the photo below...



 If you would like to see more projects I have built you can see them here or click on this  picture...




If you would like to see more parties/projects I have done with my silhouette Cameo you can see them here or click on this picture...

With Much Love & Gratitude,

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45 comments:

  1. I am in love love love with your lockers! You are seriously one handy lady! Maybe one day you can teach me a few of your skills?! Oh, and thanks for following Navy Bean Lane :) It means a lot!

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    1. Thank you so much! We have just loved them and it has helped to keep down the Chaos! And I'm thrilled to be a follower of Navy Bean lane! Such a great blog! :)

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  2. Oh My HECK! Those are so darn cute! I bet you just love to open the garage door now! Lovely job cuz!

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    1. Thank you thank you Kristen! I do! I absolutely love to open the garage! It is sooo much better in there! I still have more work to do, but I'll get there! thanks a bunch!! :)

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  3. I have been thinking about your notebook drawings since last night when I saw it at r.s. I love it!

    clicking over to 'like'

    (check out my new background and see if you think the colors match?)

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    1. Ok! I'm headed there now! I love your thumnail pic with your cute hat! clever!!! :)

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  4. These are Gorgeous and out of this world! WOW! I'll have this up on my FB!

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    1. thank you and thank you for featuring them on Knock off Decor!!!

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  5. {LOVE} how these turned out! Wonder if I can get my hubby to build me a set in our garage. I'd build them but we really on have funding for the project to be done right the first time! lol Very cool!

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    1. I love your comment! that makes me giggle! We have loved ours!! so functional!!!

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  6. These are amazing. I will feature them MOnday at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com.

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    1. thank you for featuring them on someday crafts that is so sweet of you!!

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  7. They came out fantastic! Thanks for sharing your great tutorial. Megan

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    1. thank you! we have absolutely loved them here!! they help keep a lot of the chaos down!!

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  8. I'm SO impressed!!!! They look better than the ones at pottery barn! How you do it with 5 kids I'll never know! I'm at the beginning stages of learning how to build but I can barely find any time to do anything & I only have 3 kids! Great job!

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    1. OH thankyou so much!! They were fun to design and build and we have loved them! I dont know how I do it really, I guess Im just crazy sometimes ha ha!! but thankyou and good luck to you and your building adventures!!

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  9. Woman, you are super crafty and handy with them tools. These look really, really nice.

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    1. thank you so much! I enjoy it, I really do! I hope to be able to get some more projects designed and built too!! thanks again! :)

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  10. amazing lady! I am remodeling my house, and I am having those lockers built in my garage. Love the idea. You are handy and stylish. Great combo! Thanks for the inspiration. :)

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    1. OH thank you! I hope you get a set in your garage too! we have loved ours! good luck with your remodeling!!!

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  11. Is perfect for my garage-woodworking-school tanks

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  12. I have long drooled over those Pottery Barn lockers. Yours are better! I just love how these turned out. I am a new follower...I just love your style and projects!

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  13. Wow. You are super talented. You've really inspired me. Can you tell me how you attached the boards to the wall and one another?

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    1. Hello! If you look at some of the very first pictures, I placed a back brace horizontally at the top. I nailed that brace into the wall. I next stood the side panels up and flush (kind of forming an "L" shape) with the back brace board and then pre-drilled a hole through the side of the panel and then screwed at an angle, a long grabber screw starting from the outside of the side panel going through it and into the end of the back brace. I also nailed it with some longer brad nails in the same fashion. You can put a back brace board at the top like I did and also at the bottom to anchor your side panels. Email me if you have any more questions and I can help ya. :)

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