Thread: WIR Ply or melamine (or solid timber?)

Sory, Dave, but are you talking about the entire wadrobe or just the shelf/drawer units to go inside an architectural wardrobe? Perhaps a drawing would clarify?

Depends on what you want it to look like but a prefinished board to your choice or a veneered board is the best way to go for stability and ease of construction
Plywood is not nearly as stable to use
It all comes down to the look you are wanting to achieve and your budget.

Depending what gear you have in your workshop getting it all precut and edged is very cost effective and saves a lot of time

Originally Posted by Beardy

Depends on what you want it to look like but a prefinished board to your choice or a veneered board is the best way to go for stability and ease of construction
Plywood is not nearly as stable to use
It all comes down to the look you are wanting to achieve and your budget.

Depending what gear you have in your workshop getting it all precut and edged is very cost effective and saves a lot of time

I have a cabinet table saw and a track saw among other tools. Only key thing I'm really missing or couldn't easily obtain is a flat surface. However there will be a flat concrete slab in the new garage once it is built. So that's all good. I don't want to cut the parts until the house is all built anyway because I bet it ends up not be exactly square. What I do want to do is have it all designed to the detail and have my cut list already to go. That way I can get cracking as soon as we move in.
Dear wife complains that it takes me a month of Sundays to get around to a project. Which is at least half true. So I want to have these wee projects all ready to start cutting subject to final measurement of the actual space.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Sory, Dave, but are you talking about the entire wadrobe or just the shelf/drawer units to go inside an architectural wardrobe? Perhaps a drawing would clarify?

There are actually 2 parts to the project. The WIR and a vanity nook. The WIR itself is 2,250mm wide by 2,970mm long. The entrance to that space has 500mm ends on each side so that the entry is 1,250 wide. This is the space to store clothes.

Then there is a 1500mm access way between that space and a dresser/makeup vanity sort of nook. This access way space is 1500mm x 2250mm and leads between the master bedroom and the ensuite, with the WIR to one side and the vanity nook to the other. Then the dresser/make up vanity nook is 2250mm x 600mm wide.

So WIR 2,250 x 2,970.
Access and vanity nook is 2250 x 2100 - with nook being 2250 x 600mm wide and 2250 x 1500mm being an open space.

Height of everything is 2,700mm. Floor is carpet and will have skirting boards.
There are 2 downlights in the WIR and 1 in the other space. And plenty of GPOs for me to add lighting.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks, Dave; First let us confirm the I got the overall layout basically correct in my mind:

Daves WIR.jpg
Vanity. By definition, this is a "glamour area" and carries brownie points. But the potions that will live here are very corrosive - think 90% alcohol - so surfaces must be durable. My first reaction was mirror back wall plus marble bench - but not sure if marble is corrosive resistant enough! Perhaps better ideas around.

WIR. Sheet material is far easier than wood; melamine or timber veneer is much more economical than plywood, and both come in 450mm wide sheets which is probably best depth for shelves.
Suggest same material in drawers. Under-drawer runners from Blum or Hetich look best but $$$$; best economy compromise in my opinion are the chinese full-openning ball-bearing runners sold by both Blum and Hetich agents.

Drawer Runners.jpgChinese Runners

May I suggest that, while your house is being built, that you get a CAD program and drawer your ideal layout of shelves, hanging space and drawers, and live with it, and then redraw it....

Originally Posted by Beardy

... Depending what gear you have in your workshop getting it all precut and edged is very cost effective and saves a lot of time. ...

I strongly urge you to consider this option. Eight years ago, I did a total rebuild of our kitchen and got a local cabinet maker to supply, cut and edgeband all the HMR melamine for the cabinet carcases and drawers. It was cut to an accuracy of 0.1mm and cost $50 more than I could have bought the melamine sheeting. No dust, far better edge banding than the iron-on stuff, no cutting mistakes and far more accurate than I could have cut it.

Yes that is it.

Here is that part of the house:

20211129_174827.jpg

And here is the area in question:

20211129_174841.jpg

For the vanity area, I definitely want max brownie points here. I found a DIY man made stone top as an option. And of course there will need to be some sort of mirror and lighting.

For the walk in robe, Dear Wife wants dark brown colour with a modern, contemporary style. And of course, as we know, women never change their mind so that's good.
i wanted to add lots of trim moulding to be honest but I guess that doesn't go with modern/contemporary style.

When I think about it, there is a semi-retired cabinet maker around the corner from the new house. So once I have a design I should talk it over with him, in light of your advice about getting it pre-cut and edged banded.

Dave,

Even if an Ikea purchase is not being contemplated, the fact that their various WIR designs use a combination "standard" functional modules may give you some good ideas for you own design!

Cheers,
Yvan

Originally Posted by yvan

Dave,

Even if an Ikea purchase is not being contemplated, the fact that their various WIR designs use a combination "standard" functional modules may give you some good ideas for you own design!

Cheers,
Yvan

Good point. They offer a free 1 hour session to help you design a layout. So we should do that exercise.