Now, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that I did it by myself. I lacked the tools, the knowledge, the experience, the tools - pretty much everything needed to build anything. My dad is an amazing craftsman and all-around handy guy, but he lives several hours away and I only get to see him on the weekends. So that left me only one victim: Mr. Neil.
Mr. Neil and his family are old friends of my parents, and all of us kids are roughly the same ages, so we sort of grew up together. I think our families have known each other for about 15 years now, give or take a few. We do an annual Christmas Eve dinner, celebrate birthdays and holidays together and now that we have families of our own, us kids watch each others' children. It's crazy. Anyway, Mr. Neil and my dad used to work together on projects all the time, and they still do on occasion. He's another excellent craftsman and builder, and I just knew he was the right person to help get me started.
So it happened that I met Mr. Neil at the Blue Store to pick up our supplies: plywood, screws, 2x2s (and because I decided that since I am a very small person and this is a very big piece of wood, it should have wheels on the bottom), casters, bolts and nuts. The next evening I met him in his garage and we got to work. I wish I had asked his wife, Ms. Tanna, to take pictures for me, but in all the times she came out to see how we were doing, I never thought to ask. Darn. After three hours, I had learned to use a circular saw, chalk line, nail gun, power drill with a countersink bit and voila! We built this:
Sorry for the dark picture, it was very late when we finished and I just HAD to take a picture RIGHT NOW. It all came out pretty well, with one exception - I forgot to mirror the sides. I made two right sides instead of a right and a left. It all worked out okay, and you'd never know except that I just told you.
The building may have been over, but I was far from done. Next step: wood putty. I must have read reviews for a thousand wood putties before I settled on this one. Blame Husband for the review thing - he insists on checking the reviews for every single product we ever consider purchasing. It's a little ridiculous.
I got halfway through the cabinet using a flat head screwdriver as a sort of putty knife before I gave up and started using my finger. Whatever, my hands are washable.
I hate sanding. I really do. Sanding by hand makes your arms ache after five minutes and sanding with an orbital sander makes your hands numb after two. I really just need a sandblaster, I think. But I sanded this beast inside and out, going over and over the raw edges of the plywood so that I wouldn't have any splinters or rough spots. Then, because I learned my lesson from the bathroom dresser, I primed it, inside and out.
Looks nice, right? The minute that was dry, it was time for the real paint. I pored over paint chips at the blue store until I found just the right shade of teal. Not too green, not too blue. Just right. It makes me so happy!
So two coats of teal later, it started to rain outside. And it rained. And rained. And rained. And the paint never dried. I let this thing sit for almost a week after painting it, and it was still a little tacky. It just wouldn't cure. After two weeks, I gave up and put the baskets in. A few days after that, I went ahead and transferred all of my sewing stuff over to the baskets from it's original resting spot in the middle of my pantry, where it blocked access to everything but rice and cereal. We've been very hungry for a while now.
I couldn't take a picture with the cabinet facing the other way (even though it would have meant much better lighting) because I'm too embarrassed to let anyone see what the inside of my garage looks like now that those aluminum shelving units are gone.
The bottom basket is whole fabrics, 1 yard or more. And it's overflowing.
The next is scrap fabric, less than a yard. It's also overflowing.
The next to top basket is semi-finished projects. There are purses, quilt tops, stuffed animals and clothes. I should really do something about that.
The top basket is ribbons, cords, trim and sewing machine accessories. It is crammed full.
I know I need to pare down on this stuff, but you should have seen the pile I threw away when I transferred everything over to the baskets - it was insane. I never realized how much fabric I had. In fact, I couldn't fit the materials for the ribbon blankets that I make into any of the baskets or the tote - it's in a collapsible crate still sitting in the pantry until I figure out what to do with it.
For now, the laundry basket cabinet, in all its teal glory, is living in my garage. I plan on eventually moving it upstairs to my bedroom closet so that I don't have to beat sawdust off of every piece of fabric I pull out.
If you want to make your own laundry basket cabinet - or anything else amazing, for that matter - you need to check out Ana White. I have several more of her builds on my to-do list, including a bed for E that I'll be making with my best friend when she comes to visit in about a week. I'm so excited!
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