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Archive for the ‘Cabinets’ Category

Scribe Molding

Friday, November 18, 2011
posted by Craig

Typically known as scribe molding every cabinet or trim molding needs to find it’s place of application. Every cabinet is set in place, shimmed, spaced , leveled and then fastened. When we have our cabinets where we want them then we must cut and , pin nailed usually with a finish nail gun , another type of trim finish molding that will take up the rest of the space that needs to be hidden or finished off so to speak.
Often times we have to cut , notch or scribe around the other parts of a room that get in the way. Moldings are the very product that when executed correctly will make or break a “Job well Done” . The image to the left here shows,  after furring out a door jamb with a jamb extension in a bathroom, the cabinet and door casing moldings meet up exactly in the same place! In another instance there is always ways to apply moldings for different looks or decorating. Such as with crown molding, base and case moldings or a common used edge molding trim piece called actual scribe mold.

Where ever these specific moldings wrap around, cover up a gap or create a cap finished look like an plant on oak Ogee arch molding. With the right miter saw and or jigsaw, you can show off your skills that pay the bills faster than you can say “Instant equity”….. why call the guy ? When YOU CAN DIY!!

Concrete Finished Countertop

Saturday, September 10, 2011
posted by Craig

This approach to creating counter space is growing daily and will give identical appearance as some of the other more expensive counter top options. Using concrete on top of cabinetry or even a pass through shelve, can certainly change the look in any room or office. Outside of the concrete color or veining techniques, the mixing and pouring is essentially identical.

Here in this concrete counter form image with reinforced steel or rebar, we have used 4″ lag screws to anchor the #3 rebar, staggered every 24″O.C. The counter or shelve here is formed to 2″ in depth and 12″ wide with the length being 10′ long between the two end points of the adjacent walls. Because it sits atop a 2×4 framed wall, it will cantilever 2″ to the kitchen area and roughly 6″ pass the other side of the same wall into the living room.

The image to the right here shows the importance of protecting the wood framing beneath with flashing paper to act as a moisture barrier and future dry-rotting adherent. The small spacers under our #3 rebar allows the new aggregate pour to completely surround the reinforcement steel for optimum strength.

DIY-Tools & Materials Needed for Your Counter Top Mix:

- plywood or melamine, plus screws to build the mold
- bagged counter-top mix (or “scratch” mix below)
- dyes or pigment if you’re coloring your counter-top
- grinder / polisher with water feed (can be rented)
- diamond polishing discs of various grit
- concrete mixer- concrete vibrating tool (can be rented)- dusts masks

…… Now DIY your own Concrete Counter-Top over almost any applicable surface!

Flex Mold DIY

Saturday, May 28, 2011
posted by Craig

We got the call to remodel a fireplace, hearth and full wrap mantle. Unique in many ways, this full wrap fireplace mantle would have a pair of arched recessed panels in the center below the crown top sitting above the columns on both sides of the fire box.
No exotic wood species here though, my clients wanted it painted white. So we built her out of 3/4″ MDF [multi-density-fiberboard] with some various El & El moldings to create something extraordinary!

Any above average painter can fau out this resin flex molding too, so even all the real wood lovers can enjoy a radius molding appearance without the extra shop tools and mind bending , wood bending tasks. Whatever the type of molding you are using, IE., baseboards, casings or even a 5 1/2″ crown molding , then the flex mold can bend – curve or wrap around to meet up with any other common or custom molding your using.

MDF full wrap mantle with Flex Moulding

Underneath the arch , a piece of flat stock was implemented to return and butt into the face of the travertine stone that was used on the wall and hearth areas of this fire place.

This resin pour custom flex mold is highly pliable and very much paintable or stained. Acts like wood when cutting – nailing – sanding or glueing , for any DIY ‘er thats ready to make a difference!My-diy.net

Flexible flat stock to aide in the return

Why call the guy? When YOU can DIY!!

DIY Concrete Counter Top

Tuesday, March 22, 2011
posted by Craig

This approach to creating counter space is growing daily and will give identical appearance as some of the other more expensive counter top options. Using concrete on top of cabinetry or even a pass through shelve, can certainly change the look in any room or office. Outside of the concrete color or veining techniques, the mixing and pouring is essentially identical.

Here in this concrete counter form image with reinforced steel or rebar, we have used 4″ lag screws to anchor the #3 rebar,  staggered  every 24″O.C.  The counter or shelve here is formed to 2″ in depth and 12″ wide with the length being 10′ long between the two end points of the adjacent walls. Because it sits atop a 2×4 framed wall, it will cantilever 2″ to the kitchen area and roughly 6″ pass the other side of the same wall into the living room.

The image to the left here shows the importance of protecting the wood framing beneath with flashing paper to act as a moisture barrier and future dry-rotting adherent. The small spacers under our #3 rebar allows the new aggregate pour to completely surround the reinforcement steel for optimum strength.

DIY-Tools & Materials Needed for Your Counter Top Mix:

- plywood or melamine, plus screws to build the mold
- bagged countertop mix (or “scratch” mix below)
- dyes or pigment if you’re coloring your counter-top

- grinder / polisher with water feed (can be rented)
- diamond polishing discs of various grit

- Tupperware or similar sandwich containers to make concrete samples

- concrete mixer- concrete vibrating tool (can be rented)- dusts masks

- eye protection- ear protection


Pouring a concrete countertop is DIY project. Truthfully, it isn’t like curing cancer to mix and pour concrete well, but… getting the mixture, the technique, and the finishing just right takes a little practice.

That’s why it’s a good idea to make sample pours first so that you can get an idea what you’re working with and how small variations in the concrete mix can make a difference.

Many people start with a premixed concrete countertop mix. They are specially formulated to be flowable and high strength with plasticizer that makes it flow well even at a low water / cement ratio.

A low water / cement ratio is important for a good result that resists cracking. The Quikrete mix has high enough flow that the need for mechanical vibration is minimized, and it’s made for minimal shrinkage.

Alternately, you could start with regular bagged concrete mix that is rated for a hardness of 5,000 psi or greater, available @ Home Depot or most of your home improvement centers.

Here is a counter top mix you can make “from scratch” that’s enough to make a small test block and that can be scaled up by weight.

You can use a kitchen or postal scale to weigh out the sample measurements. It is recommended that you use white sand and white cement to maximize your color options:

Product / Weight in Grams

Portland Cement 210g

Sand 625g

Nycon G nylon fiber 1g

Metakaolin 30g

Fritz-Pak FR1 Water Reducer 5g

Water 80-90g

If you’re using Quickrete Countertop Mix or Sackrete 5000, or some other pre-mixed countertop mix, start with about 875 grams of dry mix and about 85 grams of water to make a sample.

Whether you’re using a bag concrete mix or my “scratch” concrete countertop recipe, use the smallest amount of water necessary to craft a mix that you can work with.


With color, try weighing out a small amount (a teaspoonful, for example) of the pigment and adding it to your sample.

Of course, you can only estimate how it’s going to look once it’s cured, but again, you have to start somewhere.

Write down how many grams of colorant you use in every batch so you’ll have a basis for guessing how much more or less you need in subsequent samples and so you’ll also know about how much you’ll need for the final product once you get the color you want.

If you want a darker concrete countertop – all the way to a dark charcoal gray – start with Home Depot’s Quickrete Countertop Mix, which is darker than the scratch recipe above, and add charcoal colorant.

Start with one bottle per bag of concrete countertop mix when mixing the final countertop.

Of course you can still experiment with the colorant in your sample slabs.

After you’ve poured your sample, allowed it to set and removed it, ask yourself what’s right and what’s wrong about it. Color will likely be the thing that determines what you should try next.


When you have a sample that pleases you, keep it and let it cure under conditions as close to the curing conditions of the final countertop as possible.

In fact, you should keep all of your samples so you can try out your concrete polishing and sealing techniques on them. Once you have your sample smoothed to the finish you want, you can seal it, according to the directions or you can seal it with  beeswax (which may not be the best at standing up to what the average kitchen countertop endures) or even pure tung oil (like what is used on wood). It depends on the final look you want.

Drawers DIY

Wednesday, January 12, 2011
posted by Craig

Request come in all kinds. “Remove my ice maker and build some cabinet storage or drawer storage”, and make it look as if you were never even here!
The removed ice machine had a huge cavity to restructure, for the set of drawers to work here I had to down size the area inside this cabinet. With an existing face frame, the drawers need a set of runners framed in place to carry the drawer slides, or furring down the size of the existing void.
The existing opening has to be consistent through to the back, so all pieces can be pre-cut and assembled prior to installation. Once layout had been carefully measured, and the drawer boxes were fabricated in the shop, the drawer runners and back boards are installed. And the drawer slides are now ready for leveling and placement.

With a Kreg Jig, the face frame dividers are pre-drilled and installed next. Leaving clearance for the drawer boxes to slide freely and smooth. To align the drawer faces, they can be pin nailed in the proper location first. We can now pre-drill the front of the drawer boxes so they can be screwed to the back of the drawer faces.

The painter gets the call to come and spray finish our clients new diy drawer storage cabinet. If all has been executed precisely, no one will ever know the new drawers have been retro-fitted into an old cabinet!

Being Smart with Your Prescription Medication

Monday, August 9, 2010
posted by DI-Myself

cabinetIf you have any kind of prescription medication or otherwise potentially harmful products in your bathroom, it’s a good idea to keep all these products up high and out of the reach of small children. Kids, after all, are curious. And they always seem to have a way of finding the one thing they’re not supposed to have. That’s why “out of sight, out of mind” is a good tactic to take with all your dangerous bathroom products.

All you have to do is invest in some DIY cabinets. Especially if the cabinets aren’t clear, it will reduce the likelihood of anyone getting a hold of something they shouldn’t. Make sure these cabinets are up high enough that young children can’t reach them. These cabinets, of course, won’t be a safeguard against older children, but they can prove a simple and effective deterrent for your youngest.

DIY how to Build a Drawer

Wednesday, July 7, 2010
posted by Craig

Drawer sides made from prefinished melamine consist with a dado cut 1/4″ deep running the length of the drawer depth. Building a drawer pullout is simply a box, with a drawer front screwed to the drawer face and a drawer knob attached to the drawer face. A typical drawer bottom is 1/4″ white melamine cut on a table saw. hardwood drawer front and backs finished nailed to the drawer sidesdrawer sides and drawer fronts pre-glued for the melamine bottomdrawer bottom slide into 3 sided drawer FRONT-LEFT-RIGHT sidesdrawer 1/4" melamine bottom nailed to pefectly square drawer box

Any cabinet can use some sort of box to pullout and fill with just about anything. The dimension can vary and prefinished drawer sides can be purchased up to 12″ deep for larger capacity. Hardwood drawer fronts and backs are considered mostly for the durability. Once the drawer box has been assembled with finished nails, gun or hand nails will suffice. The drawer slides can be mounted and installed inside the cabinet. All drawer slide hardware has adjustable slots or cams for fine tuning. You may now install the drawer faces and pull hardware.

DIY Drawer Slides

Sunday, June 13, 2010
posted by Craig

Building a better drawer and how to install drawer slides just gets easier. Every cabinet has a cube that will be used for specific reasons. Pullouts can help with this usage, because they enable you to slide out the compartment and have it in front of you instead of down inside the cabinet.installing drawer slides [Cabinet Hardware]

Drawer slides generally are 1/2″ wide, 2 per drawer and come in nominal lengths IE., 10″- 24″ long. So if your cabinet is 19″ deep & the front clear opening or [face frame width] is 14.5″ wide, you will use 18″ slide hardware and the overall width has to be 13.5″, because 14.5″ opening minus 1″ for slides equals 13.5″. The box overall dimensions will be 13.5″ X 18″ to accommodatethe area in which it will be installed. This formula will be used in every cabinet anywhere IE,. Garage cabinets, kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanity cabinets and closet drawers.side mount drawer slides

Side mount full extension pullout drawer slide hardware helps with accessing items in temporary storage, they come in pairs with simple specs and mounting screws. Easy to install with a screwdriver and a tape measure, you don’t have to call the guy when you can DIY.

How To Add an (110v) OUTlet

Wednesday, June 2, 2010
posted by Craig

low profile 110v outlet box inside a cabinet

In a crafts room we wanted to install electrical power to an area that was going to be used as a printing station and required a 15 amp 110v plug for this usage. The best and closest area to leg power from was above the ceiling in the attic storage. With an existing single gang box there we ran some 14/2 romex down the wall and into a cabinet side. This needed only 2 holes drilled and the side of the melamine cabinet wall cut for a low profile single gang retro plastic cut-in box.after layout and some relief holes drilled we cut the cabinet wall 3/4" melamineOnce the wall of the 3/4″ melamine was marked then the Fein Multi Masterassisted in the finish plunge cut, the romex pulled through the box and the electrical outlet box was mounted on the wall, 2 men 2 hours of labor and approx. $35.00 us in materials. Important to note here will be to consult your local building codes for do’s and don’ts.pull the romex wire through and fasten outlet box to cabinet wall

How To Choose Kitchen Cabinets

Thursday, May 20, 2010
posted by Craig

Choosing kitchen cabinets doesn’t have to be confusing. With a little research on your part you’ll know what to ask for, what you want and need, and where to find it. All while saving the most money you possibly can.

First – Decide what you need, what you want, and what you can afford.kitchen cabinet remodel

  • What style are you looking for? Shaker, Country, Retro, Classic, New England, Cottage?
  • Are you open to suggestions and ideas?
  • Do you want wood, laminate, frame cabinets or frameless (Euro-style)?
  • What type of countertops are you going with? Laminate, solid surface, marble, granite, quartz, concrete, tile, glass?
  • Do you need an entirely new kitchen, just a bath vanity, or only a rollout fixed?
  • Do you need help with the entire process, which means you might need to hire or be your own contractor, or is your project small?
  • What is your budget? If you have $200 you can paint your cabinets for a fresh look or get new handles or knobs. If you have $5,000 or more you will be able to get an entirely new kitchen, depending on size. If you have $10,000 you might even begin thinking about remodeling (changing walls, plumbing, etc.). Kitchens really can run from a few thousand to several tens of thousands depending on where you live and what you want. You’ll pay much more for a kitchen in New England or Oregon than you will in Kentucky or Wisconsin.

Thinking about these questions will help get you going in the right direction.