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DIY: PCShutters Home Renovation Projects

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Red_Army wrote: I thought I read him say that he is an amateur. 🤷‍♂️
Perhaps a well-to-do amateur who spent his money on tools instead of beanie babies?
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hoob wrote: Perhaps a well-to-do amateur who spent his money on tools instead of beanie babies?
Red_Army wrote: I thought I read him say that he is an amateur. 🤷‍♂️

I like to collect things. Started with stamps, evolved into currency and now tools. Have been collecting tools since 2002 (noticed most of my tools are in brand new conditions? Some are still in their original retail boxes)
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Heavy Duty Bunk Bed Build

Before I can officially call the second floor renovation complete, I need to build all oversized furniture first to reduce the amount of damages caused by moving things around. This week, I tackled the bunk bed for my daughters. I personally hate bunk beds but when you have more kids than bedrooms, I have no choice.

Based on my calculation, this bunk bed weights about 400lbs. After some research, I saw a lot of people intentionally leave the plywood edges exposed. I thought it might be fun to do the same especially I will be using Baltic birch for this build.

I started by making the headboard & footboard. These are structural so went a little overboard with these panels. To cut down on the weight a little bit, the inner panel is not solid. I joint all of the pieces with floating tenons with no metal hardware in case I need to drill into it later.

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Glued the panels together to make the inner frame

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Laminating the Baltic birch plywood on both side of the inner frame making the boards about 2-1/4" thick that weights about 130lbs each.

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I thought it would be nice detail to add a few exotic wood strips in between to breakup what otherwise would be just the boring plywood sheets.

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This is what the exposed plywood edge look like

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I then moved onto the bed rails. Pretty simple really. It consists of one 5-1/2" rail, one 1-1/2" supporting rail and a bunch of spacers for the bed slats.

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Dry fit one of the rail into the bed frame

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The bed slats are simple enough, it is just 3/4"x2-1/2"x38.5". Roundover all of the edges to make it more kid friendly.

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Prefinished the slats

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Dry fit the rest of the rails and slats

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Next is the ladder for the bed. Started with the ladder rails. I doodled a design that I think looks good on the wood and started cutting it out with a jig saw and finesse it with a rasp until I have the shape that I like.

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Once, the first rail is done, I just traced it to another piece and do the mirror copy of it.

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Cutting the mortise for the ladder rungs and dry fit it.

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Once I am satisfied with the look, I roundover all of the edges and glue them together.

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Installed the ladder onto the bed

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Make the bed guard for the upper bed with frame and panel & acrylic sheets. Dry fit the whole bed to make sure everything still fits.

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Dismantle the bed stain the rails, ladder and bed guard.

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The bunk bed in its final location.

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Nov 9, 2011
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PCShutters wrote: Image
Love the minimalistic look, especially the headboard & footboard; I hate cleaning those bunk bed with built in shelves - I can't seem to keep the dust off it.
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tonershop wrote: Love the minimalistic look, especially the headboard & footboard; I hate cleaning those bunk bed with built in shelves - I can't seem to keep the dust off it.
Thanks. That is what I was going for but unfortunately I again have to do exactly just that because the ladder is not very functional.
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Due to space constraints, I have to go with a ladder design that take the least amount of footprint. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Climbing up is not too bad but going down is difficult because it is too steep.

To address the issue, I have decided to build a real set of stairs to go up to the upper bunk. Started with making the ledges for the first step.

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Making a template for the first step

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Transfer it to the plywood and cut it out

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Rinse and repeat to make the other 2 steps and put a few coats of clear coat on it.

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Installed the first step

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Install the support for the second step

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Second step installed

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Installed the last step. This is the highest I can go because I don't want to block the window shutters from opening. I also have to cut the footboard shorter to make climbing onto the upper bunk easier.

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Checking to make sure the shutter still opens.

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Final pictures

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Kitchen Renovation

I was going to wait until I finish the kitchen renovation before I post this topic but this project is so big that it would take forever to complete so I thought I might as well post my renovation in progress instead.

This is my old kitchen. Typical L shape builder grade 100 sqft kitchen.

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Because my old kitchen cabinets were still in a decent shape. I posted it on Kijiji for free and it was gone within minutes. A very nice couple came and dismantle my entire kitchen and haul it away in a few hours time. I didn't have to do anything. While at it, I offered them my bathroom vanities, mirrors, doors, bath tubs, etc...they took it all! I didn't even have to get one of those dumpster for my entire house renovation.

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Removed the bulkhead, ran a few pot lights and relocate a few receptacles based on my new kitchen layout.

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Replaced the drywall and put on the first coat of mud

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Rip out the old tiles and subfloor and replace it with plywood. To see my tile job, see post #177

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Enlarge the exhaust fan vent to 8"

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Finally, I get to the cabinets. I spent 2 days reading all of the appliance manuals and planned out my kitchen layout. I am getting rid of the breakfast area and make the entire room a kitchen so I have approximately 170sq to work with. I started the planning on a piece of paper and transferred it onto the wall to get a better visual on the actual sizes of the cabinets.

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Once I am happy with the layout, I prepared the cut list and cut out most of the parts I will need. There are so many pieces...

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And more pieces...Did I mention how much wood is required for this build??

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After I have most of the pieces cut down to more manageable sizes, I pre-finish it with water-based poly.

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Once dried, I get to assemble the carcasses. If you have it well planned out, it doesn't take very long. My brother and I built & hung these upper cabinet carcasses in one Sunday.

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i love the taping idea on the wall to visualize
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This thread is crazy!!! DIY build your own kitchen cabinets from scratch!?!?! Are you a contractor by trade or just a super DIY guy? Subscribed to this thread!
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exrcoupe wrote: This thread is crazy!!! DIY build your own kitchen cabinets from scratch!?!?! Are you a contractor by trade or just a super DIY guy? Subscribed to this thread!
Thanks but I am just your average joe DIYer with access to some better than average tools. Money-mouth Face
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pardnme wrote: i love the taping idea on the wall to visualize
Yes that is one of my better use of time and effort. It not only help me visualize my kitchen better but it also act as a “map” for my kitchen build because there are so many components. It is easy to forget or misplace a workpiece.
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PCShutters wrote: Thanks but I am just your average joe DIYer with access to some better than average tools. Money-mouth Face
What the hell is your day job? Lol

Amazing work
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PCShutters wrote: Thanks but I am just your average joe DIYer with access to some better than average tools. Money-mouth Face
You are NOT an average DIYer! Looking at some of the stuff you've done in this thread is scaring the crap out of me, especially the plumbing stuff. I DIY'ed my own basement and did everything EXCEPT plumbing because I had my own nightmare story that will have to wait for another day to tell.

Are you living in the house while you're doing all of this?
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exrcoupe wrote: You are NOT an average DIYer! Looking at some of the stuff you've done in this thread is scaring the crap out of me, especially the plumbing stuff. I DIY'ed my own basement and did everything EXCEPT plumbing because I had my own nightmare story that will have to wait for another day to tell.

Are you living in the house while you're doing all of this?
TBH some of the plumbing isn’t done to code, what is shown least. Can’t speak for what isn’t shown, but based on descriptions, it may not be either
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exrcoupe wrote: You are NOT an average DIYer! Looking at some of the stuff you've done in this thread is scaring the crap out of me, especially the plumbing stuff. I DIY'ed my own basement and did everything EXCEPT plumbing because I had my own nightmare story that will have to wait for another day to tell.

Are you living in the house while you're doing all of this?
Nope, I am renting a house next door during this renovation.
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I need help: I am about to build the base cabinet but can’t decide on which thickness will look better and since the final height of my counter must be 36”, I can’t move forward with my build without making up my mind.

I am pretty sure I want quart for my kitchen but can’t decide between the 2cm quart with the double up around the lip or 3cm without the lip. Please help me make up my mind. The price difference is not that much ($3,850 vs 4,850)

Also, what do you think of this colour on top of walnut or darker bamboo base cabinets?
444EEFF9-250C-4312-9553-A787ABA59EAA.jpeg
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i recently renoed with IKEA - they only do 3cm

lots of shops i visited independently said there isn't much difference besides the front lip (based on the type of bevel/edge I chose)

will a 1cm difference really affect the whole kitchen? I don't think it will have any affect

I would build based on the fact you are doing 2cm...and then even if you get 3...it doesn't really matter

but if you built based on 3cm...but then decided 2cm...the kitchen might look/feel lower...not sure
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PCShutters wrote: I need help: I am about to build the base cabinet but can’t decide on which thickness will look better and since the final height of my counter must be 36”, I can’t move forward with my build without making up my mind.

I am pretty sure I want quart for my kitchen but can’t decide between the 2cm quart with the double up around the lip or 3cm without the lip. Please help me make up my mind. The price difference is not that much ($3,850 vs 4,850)

Also, what do you think of this colour on top of walnut or darker bamboo base cabinets?

444EEFF9-250C-4312-9553-A787ABA59EAA.jpeg
This is my experience replacing an existing countertop with double lip, though it may not be relevant because you are redoing the cabinets, it may give you something to think about.

I also picked a white-ish quartz for my countertop. There are areas where I can see the seam if I look closely, but in general it looks fine (they doubled up, instead of mitering it - does anyone mitre the lip or did I get screwed?) What bothers me still is that some of my doors/drawers scratch the bottom of the countertop lip every so slightly such that it doesn't close unless I push it to close. However, when comparing to the look of 3cm without lip that some of my friends have, I do prefer the thicker 4cm look. Another reason I'm glad I went with the lip is the sink. We went with deep 10" undermount sink with a 3" high bucket at the bottom for collecting waste, and we barely had enough vertical drop for proper drainage as it was. The additional 1cm would have made it worse.
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PCShutters wrote: I need help: I am about to build the base cabinet but can’t decide on which thickness will look better and since the final height of my counter must be 36”, I can’t move forward with my build without making up my mind.

I am pretty sure I want quart for my kitchen but can’t decide between the 2cm quart with the double up around the lip or 3cm without the lip. Please help me make up my mind. The price difference is not that much ($3,850 vs 4,850)

Also, what do you think of this colour on top of walnut or darker bamboo base cabinets?
444EEFF9-250C-4312-9553-A787ABA59EAA.jpeg

I like your counter top choice, without the flooring it's close to your colour scheme which looks great. Not my kitchen but I posted this image in another thread a few days ago.

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Jon Lai wrote: This is my experience replacing an existing countertop with double lip, though it may not be relevant because you are redoing the cabinets, it may give you something to think about.

I also picked a white-ish quartz for my countertop. There are areas where I can see the seam if I look closely, but in general it looks fine (they doubled up, instead of mitering it - does anyone mitre the lip or did I get screwed?) What bothers me still is that some of my doors/drawers scratch the bottom of the countertop lip every so slightly such that it doesn't close unless I push it to close. However, when comparing to the look of 3cm without lip that some of my friends have, I do prefer the thicker 4cm look. Another reason I'm glad I went with the lip is the sink. We went with deep 10" undermount sink with a 3" high bucket at the bottom for collecting waste, and we barely had enough vertical drop for proper drainage as it was. The additional 1cm would have made it worse.
I prefer the thicker 4cm lip too but how it is achieved is based on manufacturer. The company that I visited for Canadian Hanstone meters the lip while the company I look at for Chinese MSI doubles it.

For the cabinet, mine was built lower but raised like this to accomodate the lip

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