I can’t believe it’s been 3 months since I posted any projects but let me tell you I’ve definitely been busy! When we were shopping for a home I saw many builders who were building those laundry room lockers. I thought to myself, “what a great idea, it removes clutter, a place for kiddos to put their coats and shoes and backpacks, a drop stop, as we call it in our home.” I wanted one but the home we chose didn’t allow us that option.
See!! Neat and organized!! If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s clutter, it literally makes me feel like I can’t breath. Even my kitchen counter, I don’t want a coffee pot or toaster resting on it. And since my wonderful dear children stepped into the scene they’ve been using the 2”x4” spot in front of ANY entry door as the “drop spot.” I’ve instructed them, showed them, explained to them, quizzed them, tried the reward system, threatened, begged, pleaded, and even used sarcasm asking them once, “so how’d you all get away from the man with the gun?” (With inquisitive looks on their little faces) they asked, “what man mommy?” I said “the man who obviously was standing near the front door and ordered you to DROP IT!” Even if they come in at different times, the first one will drop whatever gear they haul home and this could be a wide array of things, from backpacks, boots, hats, toys, art supplies, neighbors flowers from their flower bed (we’ve had that talk) even a real life mud pie, Yay goody, 👎🏼 and one by one they all file in and push the door making them a nice little path. Sometimes Gianna, my youngest and smallest of the crew will actually grunt using all her strength to push a path through the drop stop yet she too, drops her loot right there! After baths and reading is done and kids are in bed I usually find this;
That’s a beach towel!!! It’s 28 degrees out and that’s one of my beach towels!! SMH
And I’m pretty sure that’s a pumpkin pie can and my can opener?? I don’t even have a follow up comment to that. Most of the time I find it best if I just don’t ask.
So I started to envision a beautiful locker system in my garage. I have a small platform that is lifted 4-5” off the floor in front of my entry door into the house from the garage. It’s about 5’ x 10’ and I thought that’ll be a perfect place.
But like most of my ideas, my husband says I always have this Norman Rockwall painting scene in my head but it usually ends up more like a Nightmare on Elm Street scene, there’s sweating, screaming, running, and crying. For the most part he’s right, yet somehow I convince myself that this time will be different.
So I got to work, scrolled through plans on the internet and came across Pete’s DIY. Here’s the link to his hitch plans that I used https://www.diypete.com/how-to-build-a-hutch/
I altered it a little here and there, like I added some small cheap 1/4” trim to the sides and used some extra wood to add a crown-like top.
Trim pieces (above) that I used for the sides
The first part of the plan was to build the bench. I had my friends at Home Dept cut down 2 pieces of high quality plywood. Smooth and soft.
I laid the bench on some 2x4s I had in the garage so I could put the top, bottom and sides on the bench without scraping the top on the garage floor.
The piece it huge!! But I wanted 5-6 locker slots for my large family.
Once that was together I carefully measured out how far away each slot needed to be.
🚨 NEWBIE ALERT 🚨
Remember to take into account the thickness of the slots in making sure they are equal distance. I didn’t factor that in and couldn’t understand why in the world when I got to the end my 5th locker was almost twice as wide.
Once I got them evenly spaced (or close enough) I covered the bench in plastic leaving only the top of it exposed. I went back and force about whether to keep the whole bench white or stain the seat of the bench and in the end I’m so happy I used stain. I’m completely in love with the color. I used Min-wax Dark Walnut. I did two coats, once dry I then used polyurethane and lightly sanded with a high grade 320 sand paper and my sander. It was smooth, but I wanted super smooth, so I did another coat of the polyurethane and resanded!! That baby was so smooth if I propped one side up just a small amount you’d slide right the heck off!!
Next up I went through and used wood putty/filler on all the nail holes and sanded smooth once it was dry.
Once it was sanded and smooth I went ahead and painted the bench and moved it in place, something told me it was gonna be heavy once I had the locker section built and on top.
I found the baskets at Target, they fit perfectly and were very durable, I believe I paid about $20 per basket. My local Target was short one basket so I waited a few weeks and kept checking anytime I ran to Target. I could have just as easily ordered that last one online or check another Target but I knew I wasn't going to be done building the locker portion for a few weeks so I wasn't in any hurry.
So off we go, onto the locker section. This wasn't as hard as I assumed it would be,
I enlisted some help from my son Nic, who wants to be an architect, which was actually a great idea because at 10 years old he has way better math skills than his mother!!
I used my trusty Kreg-Jig (one of the best purchases I've made in my woodworking venture) I was able to join them together pretty well building all the spaces I needed.
I trusted Nic completely on his math skills, but one thing I know about my son, he is so convincing at times he's actually very very wrong. I don't believe it's due to trickery, more like, he too is completely convinced himself, and he convinces you he is correct, (maybe he should get into politics) so I wanted to double check OUR his measurements by placing the lockers up on the bench.
Once I knew my son was gonna make one heck of an architect because his measurements were spot on, I went ahead and took it off the bench and started the detail work.
This process I basically “winged it” by adding trim to parts that I thought looked good and then painting the entire piece.
For the sides (pictured above)
I used the thin pieces of pre cut strips you can find at Home Depot, I also pictured them above with the SKU sticker. It says Poplar .25" x 2.5" x 48" now they do come in smaller than 48" strips as well.
For the top of the locker portion (pictured below) I layered a
1x2 “flat”
1x6 vertically
A piece of random door jam trim (Home Depot calls it lattice)
1x3 vertically
And I finished it off with another 1x2 laying flat
Here's some close up pictures of the top portion on trim and a back side picture to see how I attached them I used my kreg jig and liquid nails.
For the back I got a sheet of white paneling and attached it with heavy duty staples. The hooks I simply found a set of 6 that I liked, centered them up to each locker and called it a day!
You may notice originally I had the baskets on the bottom thinking it would give my children (and husband) easy access to put their shoes in them so they'd be nicely hidden, then I remembered whose children and husband I was thinking about and realized that was expecting far too much. LOL
So after a short trial I realized moving the baskets on top would work better. The kids put misc. school papers, books, water bottles and lunch bags in them so after everyone is in bed I am able to find everything needed for the next day in one safe spot.
See!!! Perfection!!! Look how pretty and organized that looks,
So I've been asked now that my locker system is almost a year old how it's working out.
You, tell me,,,,,,,
Thanks for stopping by the LOUDEST HOUSE ON THE LEFT!!!!
