You know that space in the way back of the closet that you can’t ever get to?  We have a space like that, and it’s really inconvenient.  It’s near the base of the stairs so the only way to get there is to crouch and crawl, and remove the boxes and baskets and whatever else got put in the way.  It was to the point that if I knew something was stored way back under there, I’d rather go buy a new one than crawl in there and retrieve it.

I thought this would be a great place for some built-in cabinetry.

The logistics of this was actually a little tougher than I thought.  The little heating thing down there meant I couldn’t make these cabinets all the way to the floor, they’d need about a foot of clearance, so that right there eliminated 12 cubic feet of storage space that I’ll never get back.

But still I was determined to make this thing work.  The final cut list would consume exactly one sheet of plywood, which I took to be a sign that this was meant to be.

But once it started coming together full scale, it made me realize there were still problems to overcome.  Those small boxes seemed a lot bigger in my head, but now it was clear that I had to make these long, narrow drawers, or they’d be useless.

Not to mention the problem of how to get polyurethane in there.  I should have finished everything before I assembled it.

I did find an unused electrical outlet in there, and it works and tested out okay, so I decided to move it to the front of the cabinet.  Make it a little more useful.  Please consider that it was 100% useless before, so anything would be more useful.

Once the carcass was assembled, it was time to make and fit the frame.  Nothing fancy, just a bit of hemlock I had lying around.

The doors came out looking really good.  And they were flat this time too.  And square.  I’m getting better at making doors, I think.

I think the hinges cost about as much as the plywood and the hemlock put together.  I like good hinges, though.  Makes the install go a lot smoother.

And here it is stained and finished and hardware installed and fitted into its hole.  Still some adjustments to make before final install, but I think I’ll wait until I have the rest of that paneling knocked out and I’m ready to drywall.  I just pinned it in place so I don’t have to look at the hole in the wall anymore.

Not sure if that storage is anything good except for ninja throwing stars and nunchucks but I could make that work.

Saw this heron out fishing at low tide.  If he seems a little annoyed at all the tourists, well, he is, I assure you.