Having base cabinets and counter tops in place laid a foundation to build cupboards. I started on the long, curb side over the couch. To define a reference edge a temporary 2x4 was clamped in place.
For make shift scaffolding, pipe clamps served well without any mind of their own. Clamping helped tweak position and orientation, up, down, in, out, back and forth, until it was right. Right meaning (1) level to the floor (2) at the desired height and (3) parallel to the center line. Clamps had one job only: to not move, which they did admirably.
From that reference edge a 1x2 ceiling strip was first placed directly above it. The handy bubble level app on my phone said to bevel the top 6 degrees. Temporary braces held it in position so it could be screwed in place to dry check alignment.
More clamps were added to support a 1x2 wall strip. My phone level couldn't decide whether to bevel that 21 or 22 degrees, so I split the difference. Once both strips were aligned the screws were backed out and the strips were epoxied in place.
I'm learning as I go. To reduce drip mess I got the bright idea to bead caulk around the edges before screwing the wet, sticky boards back in place. The caulk kept the epoxy from running and dripping before it cured. Then all the clamps were removed, leaving just the braces to hold the 2x4 edge board in place.
The same process was repeated on the road side over the stove. Because of the closet, door and fridge cabinet on that side, it's a much shorter cupboard.
Here's an oddity of this old Scamp. The window top heights were 51-1/2" for the side windows, 53-1/4" in the rear, and 54-1/4" up front. Talk about inconsistency! I don't blame the factory for sloppy workmanship. Careful study of the shell reveals different profiles between the front, rear and side walls. Window placement was most likely the result of picking the flattest area in each respective wall.
Here's why it matters. Cupboards wrap all the way around my new interior. I want them to all line up with each other. That's a detail worth sweating. I chose 53-1/2" as my reference height. That left some gap above the side windows. That's good because the stove gets hot and cooking can be messy. Also, getting up/down from the couch I'd rather not crack my skull.
The 53-1/2" height was a compromise that would block a bit of the front window, which wasn't that bad. On all four sides I'm planning eventual window treatments to hide differences and unify appearance. Hopefully sweating these details will yield good aesthetics. Time will tell. Meanwhile, on with construction.
Cardboard templates helped determine curvature for faces and bottoms. They also helped fit curved blocks to secure cabinets ends. Making the bottoms was simple enough - just 1/2" plywood. Face frames were built from 1x3 and 1x4 boards. I started with the short cupboard over the stove.
I couldn't have done this project without help from my buddy Scott. Over and above use of his excellent wood shop, his depth of cabinetry experience was invaluable. He helped select quarter sawn Douglas fir fence posts of all things. His trained eye picked out the best ones for grain preference and dimensional stability.
Yep, cabinetry boards cleverly bundled as 4x4's. Some disassembly required. Each post was ripped using a table saw, yielding a 1x4 and three 1x3's. Edges were squared with a jointer. All stock made uniform with a thickness planer. A fantastic value as this material beat price and quality of most stock in the finished boards isle.
He also introduced me to pocket hole joinery. Pocket screws are self clamping and hold alignment repeatably. Dry joints can be disassembled if desired. Screws can be reused after glued joints dry. Given good square edges pockets make quality butt joints. I stopped using dowels after discovering biscuits. Now biscuits seems passe. Pocket joints. What a wonderful technique!
Over the couch is a 9' long cubby that spans front to rear. That's too big to install as one whole piece. So it was split in half. A beefy joint was devised to connect the two halves.
Roof strips alone were not enough to hold up the long cubby. It needed to act like a truss supported mainly on the ends. A good truss should hold up the roof. To match the shell, face frames were curved on the ends using plywood members. Curved blocks were epoxied to the shell in both horizontal and vertical directions to support the bottoms and face ends of the cupboards. The idea was to distribute attachment loads along the shell.
That's just one of many details I didn't know exactly how to solve going into this project. I just believed everything was solvable. Call it faith. Another example is the fridge cabinet. It was framed with two-by studs and skinned with Lauan, like the closet and base cabinets. It needed a face frame for pantry doors on top, sorta like the cupboards. The bottom just needed to cover the floor intake of the fridge chase. In the middle it needed a bezel sticking out to trim around the fridge. All those elements had to tie together. Plus the frame needed to be removable. That's a lot of requirements. Yet solvable.
Now that all cabinets are framed and faced, two things followed. First, I could recycle the dozen or so cardboard templates. Happy next life. Given that some were fairly large I was surprised how much they compressed with a utility knife and a few minutes of effort.
Now measurements are possible of cabinet openings to start making doors. Say, here's a challenge for readers. How many doors will I need? Guesses welcome but since this blog doesn't take comments, feel free to send me an email, text message, or just call. There's no expensive prize. Not even a cheap one. Just personal satisfaction of knowing you're right. Good luck.
