The project that started it all!

Hello everyone! It has been about a month since I last updated anything on this site, but with the start of my next woodworking project, I intend to jump right back in. I mentioned in my last post that I would post details about my projects in the 'Projects' tab. For the time being, I have decided to defer this to a later date, namely, when I figure out how exactly I want to go about doing it. For now, since I have relatively few posts here, such a 'directory', if you will, is probably not really necessary.

So what am I working on next? Well, if you have read the 'About' page, then you may remember me mentioning a set of closet organizers. The home my wife and I recently moved into has a pair of his 'n' hers closets, which is nice, except that they are quite small (less than 4 feet wide actually). With such limited closet space, we want to try and maximize the 'packing efficiency' (such terms probably are a result of my exposure to crystallography). This is a very special project, because it is what got me into this whole woodworking thing to begin with. We knew we wanted some sort of organizational system, but there weren't many store-bought ones that would fit into our small closets very well, so I thought, "This CAN'T be that difficult to build", and now here I am, building a set.

To begin the project, I made a couple of sketches using SketchUp (freely distributed by Google). Below are a couple of images showing roughly what they will look like inside our closets. I also made an image excluding the closet, to give a clearer picture of what exactly I am building.

The closet organizers inside the closets.

A view of the organizers without the closet to better illustrate what I will be building.

I originally wanted to have some drawers, but the lip on the closet precluded that idea (if the closet were larger, than a set of drawers could go in the middle, with plenty of space to use on either side). Although I didn't show them in these images, there will be three poles for hanging clothes, two in two layers in the left hand closet, and one in the top section of the right hand closet. In the large space below the shelf in the right closet will be a laundry organizer. I have made the height of the shelf sufficient to house this organizer. Each of the full-width shelves also will have a slight curvature purely for aesthetics.

For the materials, I purchased 3 sheets of 4'x8'x3/4" birch plywood from Windsor Plywood. I chose a high grade that will look nice with a clear coat (I'm a fan of having he natural look of wood shine). As you can see below, it happens to have some nice grain patterns, which I think will look quite nice once it's finished.

One of the three pieces of birch plywood I will be using for this project.

I am looking forward to beginning this project, as it will be my first 'finished' project, and stand as my motivator in getting into this woodworking hobby. Next time I will begin cutting down these large pieces of plywood.