IKEA PAX sliding door wardrobe flat pack assembly and installation.

IKEA PAX WArdrobe

Building flat pack wardrobes from IKEA is all in a day's work for me. It goes together relatively simply and all the bits fit.  The beauty of IKEA flat pack is that once you're accustomed to the quirky fitting components they use, it all becomes very logical. For the most part the carcass fittings are all the same.  
The carcasses were simple enough, but this was the first time that I'd put together these particular type of sliding glass doors. It's a very good job that I had a Meccano set as a child, because the assembly and installation is not for the faint-hearted. The two doors come in hundreds of pieces of metal and screws and glass panels and plastic fittings. Even I was amazed at the staggering amount of pieces needed to assemble two four foot doors. It took as long to assemble the doors as it did to assemble the four carcasses and all the internal drawers baskets shelves and hanging rails. It requires a lot of floor space to assemble the doors because they have to be assembled on the flat. Yo will need about 8' x 10' floor space as a minimum.
A word from the wise. DO NOT EVEN THINK that hanging these doors is a one man job. IT'S NOT. The doors are heavy and their size makes them very awkward to put in place. Even though the lady of the house tried to help, it was no use, I had to call in the cavalry, and ask a mate to pop over and help with the final fiddly lift into place. Once hung, the doors slide beautifully, and the lady (nursing some bruised fingers from trying to help) was delighted that she could finally store all of her clothes in her new wardrobes.
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TV Sky Multi Media and DVD cupboard

A customer wanted something to keep his TV and various gizmos in one neat unit so I came up with this. Its everything in in one place. He loves it! He's going to paint it himself to match the colours in the room.


Click images to enlarge.

If you'd like something similar call me or to email me CLICK HERE

WIP... Fitted bookcases in alchoves

 

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wardrobes continued...

 

The woodwork is finished...
The customer has chosen Tom Ware Painters from Bexhill to finish the wardrobes in Satinwood white. Tom hopes to have them finished by Tuesday! I've really enjoyed doing this job.  I can hardly wait to see the finished result.  


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Wardrobes continued...

The second (right-hand) "internals" for the wardrobes went up this morning. building the drawers was time consuming (drawers always are). As you can see from the picture one set of wardrobes has four drawers the other has three.
The cabling for the blue ray and the satellite receiver is linked through the chimney breast to the TV and had to be routed through channels in the wardrobe sidings so that the minimum of cable will be  visible.  It all takes time, but we'll get there.
Tomorrow, I'll build the doors and hang them. Then it'll be time to make a start in the living room on the display units...



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Built in Wardrobes

I'm working up in the Meads all this week. It's a substantial property close to where Shackelton once lived. The rooms are large, and the alcoves either side of the chimney-breast  in the bedroom are in need of wardrobes. 

This afternoon I've built the internals.
Where once bare walls were, now stands the outline of the first wardrobe.

Long hanging for Ball Gowns are catered for, as is hanging space for blouses, jackets and skirts and trews. Four large drawers and ample shelving will make this a good sized wardrobe.  
I'll post more as the build progresses
Click the image to enlarge.
 
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Mirrored sliding doors

Worked with a lovely family today installing some sliding doors. The man of the house had done all of the roughing out, and the double door units were more or less in the right spot. I had to get it all running properly and "dress" the opening to finish the job.

After you've done a couple, fitting mirror sliding doors is not difficult. The main thing to remember is to make the height of the opening just 2-3 cm larger than the door height and the frame width 2-3 cm smaller than the double door width. . There's a good range of vertical adjustment that will take up any play.

The adjustment range can accommodate even quite wonky walls. Everything should slide smoothly and butt up parallel to the frame.

Tea was offered (and gratefully accepted). We talked about the theme of the week.... snow snow snow... and the time just flew by. In what seemed like an instant I was back on the road and onto the next job... Nice home, nice kids, nice people... all in all ... nice.

Flatpack self assembly?

Harveys had delivered it.
Third floor of a 'Robert Nash' style town house.
I'm so glad they delivered it - the thought of all those stairs still leaves me weak.

Eight metres (26 feet) of wardrobes and drawers.
When I saw the pile of bits my heart sank at least two floors below.
It took the whole day to put this lot together (plus umpteen cups of tea, and not just one or two bikkies!)
By flatpack standards it was simple enough to put together, and because the panels were so large it was really a two man job. And so to save having to get an extra body the client offered to be the 'gofer'. By the end of the day we were both well and truly knackered.
We became such a co-ordinated team I almost offerd her a permanent job.

Just to let you know

From January 2010 the new home page of "Jim'll Fix It Services" will be www.rwjsear.com.
As always, whatever you need I can help. If I can't help - I'll know someone who can!
Whether its property maintenance, or a computer problem that needs solving

give me a call on 07930 335 937.

Thunder box

Last week I was asked to rebuild some shelving in a former outside loo.
It wouldn't have been my first choice of layout - and I must admit I did try to alter her plans - but the lady wanted . . . and so the lady got.
It's amazing how much storage she now has in such a small area.
The slot on the left is a magazine rack

The job took quite a bit longer to complete than first estimated because once started we then agreed that the tiles were hanging off the walls and had to be stripped off and the walls plastered. The old toilet pan was cracked and so needed to be replaced. The new one was then raised by 2" to give a more regal feel to the throne :).
In the end it actually turned out looking better than I expected.

Some shelves please

I had a call last week to put up some shelves in an alcove.
I've done work for the customers before and always enjoy going back.
They wanted storage space for all sorts of things.
Once we'd had a look at the alcove I made a couple of suggestions and together we came up with a neat solution to house piles of stuff that didn't need to be on display.

This was the end result.

As always click on the image to enlarge.

If you'd like something similar,

call Jim on 07930 335 937

Hailsham and the Eastbourne Handyman

In a previous life - about 20 long years ago,

I was living in Germany, driving European Road Trains
(which make UK trucks look like Dinky toys)
from Germany to Morocco, Denmark to Tunisia, Sweden to Portugal, or any other combination of European and North African countries you might care to think about.

I used to drive thousands of miles a week.

I'd be at home for two, possibly three days a month, and I loved it.

I used to love to travel to new destinations.
It was like being on holiday, and getting well paid for it!

I had huge amount of fun.

But everything has a price tag.

It only cost me a good marriage and a lifetime of guilt!

Why am I telling you this?

Nowadays I virtually never work outside of Eastbourne!

Two main reasons

1. Absolutely no need

There is lots of work available on the doorstep in Eastbourne

2. Absolutely no desire

I can't think of one good reason to travel any sort of distance.

Having said all that, I now find myself going up to Hailsham (that's a huge journey of about 7-8 miles - ONE WAY!!!) on a regular basis.

It started when I got a phone call from a lady who had read this blog.

"I need some work done, can you help?" she asked.

"The answer's 'Yes, what's the address" I replied.

When she said "South Street" I already had a mental image of a road in Eastbourne.

"Hailsham" she said.

I was about to say "I don't operate outside of Eastbourne" (my normal reply), when she said "I've read your blog and I think it's great!"

What a sucker punch!

I'm no different to anybody else - I love having my vanity stroked!

I swear, any other reason would have failed - miserably.
But because I was flattered, I now find myself going up to Hailsham every week to do carpentry, plumbing, and electrics. The lady and her family are fabulous to work with, and I really enjoy going up there. They want a lot of work done, so expect a few posts from Hailsham over the coming months.

Whoever said flattery doesn't work is a fool!

Under stairs storage cupboard

I've been building video storage units for a customer today. Over the past month I've constructed several units in different locations around the house. In fact apart from the stair well itself, there are video storage units everywhere. He has thousands upon thousnds of videos, and despite my best efforts, we still don't have enough storage. We've now commandeered the under-stairs broom cupboard to accomodate some more. He tells me that we have only racked and stacked less than half his total collection! I find other people's lives fascinating! Here are some more pictures of various units...

What my wife wants she gets!

Click on image to enlarge...

Trish wanted a window that overlooks our neighbours blocked up this weekend, and so I obliged by turning it into a tall display niche. I thought Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest. The things we do for love!

Custom built cupboards

Click on any image to enlarge....


Yes, more custom fit cupboards!
The brief...
Take a wide, shallow, entrance hall and maximise the cupboard space without making it claustrophobic. Vast amounts of hanging space, endless shelves for shoes, plus room for a Henry and his super long tail needed to be accommodated. The customer had made a plan... one brief look, and I made another! Ideas were thrown around and some thrown out.
We settled on floor to ceiling cupboards on one side of the entrance way and high base units and wall cupboards on the other. It took three days to build and a substantial amount of sheet MDF .
The results are in the pictures above. Double hanging rails swallow all the coats, dozens and dozens of shoes are lined up neatly on multiple shelves. Henry has his own tall cubby hole, and there's a separate cupboard for the bowls bags and equipment. Who was all this for? Limo feva. No doubt you've seen their fantastic fleet of pristine limousines in and around Eastbourne. The pink one is the one that stands out from the crowd. Have a look at some of their fleet at http://www.limofeva.co.uk/ Many say it's the only way to travel.

Fit a Baby Belling

Sometimes life flashes by so quickly. I've just realised it's over a month since I last posted anything to this blog! So this weekend I will be making amends by writing a few new posts.

Here's the first

A good friend of mine, Zena Parker, is 80+. I've written of her before. She makes the most delicious rock cakes - perhaps that's why we're friends - because I like to eat delicious rock cakes. In fact I like to eat anything sweet!

But I digress....

For over twenty five years she has used the same oven to make her cakes buns and biscuits. The oven has, like Zena, grown weary, but had to date not once given up. Now the cooker has been retired and a lighter brighter smaller cooker has taken its place. Zena bought a Baby Belling. My first thought on hearing this was - no more rock cakes (Yes, I know, I can be quite selfish)! My second thought was where is she going to put it? Then I realised that was why she was calling.

She had a plan - and at first - it seemed a good plan. Take the old cooker out and make a low cupboard to sit the Baby on. "Yes" I said with my best can do voice. "I'll be around in a couple of minutes". When I arrived I went into the kitchen and knew straight away we were going to have a problem. The old cooker is at least 10x bigger than the new cooker, but, and it is a very big BUT, old cooker 56cm wide, new cooker 58cm wide. In a fitted kitchen that's a problem.

After a couple of minutes of perplexed looks trying to explain that the new midget cooker was too big to go in the hole, the lights slowly went on. We (I) would have to cut down cupboards to make more room for the baby cooker. And so I did.

The baby cooker is 58cm wide, but the hole has to be no less than 63cm wide to comply with manufacturer's instructions.

Below you can see the solution.

It's amazing what can be done with a bit of MDF.

Click on the pictures to see them large!

Here's a list of things I do

I'm always being asked can you do this or can you do that
so here is a list in alaphbetical order of some of the things I can do

Add or remove shelving
Aviaries built
Bathroom accessories hung
Bird houses built
Blinds installed
Bookcases made to measure
Cat enclosures
Carpentry & Joinery
Ceiling fans installed
Central Heating*
Wardrobe organizers installed
Clothes Dryers
Decks and Decking
Dog Kennels
Doors hung, repaired, or adjusted
Dual Flush Toilets Installed
External Painting*
Fencing & Gates
Fireplaces installed
Fixtures installed or replaced
Flat Pack Kits Assembled
Garden Maintenance
General Repairs*
Glazing*
Hanging pictures and whiteboards
Hardware replaced
Hardwood floors
Install curtain poles
Install Fly screens
Install Hand rails
Internal Painting*
Landscaping & Gardening *
Light fixtures installed or repaired
Locks fitted
Mailboxes installed
Maintenance
Mirrors hung
New appliances installed
Outdoor grill/fireplaces
Painting & Decorating*
Pergolas
Pet Doors
Pet flaps
Picture hanging
Plumbing
Pressure Cleaning*
Renovation
Repair simple leaks
Replacement of Sash Cords
Roofing Repairs*
Rot repair
Shelving
Shower doors installed
Skylights*
Small repairs
Smoke Detectors
Staircases & Handrails
Storage sheds
Swing sets
Switches replaced
Toilets installed or replaced
Trim carpentry
Vent fans installed
Waste Disposals installed or repaired
Weather stripping
Window Shutters
Windows & Locks
Windows repaired

if you need help give me a call on 07930 335 937

Combined Bookcase Wardrobe Radiator Cover

Just before going on holiday I was asked to build a combined bookcase / wardrobe /radiator cover. Click on the pictures to see how it turned out. The customer thought it was amazing!