I am beginning to wonder…  I did get the doors hung, though!  I wanted to do this before I painted them to see how far off the mark they were.

They are far from perfect, but I think I can live with them.  All of the doors, except for the one on the far right, have a snug fit, so in order to allow for paint, I think I am going to have to shave a little off.  (I have already done this with the right one, and was afraid I took too much off, however I think it will be fine once it has paint on it). 

That's Lilly, my biggest cheerleader. Or, maybe she just wants to be fed.

 We shall see.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Okay.  Here’s the status on the bathroom cabinet doors:

The first door I made–a few weeks ago–fit perfectly, however, the other doors were not square; the frame itself was not square; so, I ended up taking all of the doors apart and starting over.  The first thing we did was square up the frame.  Since only one part of the frame was out by 1/8″, we moved it over by tapping it with a hammer and a scrap piece of wood (so we would not damage the frame) to even it up.

Once that was done, I tore apart my old doors by cutting along the joints where they were glued together.  By doing this, I was able to reuse the stiles on the old doors, as the rails on the new ones.

Broken-down doors

This time I built the doors differently.  I used an excellent tutorial by the very talented Sandra at Sawdust and Paper Scraps.  You really should check out her blog–she is amazing and her blog is a constant go-to resource of mine.  Thanks, Sandra!

My first attempt at the doors, I made the cuts at a 45 degree angle.  Very much like a picture frame.  This time around, I went with a traditional 90 degree cut.  Like I said, I used the stiles from the old doors as the rails for the new doors.  I cut new stiles out of new stock.

Then I had to router the new stiles so the panel could fit.  When routing the ends of the rails, I secured it against a larger piece of scrap wood with a clamp to keep it even, and to keep it from getting sucked into the router blade.

Then, I cut some very small pieces out of a furring strip.  These will be used to join the rails and stiles together.

This is where the small furring strips go:

Since our garage is jammed full of motorcycles, lawn equipment, and all kinds of junk, I don’t have room for a proper work table.   Which is why I am using the top of a freezer to assemble my doors.

Once everything was joined together and squared up, it was time to clamp them up to dry.

Once the glue had enough time to dry, I could dry fit the door.

As of this post, I have completed two doors.  Now I’m off to make the other two.  Hopefully this project is coming to an end.  I have so many other things I want to tackle, and I’m really tired of this bathroom reno…

UPDATE:  All four doors are done!  Tomorrow we dry fit, hang, and paint.

About a month ago, I set a goal to have the cabinet doors finished in the master bathroom, by January 1, 2012.  That leaves me a matter of hours to get ’em done.   My way of making these doors is probably unconventional, but it works.  I just hope they stand the test of time.

I started by measuring the opening.  Since these are inset doors, I want the doors to be about 1/8″ shorter than the opening–that’s 1/16″ on all sides.  Done.

After donning the appropriate safety gear (eyes/ears/lung protection), I decided to mitre cut the rails and stiles at a 45 degree angle, instead of 90 degrees, which is what most people do.  (Note, I did not mitre cut these on the table saw, which is how it appears in the photo below.  This was just the best place to take the picture).

Once I cut all of the rails and stiles to length, it was over to the router table to cut a 1/4″ groove to hold the panel.  Be sure to mark which sides of the rails and stiles will be facing front once assembled.  Do this before you router, or you will back at step one.

I cut the groove with a 1/4″ tongue & groove router bit.  A standard 1/4″ router bit, would have worked fine, but I don’t have one.  I had to do some test cuts to make sure I had the bit at the correct height.

I  hate using a router table.  They are so dangerous and are to be used with extreme caution–as should all power tools, but I really dislike a router table.  Please read up on all safety guidelines before operating one. 

Once I was finished with the router table, it was time to assemble. 

Time to break out the biscuit cutter and make the grooves for the biscuits.  Again, pay attention to which side of the frame is facing up (or down), just make sure it is consistent before you start cutting.   I love my biscuit cutter!

After dry fitting the frame, I assembled the top and sides with biscuits and wood glue.  I had to cut the biscuits in half so they would not interfere with the slot that holds the panel.

Once I had the panel cut to size, I could slide it in and put the last piece in place.

(Any wood imperfections will be smoothed out with wood putty and then sanded).

After clamping the doors overnight, it was time to dry fit.  Fingers crossed…

It fits –as if I planned it that way!  I still have to prime and paint which can cause problems when fitting an inset door.  If the door is too large, you can always sand it down.  One down, three to go!

While I was tackling cabinet doors, Norm and Jonathan were installing laminate flooring in the basement.  They have done an incredible job!  (Our son usually does not care to take part in our home-improvement saga, but he is trying to earn money to support his Airsoft hobby!)

So, as we start off 2012 with another project, I would like to wish my readers (Mom and Dad), a happy and productive new year!