Friday, May 29, 2009

The Adventures of Pam & Frank

5:48 AM    

The Adventures of Pam & Frank
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The Cubes

Posted: 28 May 2009 08:06 AM PDT

Here is the "Before" picture.

The cubes., originally uploaded by passitonplates.

These cubes used to be some stacking shelf thing that my dad gave to me when we moved to Oregon. We were desperate for furniture, since a lot of our old furniture had to be left behind and was since demolished along with the house. (Long story.)

One day, out of the blue, I decided they'd be a heck of a lot more useful if they could roll around instead of standing stacked up. So I went out and bought casters.

I'd love to add casters to most of my furniture, by the way. I rearrange my rooms a lot. I'm sure I drive my poor hubby crazy with my rearranging.

Oh. If you add casters to anything, here's a one tip: if you want swivel casters, so they can roll in any direction, make sure that ALL FOUR casters swivel. I didn't think about that until I was at the checkout at the hardware store and was lucky I fixed the problem then instead of when I was trying to roll my cubes around the kitchen later.


Checking the screw length, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

When it was time to install the casters, I rummaged through my box of screws to find the right length. The screw couldn't be too long or it would snag on whatever I wanted to put in the cube.

Instead of fiddling with a measuring tape, I cheated and eyeballed it. That's good enough for me, it's not rocket science.


Setting the screw, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

The holes were marked with a pencil, then I set each screw by tapping the screwdriver with a hammer. This is particleboard, so no need to pre-drill the holes.


Caster secure, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

Repeat with all four screws, then repeat for each caster.
Easy peasy.


This one's done, originally uploaded by passitonplates.

I only put casters on two of the four cubes.
This is the first one, done.

Here are all four cubes. This is in our apartment, when they held kitchen stuff like Frank's big green pot (mmm green pot stew...), his panini press, and the lunch bags. The bottoms held some other appliances and stuff. That was one crowded space, I tell you...


Rollie Cubes (like roll-ee), originally uploaded by passitonplates.

... But I'm a dork. The top cubes are not attached to the bottom cubes, so pushing them around is fun. Especially on carpet. {{sarcasm!!}}

I just can't decide if I want to hinge them or how I want to attach them. I figure I'll know what I want when the right time comes...

Now that we're in the condo, I have them stacked in the same configuration at the front door. It's straight ahead as kind of a half-wall to separate the entry from the living room. They're great cubbies for stashing the green (reuseable) shopping bags, finished library books or rented movies so I can grab them on the way out the door.

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