DIY Office Cabinet Wall

We recently shared with you our office remodel, and we wanted to take some time to explain exactly how this DIY went, so you can perhaps use some of this info in your own home! I had previously hand a few free standing bookshelves in this room, and they were overflowing with work “stuff” and just looked terribly messy and unorganized. When I walked into my office, it was a stressful space. So, I knew I needed something that would give me storage but also give me a cleaner look and calmer feel.

We also had some interesting circumstances… if you live in an old farmhouse, you know just about every project turns interesting somehow! We have a large heating pipe in the middle of one wall. I had tried tirelessly to get it moved with no success. There was also a large hole in the wall from an original fireplace that had been removed decades ago. We didn’t patch the hole because… well, the big ugly pipe was there anyway, so what was the difference? So, my office design also needed to be a solution to hide these eyesores. I only explain this because this was a factor in some of our dimensions, which likely wouldn’t be a limiting factor for you.

Alright, so lets dive into it!

First, I am a visual person and need to “see” my visions on paper. However, I’m not a fancy visual person, lol! I typically use mark up on my phone to scribble my ideas down, and AJ is really good at taking these awful drawings and turning them into life. Here is the original wall and the “design” we were working off of.

So, we began with purchasing 5 unfinished cabinets from Home Depot. I originally planned to stack 3 wall cabinets to hide the pipe, but ended up seeing their pantry cabinet and thought it could work, and would actually be the cheaper option. So I bought two of the pantry cabinets. The pantry cabinets are 18 inches deep. Of course, they don’t make regular cabinets in that depth (without special ordering). Base cabinets are 24 inches deep; wall cabinets are 12 inches deep. I wanted the rest of the cabinet wall to be flush with the pantry cabinets, so we ended up getting two wall cabinets, made our own bases, and set them off the wall 6 inches.

Cabinet List:

-(2) Hampton Bay Unfinished pantry cabinets

-(1) Hampton Bay Unfinished 36 inch Wall Cabinet

-(1) Hampton Bay Unfinished 24 inch Wall Cabinet

-(1) Hampton Bay Unfinished 12 inch Wall Cabinet

TIP: Pricecheck a couple different local Home Depots! One nearby HD was offering 10% off if you purchased 10 unfinished cabinets. The neighboring HD was offering 10% off if you purchased 5 cabinets. Also, there seems always be quite a bit of these cabinets that are damaged! Everytime I went to check this out, there was a stack of cabinets for $25, $40 off because of damage. Some of the damage woudn’t be seen, or in my case- paint had sprayed on one of the doors. I was painting them dark anyway, so I took it and asked for a discount- I ended up getting the 12 inch cabinet for just $30. So, shop around for the best price and don’t be afraid to ask for a better deal!!

Our first step was to install the cabinets. We started with the pantry cabinets. We cut the back out of one to allow for the big pipe to hide inside; which is likely something you won’t have to do. We then installed the wall cabinets.

As I mentioned, we wanted the wall cabinets to sit flush the pantry cabinets. So, we created our own bases. I not only wanted the depth of the cabinets to be flush, but I wanted the cabinet doors and pantry drawers to line up, so we needed to create 5.5 inch bases. We did this by simply creating square bases out of 2×10, cut down to 5.5. I forgot to take a picture of the base, but it ultimately looked like this:

The back piece of wood allows you to attach the base to the wall, which is super helpful. It also allowed us to sit the wall cabinets 6 inches off the wall, to become flush with the 18 inch deep pantry cabinet. Note: remember, we wanted to make cabinets that stuck out 18 inches, which is why we needed to do this extra step. If you aren’t using a pantry cabinet in your design, you can buy base cabinets which already has a base attached. Base cabinets typically have a depth of 24 inches.

After installing the cabinets, we built a “box” above the pantry doors to take those cabinets all the way to the ceiling. This was just a personal preference, and to me makes it look more “custom” and more significant going from floor to ceiling. To do this, we simply used 1×5 commonboard cut to size.

Next, we added a toe kick to give the cabinet bases a cleaner look. Again, we just use 1×6 commonboard cut to size. We also added a strip of commonboard on the ends of the cabinets (think where my chair goes) to close off that 6 inch gap between the cabinet and the wall.

PAINT:

This is when it really comes together! I chose Sherwin Williams Iron Ore in Satin. I didn’t even use half a gallon to paint all of the cabinets and the wall. Our cabinet hardware was a great deal- 10 cabinet handles for just $19 on Amazon. You can find them here. I really love the color and would absolutely use these again!

The table top we made ourselves. I love the look of butcher block, but its so darn expensive! This table top gives a similar look at a fraction of the price! It cost about $40 in lumber. We simply used (2) 2×12 boards, regular lumber, cut down and glued together. I stained it with Varathane Espresso.

To finish it off, we added four of our floating shelves also stained in Varathane Espresso.

I think thats it! Between our discounts and coupons, this project cost about $800. Not super cheap- but also much cheaper than custom cabinetry, or even some larger furniture pieces! It took us three days to complete the project. Side note- I did not price shop. You may have good luck with cabinets at other retailers like Ikea, Lowe’s, Menards, etc.

These photos were taken with only one coat of paint- so please don’t mind that! I have since added a second coat/touch ups. I was just too excited to show you our progress! But thats another good point- when painting dark colors, definitely plan on having to do TWO good coats! Hope this was helpful for those of you looking to do a something similar, or perhaps inspired a new project for you! If you have any questions, we’re always happy to answer. Comment below or email us at rusticmarine@gmail.com.