Adding shelves to a wardrobe

[phoenix]

I have a wardrobe in my flat, free-standing, sturdy, made of pine and with two doors. Dimensions: 20 inches deep, 35 inches wide. It has a drawer at the base, but otherwise has no dividers or shelves, and no coat rail (there was a free-standing one, but it's broken - I've taken it out and taped it together, but I don't like using rails).

I'd like to add some shelves into it so that I can store my clothes better there, the only option at present being to pile them in there! Have any of you an idea of how I can best go about this? I've no experience with carpentry so if there's any cheap way to get suitable-sized pre-made shelves that I can support on brackets, excellent. I'd also consider putting some kind of unit *into* the wardrobe, but adding shelves would be my favoured option.

Comments

[corbenfrost]

I think the most straightforward and simple way to tackle this would be to get a screw in rail like this:

and from there you can add a hanging shelf assembly like so:



it isn't pretty or quite what you'd call modern design but it's simple to put in, very effective for organizing, and relatively cheap.

[rainbow]

If you want permanent ones and are willing drill into the wardrobe there a couple options: brackets, shelf pins, and ledgers.

I think the shelf pins are easiest; you make a guide, drill your holes, insert the pins (the ones I like best are flattened are the part that sticks out, and the shelves sit on the flattened bit), cut the shelving to fit, and put it on the pins.

There are several types of shelf pins; you can see some of them here: http://www.rockler.com/c/shelf-pins.cfm

Thsi page shows how to do ledgers: http://www.extremehowto.com/xh/article.asp?article_id=60357

There are many different types of brackets. The thing I don't like about them is they can take up extra room. Here's a page with a bunch of them: http://www.thehardwarehut.com/shelfbrackets.php

Most decent home supply stores that sell wood will cut it to size; I'd go with a depth that a bit less than the full depth of the wardrobe (to provide more air circulation; keeps things fresher), and ask them to cut them to the about 1/16" less than the inside width. MDF tends to be much cheaper than wood and available in more sizes, but it's got a lot of formaldehyde in it and some people are sensitive.

There's also coated wire shelving that can be cut to length. There are special brackets for using with it that holds the wire securely.