Custom Pax + Computer Desk + Shoe Storage

Materials: Pax and Komplement Series, Cutter, Jigsaw

Description: This hack pursued 3 objectives:

* It should allow a computer desk
* It should give room to more than 100 pairs of shoes
* It should look "complete" :)


Objective 1: Desktop

For objective 1, I used 2 70cm wall PAX module doors, leaving 2 shelves open to lay the computer table. All the cabling goes behind, the bunch of cables you see are just the temporary USB connectors to download these photos :)


Objective 2: The shoe-lution

ORIGIN: For objective 2, we were coming from 1.5m wardrobe, filled up with 10 Skubb modules to fit 100 pairs.

PROBLEM: You cannot see the shoes, so you have to "remember" a show, and then look for it.

SOLUTION: The shoe-lution was to use a corner module (1m of doors, but 1.5m of space :), and use its depth to place left shoe BEHIND the right one on every pair, so you can see each model, try it on, and if it suits, just grab the one behind it :)

TRICK 1: Don't go very high (it would be difficult to reach the pair right in the corner), or use a BOLMEN stool (top-right). As always, the shelf placement and the hinges will drive you NUTS :) (4 attempts :)

TRICK 2: You can also cover each shelf with tiny floor mats to avoid dirt, but we liked the clean look of the shoes over white wood.


Objective 3: PAX

PROBLEM: After mounting all, we had 14cm left between the corner module and the rest of the wardrobe.

SOLUTION: As expected, the solution was to cut down a 50cmx195 PAX module to 14cm width :) You only have to cut the top/bottom horizontal shelves, although perfectionists would like to go for the bottom skirting and the back panel too (5 cuts total).

TRICK 1: Notice I only mounted the right side of the PAX, leaving the top/bottom "flying", since it's just only 14cm and it fits really tight, thus giving me 2 additional centimeters for space :) (1.9cm panel + 12.1cm shelf = 14 cm one-sided PAX)

TRICK 2: I made these cuts myself with an electric saw. In order to avoid an ugly cut, you can go for:

1. Sandwiching the piece between two before the cuts (these two pieces are called in Spain "martyrs", since they'll suffer all the damage leaving you a clean cut in the middle one), so avoiding the melamine (white lining of the wood) to crack.

2. Or just cut the melamine to size with a cutter BEFORE using the saw. Therefore, when the saw goes, the melamine will crack exactly where you cut it :)

TRICK 3: For the 14cm door, we went (successfully :) with the Besta push latch, since it was only 14cm wide, and the 120 degree hinges of the corner module next to it rendered it almost necessary to avoid the door crashing with the LANSA handlers. We mounted it on top (195cm door), which is perfectly accessible)

TRICK 4: The door was the really visible part, so I went to a local wood smith for the cuts. They usually make the cuts on the fly for free (it took approx 90 seconds), and machine finished the edges with melamine (although you can do it by yourself also) for a grand total of 5€. Trust me, it's really worth it for the finish, and you don't have to vacuum the full house after using your electric saw :)

Hope you like it!

~ Javier Guerrero Garcia, Spain