Wardrobe against 'step' in wall

oligopoly

Good evening. We've had two quotes for a fitted wardrobe, which at just over £1k seem expensive. The room in question is very small and so consequently the wardrobe needed is very small. The reason for us considering a fitted wardrobe is due to a step in the wall caused by a chimney breast.

I was hoping someone more clever than me could come up with an idea whereby we use a much cheaper 'off-the-shelf' wardrobe and somehow fill in this wall step so it doesn't look odd just plonking a wardrobe on the other wall.

I'm thinking some sort of fake sloped wall or perhaps something more improvisational!? I can't work out in my head whether cutting a shape out of the back/side of an off-the-shelf wardrobe would work.

Thanks for listening.

Jaynne

Buy a normal wardrobe, cut a hole out the back and fix it to the wall to regain its structural strength?

Jemima09

you could put the wardrobe up to the 'step', and then use the gap to house some small shelves to use for toiletries? (for instance if you looked at ikea wardrobes you'd most likely be able to use some matching ikea shelves or even the benno cd rack)

Valli

I have a kitchen cupboard that does this - so, from the outside it's a straight run. On the RHS is the fridge/freezer, on the left hand side is a cuboard 'one can' deep - it's actually VERY useful as I can see what's in there at a glance.


Why not get some more quotes - try an independant fitter/joiner who might come up with a suggestion or two?
Depending on the depth you could get there that could be a shoe rack going up the wall...

I would love a shoe rack...

any chance of a floor plan and measurements?

oligopoly

great replies guys. We were looking at a wardrobe like this one. Not sure how easy it would be to cut out a section.

I love the idea of the Benno tower, Jemima, but the width of the step is 15cm and the tower is 20cm wide!

Shelves is also a good shout but could be a hassle to put them in as there's nothing to anchor them to on the other side.

The wardrobe i linked to is 52cm deep. The width of this step wall is 35.5, so this only leaves 16.5cm - not enough depth even for my wife's small shoes!

I wonder if the solution is similar to what Jaynne suggested - buy a cheapo wardrobe, bolt the hanging rail to the wall and then get someone in to install a basic slide robe purchased off ebay.

oligopoly

Does anyone else have any suggestions? Thanks!

Tigsteroonie

oligopoly wrote: »

I love the idea of the Benno tower, Jemima, but the width of the step is 15cm and the tower is 20cm wide!

Is that a problem? The gap wouldn't be visible from the front, as the Benno tower would hide it. You'd just need to fix the wardrobe to the wall or tower for stability, as it would be 5cm away from the side wall.

DirectDebacle

I would go for full height sliding door(s). The step could be faced with timber or left as is. Either way you could fix e.g. chrome D handles to it and use these to hang belts/ties/scarves etc from.

If you have space you can make the robe deeper than 520mm and that would give more possibilities for the step to be used.

If the room is small consider mirror doors as these tend to make a room look bigger.

gibson123

At that price it may be worthwhile getting a quote from a joiner.handyman to build a wardrobe with sliding mirror doors.

nearlyrich

My DH fitted Ikea wardrobes in my DD's house, there were a few bits that needed to be individualised, if you are not good at DIY maybe a local handyman/joiner could help.

Alpha58

Had this same issue a few years back where the two alcoves on the sides of the chimney breast were note the same width: one took a pair of standard width built in wardrobe doors and one was about 15cm narrower.

the solution was to install the frame on one side flush with the side of the chimney breast and the upright post of the frame on the other side about 15cm across the chimney breast. Both wardrobes extended out about 30 cm from the chimney breast so this wasn't a problem but it gave us a small step inside one of the wardrobes which meant that the hanging space was a little narrower on that side and with a drawer below the wardrobe which necessitated a little DIY: I installed the drawer rail against the side of the chimney breast and cut the back panel of the drawer to match the width left, as well as the drawer base. The drawer front was the original width and it didn't show unless the drawer were pulled open, revealing a drawer of about 2/3 original width but with a full-width front. It did the job and solved the problem. Hope this helps!