Do you enjoy collecting valuable items? Storing them in boxes in the attic or basement doesn’t make sense and doesn’t make them any special. Why not build a beautiful curio cabinet for them to display? This style of cabinet can be quite expensive to purchase, but when you build your own, you save a lot of money and learn the basic carpenter’s skills. You have to learn how to build a curio cabinet.
A curio cabinet is a wall-mounted display case found in most homes that exhibits special collections and all kinds of decorative objects. One of the biggest advantages of building it yourself is that you can customize it as you wish. Read on as I share the step by step technique in building a curio cabinet.
What are Curio Cabinets?
These glass display cases called curio cabinets got both their form and their name from the historic Cabinets of Curiosity. This style of cabinet is designed for displaying curios, which include collections and treasured items. It is typically made of wood and features metal shelving along with glass panes.
Most curio cabinets typically have traditional design schemes, but it is not that far from the modern ones. They are ideal to be put in living room spaces or dining rooms on display for guests to appreciate, and for family stories. It’s quite impressive for everybody to know that you have built one yourself by just learning how to build a curio cabinet.
How to Build a Curio Cabinet
Materials
You will need the following items in building a curio cabinet:
- Screws or nails
- Paint or stain
- Plans for the cabinet
- Hammer or drill
- Wood
- Lighting
- Glass
- Sander (optional)
- Saw or table saw
The Steps
Since you are making your curio cabinet, you need to know how big it needs to be, how high, and how long. You will need to work out the size of the glass you need for the doors as well as the shelves. Oak is a good choice of wood because it is fine-grained and easy to work on. Here are the steps on how to build a curio cabinet:
- Run the wood through the table saw, cut off the boards to your desired size, and plane them. If you are using old wood, remove the paint, and some wear and tear.
- After the boards are cut and planed, it’s time to glue them together to form larger boards. Use C-clamps and scrap wood to make sure they’re all level with each other. Use large clamps to press them together, and let the dry glue overnight. Do this process for every shelf and side.
- It’s time to build a frame, once you’ve got all of your boards cut to length and width. On the two sides, make dado cuts or grooves across the shelves’ width to slide in. Then use wood screws from the outside for fastening. Cuts with a dado blade on the table saw. This method is more stable than merely attaching the shelves flush with the sides.
- Carefully cut the plexiglass on the table saw. Hold it close by the blade, so it does lift while you cut it and use a full-face shield to protect yourself. You may also buy readily-cut plexiglass for safety.
- Next, build the doors with barn siding. Cut them to length and then rip to width. It would be best if you cut a groove on the inside of each piece for the smooth sliding of the glass. They are cut at 45-degree angles and screwed together. Do three sides, then slide the glass in, and attach the fourth side.
- Install the handle and magnetic latches and attach the shelf pins and glass shelves. You may choose to put glass shelving within. You may also put a light on the top for a warm appearance. You can have two coats of polyurethane for a beautiful finish. After this step, all you need is an interesting collection to complete the project.
The key to building a curio cabinet is to ensure that plexiglass is used in most of the panels and doors. A great wood curio cabinet should display what is inside the case. Excellent addition to installing glass in a wood display case is to install sufficient lighting and glass shelves. These will make sure everyone can see what is on display in the wood display case. Find out more about cabinets.
Conclusion
Curio cabinets provide a great way to put the spotlight on memorabilia and treasured items while keeping them free from dust. Most are made of solid oak; the case has a glass door and can easily be fitted with a lock.
Even if you are not a professional furniture designer or carpenter, you can make your curio cabinet. I hope you have already learned the basics of how to build a curio cabinet. It involves just another cabinet-making technique and a useful way to build up some skills.