Advice/input on my first project

[Jim C]

Hi. I am starting my first project. I'm building a bathroom cabinet and have done the plans in SketchUp. If you're interested, I'd appreciate some advice. Here's link to the plans, and my questions follow.  (http://imgur.com/a/wTy2t)  

1. I currently have the top and bottom at 1" material, and everything else is 3/4". Is 3/4" overkill? 

2. What material should I use that will be relatively inexpensive but will hold up well over time. This is going to be sealed then painted for max moisture protection (will be in the bathroom). Is plywood my best bet? What about for the legs? 

3. What should I use to seal/stain the wood before painting to make sure it is moisture resistant?

4. Do I need to get the blue Kreg screws for this due to bathroom moisture?

5. Should I make the door out of a single piece of wood and router a groove for ornamentation (as currently drawn), or should I do the more standard cabinet door construction with a frame and thinner board in the middle. 

6. Any general critique/ideas/advice on the overall design is welcome as well. 

Thanks,

[andrew g hess]

my only suggestion would be to use 1x4 for the legs it would give u a more steady base or if u want to use two by material use 2x4 

[John Schaben]

Hi Jim - I think your plan looks fine. Actually I think you could use 3/4 ply all of the way through except maybe the legs. Sides and back could be 1/2" ply. Construction 2x2's seem to like to twist. May want to think about fabricating 2x2's by laminating kiln dried 1x2's together. Most any good bonding primer and latex enamel should be good for a finish. Need at least one primer coat and 2 finish coats for best protection. I have had problems painting plywood with the grain telegraphing through, especially apparent with gloss paints. I find an oil base primer helps. Water base primer tends to raise the grain some and aggravates the problem. I've been using Zinsser Cover Stain for a primer and giving it a light sanding with 150 grit before putting on the finish coat. If you are going all pocket screws, I would finish, or at least prime, all six sides (both sides, both edges, both ends) of ALL the pieces before assembly and then paint the pockets or plugs as a "touch up" exercise.

Good Luck.

[Jim C]

[Jim C]

(I tried to reply on my phone and wasnt sure if it worked. If this is a dupicate reply, I'm sorry.)

Thanks for all the input guys. You've given me more confidence in my first attempt at planning out a piece of furniture. 

In response to how I did the plans:  I used SketchUp. I made each individual piece a "component" in SketchUp, and put in component in its own "layer". Then I turned off all layers except on piece, added some dimensions and took a screenshot with the Windows 7 Snipping Tool and pasted the screenshot into a word document. I repeated this for each of the pieces. Took about an hour to do the design in SketchUp because I was getting used to the program, but the dimensioning and printing of the plans only took about 20 mintues. 

I'm hoping to get to this project after the first of the year. My weekends are filled up with holiday activities until then.  Thanks!

[Jim C]

One more question I just thought of:  How do you guys go about painting/staining pieces where all sides need to be covered? Do you paint a couple sides, let it dry, and paint the other sides? Or do you have some way of suspending the pieces so you can paint all the sides at once?