The completed project! Opens and closes like a charm!!
 |
Keep your electronics safe from infant hands, and give them one less shelf to bonk their head on!
|
Why?
Solution 1: Buy a new TV stand with doors in front.
Boring, surprisingly
expensive, and my furniture-buying budget is approximately nothing, so on to…
Solution 2: Install my own door!
Parts
3 – 3” Utility
/DoorHinges (about $1.50 each, comes with screws but they were a bit long and would have stuck out the back.
You would be fine using just 2 hinges)
6 – Shorter screws. I don't remember the diameter, but they need to fit the hinge holes and not be longer than about 3/4" or they'll stick out the back of the shelf.
Total: $12
Instructions
More pictures are included below for clarification.
1) Cut the shelf down
to 10” by 31-1/8”
2) Attach the hinges
to the door. Be very careful that they are on straight and that you’re on the
correct side of the hinge. For the hinge
to open out, the shelf needs to be attached on the inside of the hinge so it can be flush with the front of the
coffee table but not hit the top when it swings out. Before you screw anything in, hold up the
shelf and hinges and move it through the full range of motion to make sure
you’re right! Also, being so close to
the edge of the shelf you should really drill pilot holes before you put in the
screws.
3) Screw the hinges to the underside of the topmost piece of
wood of the coffee table. Make sure the
hinge is recessed in a bit. The front
surface needs to be flush with no hinge edges, shelf corners, or anything else
a falling toddler would hit their head on.
Your kids should at least stay as safe as your PS3.
4) Attach the base of the latch (not the hook part) to the
underside of the bottom piece of wood in the TV stand.
5) Attach the hook part of the latch to the shelf/door. It should be lined up so it closes easily but
won’t slip open on its own. I had to
attach a thin piece of plywood between the shelf and the latch to make the
latch reach the base.
6) If you want, tape off the wood and spray paint the front
of the hinges. My wife liked the metal
look.
Note: One seeming problem here is that the sides of the coffee table are still open for little fingers to enter. In our case, both sides face side tables with blankets under them, so it hasn't been a problem. You could use mesh, more wood, etc. to permanently wall off the sides if you need to, as you shouldn't need to open and close them.
 |
| Steps 2–3: Attach the hinges and door |
 |
| Step 4: Attach the latch |
 |
So much space for things!
|
