Living room makeover ep 1 | Build a hutch cabinet from start to finish

I hate our living room. Over the last four years, I've attempted to make several changes to this living room, including painting it three times. But this space has never felt completely right. So this year, I'm taking a different approach and tackling the space project by project. One thing that I've always wanted to build was a hutch for this corner. After a few rough sketches, I spent a full day designing this hutch on my computer and coming up with a list of materials needed for this build. For this hutch, I'm going with a We're first going to focus on building the bottom half of the hutch. My local hardware store offers cutting services for plywood, so those are already good to go. But I still have to cut down these square dowels for the legs of the hutch. My miter saw is a compact model and doesn't come with a laser. So what I've been doing is manually positioning my wood, and this can take a lot of trial and error and a lot of time. So to help me be more efficient in this heat wave, I did a quick google search and found out that I can actually 3D print something called a zero clearance insert. Upon searching on Makerworld, I found a bunch of inserts for different miter saw models, and the good news is I also found one for mine, so I didn't need to cut something from scratch. So I opened the file directly in Bevel Studio and proceeded to change the material to PETG, since it's stronger and can handle higher heat levels than the standard PLA. What I have to do is replace this piece with my newly 3D printed piece. I've already removed the screws, so let's pop this out, give it a good clean, and fit the printed piece in. And now I have to make a hole using my blade. The slot is then the exact marking of where my blade will land, which I can then quickly align my pencil marked piece of wood to. As an amateur woodworker, pocket holes are my go-to, so I'm marking out which pieces I need to put pocket holes into. If you want to learn more about how to use a pocket hole jig, I recently put together a video that includes this jig and 15 other beginner DIY tools. I'm gonna go ahead and make all the pocket holes I need before starting with building the side wall. To assemble the frame together, I'm using my 90 degree clamps. I've been thinking about buying more of them, but I've been hesitating because they're pretty expensive. Since I printed the mitre saw insert, I thought I could also check out 90 degree clamp options on the Bamboo Handy app. I found this one that works perfectly with the Wolfcraft Mini clamps that I own, and each pair of clamps took about 82 grams of filament to print, which adds up to about 84 cents. But the best part is how I now have at least 4 working 90 degree angle clamps to help me assemble my frame quickly. In my design, the bottom half of the hutch has a drawer and a cupboard, so I'm first going to build a drawer. I've built so many drawers on this channel already, and this method is what I find to be the fastest and easiest way. Using pocket holes to assemble the frame, and then nailing on the base. To install European Roller Runners, I'll link 2 different videos that you can refer to. Hi, it's day 3 of this build. I've been taking it super slowly because of the heatwave. This morning, I added these two pieces of wood to the top of the frame, and also added some trim, one above and one below the drawer, mostly for decorative purposes. And now, it's the moment of truth. Does the drawer fit? I haven't really decided what I want to store in this part of the cabinet, so I would like to add an adjustable shelf. I don't yet have a shelf pin jig in my toolkit, so I created a very simple but custom one in Tinkercad, and also found some of these shelf pins on Makerworld. I just combined the two files together in Bamboo Studio, and sent it to print. If you're wondering what printer I'm using, it is the new A2L Machine by BambooLab. You can find a variety of printers to suit your different needs on the BambooLab website, such as the smaller size A1 series, or the enclosed P2S, but let me introduce to you the A2L, which is an open frame entry-level printer that features a really large build volume. Despite being a bit slinger type of printer, it has achieved a breakthrough in vibration compensation and a solid frame that further helps to stabilize it. What this means is that you're guaranteed to get smooth surfaces, no matter how big or how tall the print model gets. I've been able to print things like a large divider for my tea drawer, a lampshade for my bedside table, and a huge planter for my money tree. Besides the larger build volume, what makes the A2L special is that it can also be equipped with a cutting module. I actually used it to cut and design this t-shirt for Pet using some heat transfer vinyl that was super satisfying to peel off. To find out more about the A2L or 3D printing in general, you can click on the link in my description box and I'm going to go ahead and collect my new shelf pin jig. Considering it's my first time making an adjustable shelf, I'm pretty happy with the results. I've had a piece of wood sitting in the garage for a million years, which I think is going to be the perfect tabletop for this hutch. But first, I need to cut this down to size. I want to add some rounded corners so I'm using this jig that I found on makeoval and 3D printed. I'll need to first cut out a chunk with the jigsaw and then go in with my trim router to get smooth rounded corners. We are making really good progress and it's now time to build the top frame. The back of this top frame is built this way because I'm going to add some full shaped lap panels on top of it later, but I think I'm going to pause here and stain everything just so that I don't have to stain around any tight corners, which usually ends up looking quite uneven for me. I've said this before, but this is totally a personal preference and you can totally stain it right at the end. But I'm just going to do it now because I can. Another reason why I wanted to stain the full shaped lap separately is because the stain can bring out the wood grain of the poplar plywood pretty unexpectedly and I wanted to arrange them to my liking before nailing them down. As expected, I needed to trim down the last panel a little bit in order to fit, so I'm using this new mini wood planer tool that I recently got. As you can probably tell, I have zero technique, so I would really appreciate some tips from anyone who knows how to use a manual wood planer. But after about 3 minutes of scraping, I finally got the piece to fit. To install the shelves, I'm first adding support pieces to the sides and back of the top frame using the laser level, some wood glue and my nail gun. To finish this upper half of the hutch, I'm adding a face frame. Most of the hutches I've come across aren't attached together, but just for safety and a peace of mind, I'm going to attach them at the back using some metal plates and two L brackets at the front, hidden by the face frame. And now for the doors. I really like the look of brass door hinges peeking out, so I'm going to use these ones that I got from my local hardware store. Before I had stayed in the cabinet, I actually went in with my handheld router and created some slots for the hinge to fit perfectly into. This hutch has definitely challenged me to use scary tools like the router, and I feel like I've hit a new milestone in this self-taught amateur woodworking journey. I also made a last-minute decision to use some half-round trim to add even more detailing to the doors and drawer. It is finally the last day of this build, and we are adding all the small details to complete the hutch. I'm first installing some hardware in an antique brass finish. I accidentally used the wrong screws while installing the drawer slides, so I made some holes in the sidewall. So I'm just going to add this piece of trim over here to cover the holes and also add a little decorative moment. I think it gives it a more rustic look, which I actually like, so it was a happy accident after all. I also made some crown molding that I'm just going to nail onto the top of the hutch, just to make it look a little bit more finished. I think the best part of this build was getting to challenge myself to do lots of new things, be it 3D printing custom jigs or getting over my fear of the router. When I build a piece of furniture, I always think about the milestones I achieved, and this piece is definitely a special one that I will be holding on to in my heart. I would like to give my channel members a shout out for your constant support, and I'm really excited to tackle the next few projects to make this living room as cozy as the rest of the home. Summer nights, watch them go by, as we fight off the cold.