Installing a Hideaway Ironing Board

Liz was gifted an old ironing board (it was in Najwa and Joe’s condo, and was something they were removing prior to their renovations). We’ve had it at our place for a while, and were finally in a place to install it this weekend.

A closer look. While a lot of the mechanisms are older bits of wood, there are some surprisingly newer pieces (the lower base that supports the ironing board looks old, but it’s fastened in place by a more modern set of conduit straps).

Separating the pieces, and lifting out the ironing board itself.

Structure and support.

The plan is to install it here, inside this wall joist. We were trying to set it as low as possible, and have a 2×4 positioned in place just behind the electrical conduit. Struggled a little with the pocket screws, and getting this fixed in place… but got there eventually.

We broke out all the toys for this one. I cut some Masonite we had lying around, to replace the old backing. And Liz used our Brad nailer (hooked up to our compressor) to affix the thing in place.

Backing installed.

The ironing board, ready to go in to the wall. It may not be easy to tell from these photos, but at this point Liz had cleaned and sanded everything down – and gave the entire piece a good bit of love.

A while back, we got a finish nailer for our trim work. While we haven’t started that particular project just yet… this was the first time we broke out this guy. Definitely preferrign the cordless approach with this one.

We got the ironing board in place, resting on a 2×4… and spaced with shims on both sides. We affixed the frame in place by using the finish nailer to go through the frame, shim, and then the joist.

Here, Liz is trimming off the excess bit of trim to get things flush with the wall joists.

Continuing the cleanup work.

Installed (sans ironing board).

It’ll be interesting to see how we get the drywall up for this guy. The frame protrudes a little bit from the joists, and there’s a door that needs to go over everything (curious if Liz will end up just remaking the door entirely).

We worked with a wide range of tools, some old and some new. This was a challenging project, but satisfying to see it done and in place. Not too bad for us, for a day’s work.

Related:
Housewarming Party, Najwa + Joe
Moderately Extreme Ironing
Tools of the Trade