Stark naked butt(ed)

Materials: 2 discontinued Starks, #10×1″ wood screws, various brackets

Description: We had 3 discontinued Starks employed together as a bed headboard. That’s hacky enough (just reverse the small middle shelves …), but that’s not this.

When we wanted to get rid of the headboard, 2 Starks became a ‘fridge-sized storage thing elsewhere by connecting them back-to-back. We left the short middle shelves mounted “on the backs” (i.e. showing inwards here.) as the goal was internal storage.

Sure, you could put Masonite or other thin boarding on the back instead, but that’s more work, not any stronger, and gives up the chance to use the flat bar holes to hang stuff. Obviously you’d probably want to cover the back here with cloth.

#10×1″ wood screws are a good size to deal with the holes in the mending bars and flat bars without needing washers. Don’t over tighten. Pre-drilling a short amount is a good idea to speed up screw insertion, but not necessary.

Connect them together:
(4) Everbilt 10 in. Zinc Plated Mending Plates, Model 15390 (or similar)

Use mending plates top and bottom, each side as shown in the photos.

Brace them:
(2) 4′ flat bars with holes for upper portion
(2) 3′ flat bars with holes for lower portion

The two 4″ flat bars can be bolted together with a short 3/8″ bolt and nut. It’s the perfect size to fill the hole size in the bars. Using a smaller diameter bolt is basically a waste of effort, since you want the added horizontal stability afforded by having the two 4′ bars not move at all, relative to each other.

Because the flat bars show their corners when attached, I first cut them off with tin snips.

The bottom braces also serve to support the “large boxes” at the bottom, which would otherwise kinda sag. The key is each bottom brace also attaches near their centers at two points to the large boxes.

~ David Deckert