DIY Japanese shoji style wardrobe doors - Will this work?

Hi everyone, going to be starting making doors for pair of semi-fitted (i.e. protruding from alcoves) wardrobes I made, and just wanted to get some opinions on whether my design will work...

Plan is to make 2 pairs of face fitting doors for 2 wardrobes, each door panel approx 2300 x 500, in a kind of japenese shoji screen inspired style, i.e. dark wood frame with rice paper faced panel covered with stripwood lattice.

As they're wardrobe doors don't need to let light through so thought simplest way is to cut panels to full size of doors, prob using 18mm MDF, then glue 10mm x 60mm pine to look like rail and style frame on front (overhanging and edging with pine stripwood so hide mdf edges), then glue shoji paper over exposed central panel and finally glue / pin lattice strips (9mm square pine stripwood) over that and hang with kitchen cabinet hinges. Wanted to use sapele / utile ideally to match other furniture in room but can't find suitable size stripwood so thinking staining pine easier option?

Anyone see any problems with this idea? I'm particularly concerned about keeping doors flat, hence using mdf rather than ply, but will the pine frame make door unbalanced or not really with these thicknesses?

Cheers everyone

If this design is ok, I'm also a bit concerned about using pine. Although easy to get in sizes I need (especially stripwood for lattice), as I understand it pine doesn't stain well to a mahogany type colour? Is this the case and if so does anyone know good suppliers for sapele / utile / meranti stripwood?

Thanks again

I'd probably come down a bit on the thickness of the timber as 10mm may be a bit thick and start to pull your doors. I've done it a few times with 12mm veneered MDF and matching hardwood styles & rails but only 6-7mm think and not had problems with movement. I would also suggest you use moisture resistant MDF and treat the back and panel with the same finish before you apply the paper, that way you won't get an uneven change in the boards moisture content.

A spray adhesive like 3M photomount would be good for the paper as it won't soak through, you can also get a similar look by painting the panel in an off white waterbased eggshell

As you say pine will always look like stained pine. Some of the stripwood sold by the likes of Burbidge is a light coloured hardwood which is knot free and will stain up better but you may have a job finding it wide enough for the outer frame.

Not sure what part of london you are in but South London Hardwoods will machine up sapele for you.

http://www.slhardwoods.co.uk/

J

Thanks very much for swift reply there jason.

Coincidentally just been looking at the burbidge stripwood and looks ideal. They do a 8 x 44mm which I think would be wide enough for outer frames, if put that on 18mm MR MDF then can use their 4 x 18 for edging and 8 x 8 for the lattice work, perfect... They do these in dark hardwood too, which seems to be sapele from their website so guess a bit of danish oil or similar should look pretty close to oiled mahogany we have in rest of flat?

Good shout with photomount, was thinking along same lines. If do that on MR MDF would you still advise spray a coat on reverse side (and putting paper on?) to balance mositure or is this overkill as presumably less moisture penetration compared to painting? That said would want to finish inside face in some way, so would prob paint anyway if don't paper...

Finally, was thinking of using blum soft-close kitchen cabinet hinges, and probs with this and how many per door best in your opinion?

Cheers again

If painting the back then also paint the front of the panel before sticking the paper on.

With the doors comming out at 26mm you would have to use the softclose Blums for thick doors, even then its getting a bit thick, 15mm MDF would be better if you can get it, 12 would be OK but can feel a little flimsy. You could just get away with 4 hinges per door, 5 would be better and turn off the softclose on 2 of them.

J