A Few of My Favorite Things

It's coming together!

I plan to keep adding to this post as things get done. The countertops were delivered on Friday! That night we put one table together only to see that it was going to sag just a bit in the middle! Ugh! I just hate that! So we had to attached it to the wall with a support 2X4 and it's helped.  So this is something to remember; a table this long at 60" might sag in the middle! We also got the counter top on the cabinets and that went very smoothly. I have yet to take pics of it because it's covered in tools! I have also been delayed due to painting the Ikea pieces we bought. Another thing to keep in mind; Ikea's white is an off white where the Alex drawer units are concerned. The Billy bookcase is VERY off white, almost a cream. So I got the drawers spray primed and painted in white semi gloss and they turned out nice and match the cabinets now. FYI: Not all spray paint is created equal. I started out using Krylon and I had the worst time with it. Went to Home Depot and got Rust-Oleum and it was so much easier to use and just did a nicer job all around. Tomorrow I will be tackling the bookcase. Here is my husband putting on the leg brackets on the counter top.

Instead of a chair I got this stool at Ikea.  It's pretty comfy and I like that I can just push it under the table when I'm not using it.

And here is the table all done and hopefully not sagging to much. We do plan to call the counter top place and see if they have any suggestions for us. Actually it doesn't look too bad in the pic!!

The name of the Formica, by Laminart, is Ebony Star. We put two of these cord routers in each corner:

Stay tuned for more updates that I will be adding the next few days.  I can't wait to be done and unpack all my boxes!

Ikea or bust!!!

I have been at a standstill in my craft room until the counter tops come in.  It's sounds like they will be delivered on Thursday or Friday which will be 4 weeks after they were ordered!  So much for the two weeks we were told initially.  We special ordered them from Home Depot.  So as we want to make sure we are home for the delivery we decided to go to Sacramento to Ikea yesterday.  It's a two and a half hour drive, but a beautiful one going over the Sierra's.  So I bought a Billy bookcase, an Alex drawer unit, a Vika Alex drawer unit and a Nils stool and cover.  Then I bought 5 of these drawer oragnizers and I have a feeling I will have wished I bought more.

I got 3 of the larger ones.  So today we have a lot of assembling to do.  We also bought a Malm 4 drawer dresser for our master walk in closet so we will get that put together too.  One concern I had is that Ikea's white is more ivory looking in the store.  I tore open one box and took out a piece to compare it to the while of my Home Depot cabinets and it looks to be a very close match.  I sandwiched the piece next to a drawer:

What do you think?  I guess we will see once we get a something put together.  I sure don't want to have to paint everything!!

Well I hear my husband ripping into the boxes.  I better go help!

Under construction

We finally got started in earnest on my craft room.  I'm not calling it a scrap room anymore as I plan to do all kinds of crafting and sewing.  I had a very hard time deciding what direction to go with this room.  First of all it isn't a huge room but it is bigger than the one at the previous house, which you can still see by clicking on the album to the right.  It's 11' X 11.5' with a decent sized walk in closet.  It came down to going with Home Depot who had the American Classic cabinets on sale for 20% off or with Ikea who had cabinets that matched the doors in our house but they would have cost about $300.00 more when all was said and done.  Not counting gas to Sacramento, but I wouldn't count that!  LOL!  So here is a pic of the doors in this house:

And here are the Ikea cabinets I loved. We would have bought the metal legs for them so they would be counter height.

They come in most cabinet configurations too.  But in the end the 20% off at Home Depot won out.  I have to say that the fact that they come already assembled was attractive too!

And here they are in place. We initially thought we would have to cut away the trim on the floor and use a spacer board to connect to the wall but we were surprised they slid right in perfectly so we decided to leave them free standing and not even attach to the wall. 

Yesterday we got the the electric in place.  There is one outlet that we would be covering up so we cut a hole out to run some extension cords through it.  I will have at least 4 things plugged in at all times.

We are running extension cords to both ends of the cabinets.  Once the counter top is attached we will drill holes in 3 locations, each end and one in the middle, and install the those plastic cord hole thingies that will route the cords below.

After this was done Larry attached all the cabinets to each other.

Then the fun part, putting on the knobs and pulls.  I took back the first bunch I bought as they looked too industrial.  I want this room to be pretty and feminine. So I ended up back at Home Depot and bought these. I wasn't real sure about the pulls because I really wanted all glass and they cost about twice as much as these.  But I have to say that now that they are all on I'm loving them a lot!

The counter tops won't be here for another good week or more.  We will attach the toe kick once the counter top is on.  The counter tops were special ordered from Home Depot.  So much for the two weeks they initially said.  They will be Formica and in a black and white.  There will be one to cover these cabinets and then 2, 60" tops that we will be making tables out of by attaching wood legs that will be painted white.  One will go on this wall in place of what is there now.  And what you see on the desk now is what will be on the table. 

Ugh!  I hate seeing cords!  Hoping to figure out a way to hide them!  Then the other table will go over here on this wall (next pic) along with a white book case from Ikea to the right of the window.  This will be where my sewing machine will be.

and this bookcase:

Both of these tables will have one of these under it:

This is the 4th wall with a good sized walk in closet.  Not sure yet how I will organize it.  It measures 7.5' X 4' so it's a nice space.

I still need to figure out where my ribbon holder the stamp pad holder will be going.  The also where to put white shelving, etc.  Can't do much else now until we get the counter top in.  I will be posting more pics as things get done so stay tuned.  ***Be sure and click on the pics to see them bigger***