Some people might refer to me as stubborn. I prefer to think of myself as determined. (Tomato, To-mah-to.) Therefore, I had a specific idea and look in mind for our living room built-ins that, for a very long time, I was unwilling to budge on. Yet, after months of hemming and hawing, pouting, and raised-eyebrow glaring, Eric got his way. Apparently, I married someone who can out-stubborn me. I'm not sure that was a wise choice. Good thing I think he's cute.
My original plan meant that the two of us would be building our own shelving system almost from scratch. However, my dreams of beautiful, custom-fit cabinetry boiled down to a gigantic headache for Eric. Cause let's be honest, he would have done most of the work, and I would have done most of the whining. And after seeing a set of pre-built cabinets at IKEA that were not only much easier than what I had planned, much less expensive than what I had planned, but also the perfect dimensions for our wall...he finally won me over. I must say, I didn't go down easy. There were words.
They may not be what I had envisioned, but I love them anyhow. I guess he was maybe, sorta, a little bit right.
This is what this wall looked like before we added the cabinets...
Then we assembled a lot of pieces...
Our wall is not flat or straight. Nothing in our house is. In fact, there's an one-inch-deep bulge in the middle of it. We think that's where the fireplace used to be.
Eric screwed a cleat into the studs, and then secured the cabinets to the wood to ensure that everything lined up evenly.
Ensuring that everything was level in our crooked, crooked house was a process. Eric had to undo some work he had very carefully done to make sure there was enough clearance for the upper most cabinets to fit under the ceiling. Our floor slopes down about an inch from left to right. Luckily, those Scandinavian geniuses over at IKEA created adjustable legs to help with the process.
We were able to assemble and secure the cabinet frames during the first day while Madeline was at school.
And on the second day, we were able to add the doors, hardware and shelves.
Our knobs are from Home Depot. I love them.
We now have more storage than we know what to do with. Madeline's toys are below, and our DVDS are above.
And there's a lot of white space between those books. Plenty of room to add to our collection over the next few years!
Looks fantastic!
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