Renovation

 A couple of months ago I posted this picture on Instagram to get some advice on how to add a few shelves- nothing big, just a couple of shelves to add a little more storage:

The answers were unanimous: Ditch the red and do way more than just shelves. I was told the credenza (which Ben and I LOVE as it is a beautiful piece and it was the first piece of furniture we picked out together) was too small for the space and I needed to think much bigger.

So, off to Ikea I went. I walked around Ikea and I fell in love with this piece the second I saw it. I loved the doors, the look, everything about it. I wanted it to be taller and with drawers, so I said to myself, "if I can get it with drawers, then that is what I am getting."

Originally going into Ikea I thought I wanted Kallax bookshelves, but when I saw them they looked really cheap. That's the thing with Ikea- some of their items look as cheap as they are, but others look really nice. These Besta units that I fell in love with were quite a bit more expensive, but they look so much better. I didn't even call Ben to tell him how much money I wanted to spend (well, actually, I tried but I don't get cell phone reception there, so I had to just make a decision). I really just knew that as soon as I saw the Besta unit, I loved it.

I went over to the Besta section, and low and behold- the employee built me the perfect, exact unit that would fit perfectly into my space and provide tons of storage and look beautiful on the computer. He gave me a long list of things to find in the warehouse, and I got shopping. Sadly, most of the items were not in stock as supply issues have been a major problem because of Covid.

But, we still had a ton of work to do anyway.

Painting the red wall took two days. This is Ben painting, but really it was me who did it- he did the top two inches of each side of the pillar because that's what I couldn't reach. The hardest part was we had to rent a 12 foot ladder from Home Depot. Minivans are amazing and somehow we were able to fit the ladder in the car, but moving that ladder around- wow! It was a pain. But we are very, very happy with how it turned out. 

Camille loved climbing the ladder!

Then, I built a base for the cabinets to sit on. I didn't want the cabinets sitting on the floor, and this way they would look like custom built ins- always a plus. I borrowed power tools from some wonderful friends and used all those skills I honed back in my Habitat For Humanity days.

I had to make several trips to Ikea to get all the parts! In fact, I started this project before Halloween, and just barely finished it today because that's how long it took for the base cabinet doors to come in. It took us an entire day to build the cabinets and secure them to the walls. That was a pain!

Then, I spent an entire day finding studs. I built the shelves- I bought pine wood and stained it. 

Then came the fun part- decorating! Thankfully, the shelves can hold a lot! On the top shelves we were able to put Ben's grandpa's China. His grandpa bought it in Japan a very long time ago, and it's pretty cool to have it on display.

Then, yesterday the doors came in. We put them on last night, and today I placed the final pieces- a glass top- on the top.

It is officially finished, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I can stare at it for hours. It's my favorite part of the house now. There's tons of storage space, it looks stunning, it is just....perfect! It is absolutely everything I ever wanted!

In the end, it was way more money and a much bigger project than I originally bargained for. But, I'm so glad we did it and that my friends talked me into it. This is not a stop gap, this is a long term solution that I think really adds value to our home. At any rate, it makes me so happy!

We ended up selling the credenza for $100. While it was sad at first, I no longer miss it. This is just so much better.