We have made some slow progress on the bathroom. The tub is fully installed and the hardee backer, drywall, shower stuff niche, new fan lighting junctions, new outlets, plumbing rough for the sink, and floor tile (but not yet grouted, that should happen today) have been installed. I bought the paint and the wall tile. The contractor was out of town for thursday and friday last week.

Last wednesday my husband and I went to a local granite place and picked a remnant for the custom counter (which is aprox. 37x18 with a sink and faucet). We are using fog lilac tile from cooltiles which made picking a matching granite harder. We chose absolute black. Not the most interesting choice but works with everything else happening in there. I liked the Carara Marble but it reminds my husband of little old ladies so we didnt choose that. We found that getting granite was the least expensive option in our market other than a tile counter or a do it yourself laminate (neither of which we wanted), because everyone, for every type counter, except this independent granite place, had a minimum we couldn't meet. Per square foot the granite is more costly than other choices but since we didnt have to meet a minimum it is less overall.

So we have white fixtures, a faux black slate 12x12 tile floor, a light gray wall paint, fog lilac with fog grey accent 1x1 glass tiles for the shower, a white vessel sink (Krauss), Adel medium brown cabinets and a black granite counter. All the plumbing, electrical and accessory hardware except the vent fan is satin or brushed nickle. I would not make that choice again, because it is harder to find, more expensive and they do not match each other exactly.

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How many years has Ikea been in the United States? 10 years? 20??? Did no one send a short memo to Sweden telling them that we can't use their faucets out of the box because they are using non-standard hoses??

So, instead of having a normal experience trying to hook up a faucet (which is pretty easy), one has to drive to the hardware store and buy extra adapters and hoses. I'm now going to have over 4 feet of water hoses under my small bathroom sink. FOUR FEET!

I mean, I'm not asking for the unreasonable. At least a note attached to the box or displays informing me of this design would be fine. What they really should do, however, is at least sell a basic supply line adapter (nipple) to U.S. customers. Sure, charge us $5 or $10 more, we don't care, we just want the stupid thing to work without pulling our hair out.

And I haven't even attempted trying to connect the drain yet. I might be back with another rant soon!

So I am very sick, all this multiple houses multiple jobs stuff has caught up with me.

Our kitchen counter tops were installed this morning a half hour before scheduled, luckily I had gotten there early. They look pretty good. I am overall happy with them. They are Silestone Blue Sahara 3cm with an eased edge.









The tub was put in place and leveled today. I am so excited about this tub. This is a 32x 60x22 Certa 3 wall alcove Jacuzzi Brand Soaking Tub. Yay a tub deep enough to actually take a bath in.





We were not going to replace the toilet originally but we now think we might, I am liking the Jacuzzi Brand Prestige Toilet which has a rectangular base.

Mark worked on roughing in for the sink today and though we have 12" deep Cabinets for the bathroom we are going to have to shim them out to 18-19" because the counter needs to be that depth but also because the plumbing needs to run behind them on the outside of the wall.

well, i bit the bullet and now have a kitchen and 1.5 baths to reno. all for the love of ikea. just kidding. changes are needed due to lack of efficiency...and shoddy work. will post BEFORE pics and mission statement later. for now, here are my planner files:

as is: http://kitchenplanner.ikea.com/US/UI...SharedDesign=1
big block is back stairway to second floor. half bath is behind range, so the range has no external exhaust.

switch gas line to opposite wall: http://kitchenplanner.ikea.com/US/UI...SharedDesign=1
i'd like to put in an extractor fan later.

create a counter wrap vs using a cart/island: http://kitchenplanner.ikea.com/US/UI...SharedDesign=1
more counter and storage, but is it too tight for two people?

dishwasher creates dead space in corner: http://kitchenplanner.ikea.com/US/UI...SharedDesign=1
dead space is now there. D:

screen shots of current layout, just replaced everything with ikea cabs...but, do i use a 30" pantry or a 24" pantry and 15" cleaning closet?

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Bathroom : So I was right we dont have any before pics of the bathroom we do however have some gutted pictures, though other than the origami of pipes under the sub floor nothing to terrifying or very interesting.

My tub was delivered today, they forgot to call and schedule it with me and the driver was very upset at 8am when he went to deliver it and no one was there. They also forgot to tell him it was a second story unit and he was ill prepared to deliver it, luckily it wasnt very heavy and I got it up the stairs myself.







Kitchen Progress
The microwave and fridge are in as well as some of the doors.

We are short the lower (larger) pantry door and Ikea gave me a reservation sheet and said they would send a postcard when it was in stock, which they did not do. I called today because Mark is going to be down in Mass this weekend and wanted to pick it up if it was in, they left me a message (cause after 10 minutes of automated menus I always get voicemail) that it had been in for weeks and that they would only hold it until February 1st, and that we need to come get it soon. Very frustrating, we have been waiting to hear if it was in this whole time. We are also short a cover panel for the bathroom so he will get that at the same time.





I brought the cooking liquids that arent in everyday use over to test shelf placement:

Our Bathroom Remodel started today, but I havent been there to take any pictures, I am not sure we have a before of this room. It is 8'2" x 59.5. it had the very nasty and shallow tub in the same place as where we have it in the new plan, but it was smaller. The toilet is staying where it was the vanity is moving from next to the toilet to the wall parallel to the tub. The room was gross (unclean and with bad caulking and subsequent failed water proofing) broken ugly tile, a vanity with no storage and a sink that leaked both from the tap and underneath.

The Plan:




The tub we picked is a Jacuzzi brand soaking tub. My husband picked out a tub/shower set from Moen in brushed nickle. We picked out this sink and faucet, a new fan and light which can be mounted right above the tub and two sconces for the mirror we have yet to choose. We haven't found the counter we want to use but the plan is to go to the stone yard and see if we can get a remnant. We picked an inexpensive black faux slate ceramic tile for the floor. We are still deciding on which wall tile we want to use and how much of the room we want to tile, we have tenatively picked out fog lilac from cooltiles.com combined with fog grey stripes but we haven't ordered them because I just cant make up my mind. We generally like bright greens (like we are doing the kitchen backsplash and one wall in our living room) and bright warm colors (such as the creamy orange we are doing in our dining room) but it seems like in the long run we would want to have a cool tone in the bathroom for resale (that seems to be what people want in bathrooms).

Deconstruction should continue tomorrow I will post any relevant pictures then.

Mark put in all the kitchen lights on Friday.


The lights are xenon, and hardwired from Kichler inside the cabinets we have Bright Discs and underneath they are from the Cabinet Collection.

In the Ceiling we have 4 recessed fixtures. We were going to put in five but because we had to move the heating/cooling vent in the ceiling we opted to change the plan. In this picture they aren't pushed up into position yet.

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We are about a month into our remodel and 1/3 done. We can't move until we are closer to finished.

We bought a 840sq'ish second story flat that needed a new kitchen and a new bathroom to be liveable. The move will be a bit of a change it is a smaller unit than where we live now and only has one bathroom, we have always had two. The development that the new place is in has a lot going for it, a pool, covered parking, its close to relatives and is suburban as opposed to our current downtown (loud) location.

I have a thread in the planning section of the forums. We had to get a before picture of the kitchen from the realtor.


We are using a contractor, Mark, who works alone but does everything so we haven't needed any subs. My husband is only around a day or two a week so it has been myself and and Mark working most of the time.

My husband removed the cabinets and counter less than a week into owning the property and then Mark went to work moving a doorway and redoing the plumbing and all of the electrical which also meant removing the drywall. We needed a new subfloor and a new ceiling but we couldnt remove the old one because of the insulation situation in the attic. Mark and I went on a road trip to Ikea and got the cabinets. After a bit of a snafu Mark and I installed the bellawood Brazilian walnut floor. I built the cabinets and Mark, my husband and myself hung them. We ordered a 3cm Blue Sahara Silestone counters and they came and measured for them yesterday.

The tile we are using in the kitchen is from cool tiles and is Pistachio green. We painted the walls in the kitchen Benjamin Moore Celedon Green in semi gloss. We are using Lidingo fronts.

For the bathroom we have the design, we have the sink and faucet, we have ordered the bathtub and we have the faucets for the tub/shower. We think we are keeping the toilet. I have purchased the new fan and lights and we have two Ikea cabinets (Adel medium brown) already built to use in the space. We have tentatively picked out tiles for the walls and the floor. I am going to try and get a granite remnant for the counter. Monday we will gut the old bathroom.

I have quite a few pictures of the designs and the process in the galleries.

Hello. I'm a mature master's student currently undertaking a MSc project aimed at reducing the assembly times of bedroom furniture, specifically for a wardrobe and chest of drawers. I have designed both products and I now need assembly times to compare my own designs to.

If you have timed yourself assembling a standard two door wardrobe, and/or chest of drawers (4 drawers) then could you please let me know your recorded times. Your effort will be much appreciated to help me write up my report for my course.

Thanks, Rob.

p.s. all times from novice to professional assemblers welcome and for a variety of types of wardrobes and chests.

And believe it or not, with serious PROGRESS! Well, it has been over a year, so you would ASSUME (insert joke here) that we would be finis. You would ASSUME...

I did try to post a blog post--oh, a year ago-- but the photos wouldn't go through. I re-posted four times, and then screamed at my computer and gave up. So, I am going to make a go of it again, and maybe just maybe this time it will work.

Since I last "blogged", I believe we finished installing the glass in some of the cabinets. Well, then, with that being the case, we have made giant strides.

Last winter, we finished our flooring. I don't know if I told my sob story of not being able to get the Berry floors I was in love with or not, but I ended up finding a suitable replacement for less than half the cost of Berry. Sonic Surfaces. Yeah, they aren't a really well-known company, they hail from Canada, and I could only find out tidbits about them in my hours of research, but it was the style and color of the floor that had me saying "da** the torpedoes" and pulling out my credit card. :s: Of course, they were on sale and we needed about 20 boxes of the stuff, so I had to send Hubs to a couple different Menard's to complete our collection. I didn't even think about the possibility that any of the boards would be off and that different lot numbers would be, well, different.

Man, I was lucky. *whew* I am pretty sure I would be buried in the back yard if the lots were significantly different, so YAY. I am above ground! :P

Anyway, we managed to lay the floors over a long, long, long weekend, which some people may refer to as a week. ;) And none too soon, as my parents were coming to visit.

Before (Notice how the ratty looking runner defines each space):


Hubs had to kill the squeek in the floors first:

Ummm, it's dead, Jim.

The first row--I was so excited, I am surprised the photo is even in focus:


After:


Now we have one continuous floor instead of two different surfaces with different levels--which is a whole 'nother story.

Since we have had the floors installed for a year now, I can say that I am very happy with them. They are so easy to maintain. I bought myself a little early Christmas present last year to help clean them. I bought a Roomba! My kids named him Thomas, and Thomas keeps the floors looking nice. I just move the chairs into the living room and pat him on his little head and off he goes. I have given up trying to figure out just what the heck kind of pattern he follows and just leave him to his business. Thomas is my BFF.

When my parents come to visit, they bring their big doggy, and her nails haven't made a single mark on our floors---and believe me, she has tried. My dad, who doesn't like anything really, was completely impressed with the floors, so much so, he had me trying to hunt down more for their house. Unfortunately, there was none of our color, Oak Chesnut, to be found. Thankfully, we have a couple extra boxes for any repairs we may need to make.

Of course we also have some of that colored wood putty filler for those times when your darling husband drops a butcher knife on the floor, and it hits it *just right* and takes a little chip out of it. =:-o

It's good to get the first ding out of the way, know what I mean? :D

Here's a sneak preview of the IKEA summer 2012! :)
Click on the photos to enlarge them.


Högsten armchair and footstool.


Värmdö rocking chair in black and red.


Sunderö deckchair with footstool.

More photos of IKEA Summer collection 2012 at www.var-dags-rum.se (in Swedish - but use Google translate on the upper right on the page)

Erik @ Var dags rum

Hi guys,

This is probably going to sound really dumb but I am just putting up some Muzik wall lights to create my wife's perfect 'Hollywood Mirror' and halfway through have realised there doesn't seem to be an on/off switch?!? Can anyone please advise? I've hooked up to the wires from the previous wall light which had it's own cord switch and wasn't connected to any switches on the wall so now I seem to have a set of lights that are permanently on!!

:confused:


Do I need to fit a switch? I was pretty proud of myself installing the lights so Lord knows how to fit a switch to them?!

Doesn't seem very 'Ikea' to have to do this so please tell me I'm missing something simple!

Thanks!
Darren