[CindyLouWho]

Well, it's been ages since I've posted. Between assembling and modifying a billion and one ikea cabinets, moving, unpacking, etc, I've barely had time to take pictures, let alone download them and post...

Because I didn't post a progress blog, I'll just cut to the chase. I LOVE MY IKEA CABINETS! Each and everyone of them. And, for anyone wondering about assembly, it was SOOOOO easy. I did the majority of them myself while DH was at work (boy did I impress the carpenters... ) However, assembling PAX wardrobes definately requires 2 people. Hubby almost took his head off trying to do it himself.

Some details on modifications that you'll see in the pictures:

Mudroom cabinets:

We used above fridge cabinets for the benches. I doweled a 2x onto a drawer divider to make a solid piece in the middle of each bench. I then converted the doors to drawers. Really easy to do. Just needed to cut a large dowel (we used a closet rod) to fill the hinge hole, then piloted holes for the drawer attachements. I made a template out of cardboard since we did so many.

The seat part of the bench is a refrigerator panel cut to size. The open hanging spaces are just upper cabinets without doors. The "cubbies" for the kids are upper cabinets with drawers (yippee for the 12" drawers!).


Kitchen:

Only real modification was converting a 21" base cabinet into a pullout garbage. We used 2 drawers. One at the bottom of the door, one at the top (essentially where a bottom drawer and top drawer would be anyway). Attached door (same as mudroom drawers except with two drawers attached to one door). Made cutouts in top drawer bottom for garbage and composting. Bottom drawer stores cleaning supplies and extra garbage bags. This method was pricier but VERY sturdy. It could be done with any size cabinet that has a corresponding wide drawer.

Pictures are on shutterfly. I hope this link works:

http://castlehouse.shutterfly.com/action/

Password is IKEA (how original... )

For those interested in the kitchen details:
Counter--Silestone (LOVE LOVE LOVE IT)
Lights--all Ikea
Range--Capital (again, love, love, love it)
Sinks--ebay (can't remember supplier, but they are great and so much less than name brands)
Fridge and DW --Kitchenaid

Besides the fact that the kitchen is beautiful and extremely functional (none of the carpenters could believe the Blum hardware), but it cost me a fraction of the equivalent kitchen with custom cabinets. A good friend just did her kitchen and the cabinets look almost exactly the same as mine (although my drawers work much better than hers). My Cabinet price: approx $2,200 , her custom price: over $40,000.

	DH definition DH usually means Dear Husband (or, pick your own adjective starting with D).

	DW definitions DW can mean Dear or Darling Wife (or substitute your expletive), or alternatively DishWasher. Take your clues from the context.

[splatgirl]

It's lovely, and what a gorgeous piece of property you have. All that great storage in your mudroom just makes me so happy!
Hurray for IKEA.

[alydev]

Wow, it's all beautiful. I couldn't see a picture of your sink. Is it a deep one-bowl sink? What brand? I haven't decided on a sink type yet. Do you like having the second island sink and do you find you are using it often?

How tall are those above fridge cabs? How high are your ceilings?

What a gorgeous house and lovely setting. You must be thrilled with the results of all your hard work!

[climber_grrl]

I replied in another thread, but Congrats! Everything looks amazing. I LOVE your red wall.

Your mudroom should be an example that all IKEAns world wide should study.

[DesignDiva]

Cindy, what can I say? It is ALL fabulous!! You are so creative and the execution of the modifications is just flawless. I love every single thing!

[stacylu]

Just gorgeous - I LOVE your mudroom! What a standout area full of smart storage! Congratulations!

[CindyLouWho]

wow. thank you everyone for the incredibly kind comments.

I'll try to answer some of the questions:

flat ceilings are 9 ft, except kitchen which is 8 ft. Mudroom sloped ceiling is 8 ft at lowest point and up to a little over 11ft at highest.

Don't remember the brands of the sinks, but they are basically blanco knock-offs. The big sink is a large and very deep single bowl. Smaller single bowl in the island. I love and use both of them. I use the island sink mostly for prep. the pullout to the left of the sink is gargabe and compost, so I'm able to wash, chop and dump very easily.

I think that's all. Let me know if any other questions.

Rachel

[GardenOfDarwin]

Rachel - WOW! I'm so impressed as is Tigger . NICE job! Love the house as well. I hope you'll allow us to use your photos in the new site! Excellent, excellent work - great modifications!

And how nice to know that you saved $38,000! Woo-hoo! Celebrate!

Susan

	Tigger Tigger is aka Tigratrus

[Tigratrus]

Wow... When we get the new system up I'd really REALLY like to get an article up about the mods you did. We're planning a kind of showcase of really cool mods/kitchens/IKEA projects called "That's IKEA?!"

Man... Now I sooo feel like SOME sort of celebration is in order, it's so nice seeing projects that came together so well! And I know Susan always feels several times better about a completed project when she can look a a wonderful result AND gloat a bit inside about how much she saved .

As a side note it looks like we might actually have the new site ready by mid-Jan. It'll be the FIRST such self-imposed one that we hit if it happens, but there has to be a first for everything right?

James

[CindyLouWho]

Susan/James
Of course you can use our pictures! I'm flattered that you want to. Let me take some better ones first though. I just wanted to get those online since I've been so delinquent about posting. The lighting is terrible in the pics I posted. When the kitchen is clean (yeah, some day...) I'll take new pictures.
Rachel