Can I just start by saying, thanks for all your feedback on our “his chair” post. I spent some time rearranging things, swapping sides and eventually just put him and her next to each other with Chris’s djembe in the middle to act as a little side table and I think we like this arrangement best. We still haven’t decided, for sure, if we are going to keep both chairs together. The Ikat slipper chair, aka “her”, might go live in another room or in another house. But, we have learned to just live with things for a little while and if the wincing doesn’t stop when we look into a room–then we change it.
What’s causing the most wincing for me? The differing heights. Yowza.
But really, this post isn’t about those chairs
again. It’s about that little announcement that we made on
our facebook page over the weekend:
While we aren’t quite ready to demo the kitchen, we did pick up some cabinets … … that weren’t for the kitchen. Did we fool ya? The wall directly across from the large window in the living room was in desperate need of a credenza, console, buffet, sideboard, insert another synonym here.
Not only did that really dark wall need broken up with something, we loved the idea of adding additional storage for games (which are currently stored in the garage), a place to plop some really nice lamps on to add additional lighting, something to ground the art that we want to hang on that wall, and even a surface for snacks when we have guests over. I scoured the online classifieds for weeks for a long dresser or console that would work for all the needs we had in mind, but never really found…it.
Then, one of our readers on our Facebook page suggested we look under the cabinets section of the classifieds and a lightbulb went off. Of course! I had remembered a few fab bloggers making a credenza, now coined as “fauxdenza”, here, here and here out of Ikea cabinets and the look and function was just what we needed. So, we hit up Ikea and came home with:
3 Akurum Wall Cabinets (30×24)
6 Applad Doors
12 Hinges
6 Hinge Dampers (Soft close. OOoooo)
2 Akurum Suspension Rails–but we only used one
Also, straws because Greta is on a straw kick. Everything came to around $280 which is significantly cheaper than anything in the range of 7 and a half feet long. It is unheard of. The basic concept of the floating cabinet credenza is hanging wall cabinets really low to the floor. That’s it. It took us 2 hours to but together all of the cabinets and hang them on the wall right above our vents, that I wish didn’t exist visually, but I suppose they are nice for air movement.
Although the hard part is over with (I would say cutting the suspension rail into two to fit into studs and then being sure it was completely level was the hard part), our project isn’t finished. Check out the top of those cabinets:
The tops of wall cabinets aren’t really meant to be seen so, like our fauxdenza predecessors, we plan to add wood to the tops and even down the sides to cover up those unsightly screws and add an element of warmth to the whole thing. Also, knobs. We need some knobs–which I am strangely excited to pick out.
This idea of using wall cabinets as our credenza added one element to our nice-to-have list that we hadn’t thought of. It is slim! It is just under 13 inches which keeps traffic flow regular, in and out of the living room. Especially now that the chairs are together and the drum blocks the center lane entrance.
Right now, things are looking a little stark. But we’re excited to add the wood and lamps and art and really warm up this side of the room.
And, finally get the games out of the garage and handy to whip out and school our friends at Boggle. We also plan on storing home decor things currently not in use and serving platters in here, too, but will definitely keep one cabinet accessible for Greta as well. She is already getting a kick out of putting her stuffed animals to sleep in here. Did I mention hinge dampers are God-sent?
Now you’re all caught up on the living room happs. We’re pretty in love with the new addition. Maybe “love” isn’t the right word because there’s not much to love about some plain white boxes just yet, but the potential? Oh ho ho…that gets us excited. Here’s hoping we can finish things up in the next couple days.
I was on Pinterest tonight and ran across an image with a white sofa and an ikat chair that looks very similar to yours. They even have a lamp that is very much the same! http://www.restoredstyle.com/living-roomdining-room-before-after/
Have you seen this room before? Thought it might give you some inspiration.
I’m feeling seriously inspired right now. Random thought, but if you added some faux legs below that cabinet it might help the vents to recede a bit more.
Perhaps you could paint the top half of each of the vents to be same color as the wall? Just a suggestion. Great fauxdenza, i’m excited about all the cool things you’ll arrange on top of it and the difference that art will bring to the walls. I feel pretty confident that you will resolve the chair situation. I love rearranging a room until it fits.
Definitely still like the “his” chair better! ;) And those cabinets look awesome! I absolutely love how they are floating, it’s just fabulous!
It’s true. The couch is super low, and Chris’s chair has a very high back–but I kinda like that! Once we get art about the couch, I think (hope) it will all balance out. It’s a puzzle right now that we’ll solve soon enough. Thanks so much for your thoughts. They are ALWAYS worth a lot to us.