Checking In: Living Room Built-ins (Nearly a Year Later!)

DIY is always a slow moving train around here. Between the two of us working full time, a 8 month old, and year-round softball - life is one huge time suck and there just isn't much time or energy leftover for house projects.

I had to scroll all the way back to December 2016 in my phone to find this photo:

Those are our cabinets for the built-in getting delivered - almost a year ago!

Man...we suck!

Anyways...it's almost December 2017 and we're still not done. We're close though!

Ok, I lied. We're about 50% done. But since the living room built-ins is on our list of 2017 House Goals list, I thought I'd show you where we're at and how we got here.

After soliciting several quotes and dying of sticker shock (basically this project all over again) we decided to DIY. DIYing a built-in isn't really all that hard. It's just intimidating. So before we got started, we pulled inspiration from these DIY built-in projects here, here, and here and just went for it.

We chose to use unfinished upper kitchen cabinets from Home Depot because they were readily available, affordable, and wouldn't eat up a lot of floor space. They arrived December 17, 2016 - see picture above.

We went with five 30" upper kitchen cabinets for an almost 13 foot built-in unit! Hellllo storage!

After the cabinets arrived we built a base for the cabinets to sit on. We did this so that we could wrap baseboard around the base of the cabinets for a "built-in look". We chose to have the base flush with the cabinet fronts rather than set back like a traditional toe-kick in a kitchen set-up.

 

 

Since we have 5" baseboard all throughout the house we built the base for the cabinets to sit on just slightly smaller than 5". This way...the baseboards would completely cover the base plus slightly overlap the bottom edge of the cabinets. I think we ended up going with a 2x4 and 1x2 turned on its side to achieve the height we needed.

 

We also ran a 2x4 along the back wall of the living room - secured into the studs - to bump the cabinets out away from the wall about 2". We did this for a few reasons...the first was so that we could easily secure the cabinets to the 2x4 (which was already secured to the studs) so we didn't have to worry about hitting studs if we had secured the cabinets directly to the wall. The second reason we did this was because bumping the cabinets out from the wall 2" allows the bookshelves up top to be recessed a bit. With the 2" bump out the counter becomes 15" deep (12" cabs + 2" bump out + 1" overhang = 15" counter) giving a little extra counter space up top and an overall better "built-in" look.

What came next was probably by far the hardest part of the entire install. So glad it's over and so glad we both still love each other after the fact - ha!

To install the cabinets we started with the base we had built on the ground, set each cabinet on top, and began securing the cabinets to the 2x4 along the back wall all while making sure everything was level and plum - using shims where necessary (omg - so many shims). The first cabinet was pretty easy and straightforward - it was secured to the side wall, the back wall, the base, AND the adjoining cabinet. It did however, get more difficult with every cabinet we added to ensure that the unit as a whole was level and plum. We had to use quite a few shims along the back wall because our wall is not perfectly straight (what wall is?) and we also shimmed the base quite a bit because our floor slopes down pretty bad in that area too. Other than that...we secured the hell out of these cabinets: to the back wall, the base, and the adjoining cabinet(s) - they aren't going anywhere!

Below is the side view - right after we installed the cabinets and getting ready to add baseboard. This area got covered up with a project panel so you'd never know we're cheating the depth by 2".

 

 

A couple things I should probably mention - we did not secure the base to the floor at all. I didn't want to drill holes into perfectly good flooring in case a future owner wanted to come in and rip it out and then be left with holes. We could've secured the base to the side wall if we wanted to but determined that the sheer weight of all the cabinets plus bookshelves up top would prevent this thing from going anywhere.

We also made sure to measure and cut out holes in the back of a few cabinets so that we had access to any outlets along the wall. We did this before securing the cabinet so if we had to make any adjustments, it was easier to do.

Once all the cabinets were installed and secured - we focused on the top or the "counter" portion of the built in.

I knew going in that this would be the portion of the project that would be our biggest hang up. We built a 13 ft cabinet but finding a 13 ft topper would prove to be either very difficult, very expensive, or both. SPOILER ALERT: it's both.

One of the tutorials that I referenced above used a single piece of butcher block for affordability and while butcher block is affordable, a 13 ft length was still a few hundred dollars and more than I wanted to spend. Plus...I didn't want a stained top. I wanted an all white top to achieve the look of this project. Except they were working with pre-fab Ikea cabinets and didn't need a top like we did.

So after procrastinating about it way too long, we decided to make our own. We chose a high quality, paint grade, birch plywood and seamed 2 smaller pieces together to make one massive counter top that could be painted to match the rest of the cabinets. We purchased the plywood from Home Depot and had them rip it down to size in the store.

 

Here's my handy helper:

 

 

I'd tell you how we seamed the 2 pieces together but we aren't wood workers and our approach is probably embarrassingly incorrect. We attached flat brackets on the underside for support and we used birch veneer tape on the edge of the plywood top to give it a nice finished look. We also made sure to fill, sand, and plane the top seam to make it look like 1 long piece of wood vs 2 pieces stuck together. No one but us will know (and now too you I guess) that we took the cheap way out: the cost of a single sheet of high quality plywood - $50!

To wrap up where we're at now, the cabinets and top have been painted white, we attached the top to the cabinets using construction adhesive and installed some pretty gold hardware - a well deserved splurge since we saved thousands doing this ourselves.

 

 

Next up: bookshelves, shiplap, and trim!

Here's to hoping it doesn't take another year to knock this out...

2015 Christmas Home Tour

This time of year is always so much fun and everyone’s favorite. For me, it’s been a little bitter sweet and filled with mixed emotions. All though their due date was in January, our girls most definitely would’ve made their grand entrance some time in December had we made it full term so I imagine this time of year will always bring reminders of that. Although they can’t be here with us to see the magic of the season unfold in person, we know they’re always close in our hearts and that’s reason enough to celebrate this time of year just as we always would.

I didn’t put much thought into this year’s décor. There’s no theme other than deciding to do an all-white tree. Much of what we used this year is the same items we’ve used in years past, just pared down…if that’s possible to do while decorating for Christmas. I have four giant bins of Christmas décor and found that I used the contents of maybe two of those bins. This tells me it’s time to purge what isn’t being used.

But enough chit-chat…let’s dive head first into our “traditional” Christmas décor around the apartment.

Our entryway received a subtle nod to the season with a couple holiday print throws for a festive touch. I’d love to find an old pair of ice skates to hang here as well.

The view of the tree is the first thing you see as you walk in through the front door.

To the left of the tree we have our TV and media cabinet in the nook. Without a traditional mantel, I hang our stockings from the cabinet using black 3M Command Hooks (every renter’s best friend). Works like a charm!

Our friend Anthony the antelope who lives above the TV got into the holiday spirit as well with a scrap piece of fabric tied around his neck as a scarf.

The coffee table got a dose of Christmas cheer too with a red runner, a pine scented (the best!) candle, and some season appropriate vase filler.

The couch wall received the most holiday décor. I swapped out the pair of black couch pillows for smaller red ones that read “Merry & Bright” and a wreath hung up by some candy cane ribbon replaces the round mirror. Excuse my horrible bow tying skills – I was running out of steam by the end!

The long console table behind the couch (tutorial coming soon!) has a few bottle brush trees I picked up at Target this year which I paired with some red glass ones I already had. The only other change I made to the table was to change out the books on the right for more seasonally appropriate colors. One of the things I love most about decorating is the ability to shop your own home, using what you have but giving it a twist to achieve the look you’re after – like giving the antelope a scarf, using the same hurricane candle holder but popping in a seasonally scented candle and vase filler, swapping out the mirror for a wreath, or using books in the right color pallet – all things I had on hand but helped sprinkle the festive touches throughout!

Directly across from the couch is the focal point of the entire room…the TREE!

We purchased a new 7 ft. Slim tree from Michaels this year for $40 and at first I wasn’t sure I’d like it but now I LOVE it! It’s perfect when you’re limited on space just like us!

I loaded it up and just love how it turned out. Our tree was already pre-lit but that didn’t stop me from adding two strands of round globe lights. I love the mix of the different lights and on the smaller tree I think it really pops!

I also spotted this snowball garland at Target and added two strands of that as well. Think beyond regular ornaments for tree décor – anything is fair game!

From there I added a lot of floral picks I got on major sale at Michaels and just a few actual ornaments I already had on hand –  white glittery ones (because glitter is always better) and some clear ones for another added layer without taking away from everything else.

I set up a wrapping station using a glass vase which neatly corals my wrapping paper rolls, ribbons, tape, and scissors all while doubling as festive décor along-side the tree. While rifling through my wrapping paper stash I noticed an abundance of red & white paper so I just went with it. The red chevron and hounds tooth paper I found at the Dollar Store last year!

The last stop on our Christmas home tour is the kitchen. I added a few hot chocolate supplies – cocoa mix, marshmallows, and chocolate chips in mason jars to our bar tray. We just dump our hot chocolate concoctions to our sweater adorned mugs and fill with steaming hot water via the Keurig. Nothing better than a yummy cup of hot chocolate to cuddle up with on the couch!

That’s all the Christmas I have to share with you from our little corner of the world – hope you enjoyed the tour and get a little inspiration to deck your halls this holiday season!

Fall for $20

Although the calendar indicates that Fall is officially here and underway, Southern California hasn't gotten the memo. It's still hot around these parts (we're flirting with the 80's) but temps have been dropping and I hope they continue to do so. There's no time of year I love more than Fall.

 

I usually break out the Fall / Halloween décor by late September / early October to really get into the spirit of things that this time of year brings but with everything we've been through over the last few months, I just haven't gotten around to it.

 

With Halloween almost here and Thanksgiving just around the corner, I wanted a quick and simple project that would sprinkle our home with those warm and cozy fall feelings without having to drag our décor bins from the depths of the black hole garage.

 

Buffalo check is all the rage right now and what perfect timing because this bold take on a classic plaid print is so fitting for the season. Ive been oogling over these gorgeous pillows but when I spotted a similar fabric at Ikea for a fraction of the cost, I picked up a yard on a whim and decided to make my own low-budget version.

 

If I've said it once, I'll say it again - pillows are the easiest way to change up the look and feel of a room in an instant without much of an investment. So with my Ikea fabric, I made two pillow covers in about 30 minutes start to finish all in an effort of infusing a little fall coziness into our main living space.

 

I've done my fair share of sewing but usually just ask my super-sewer Mom to make my pillow covers for me instead of bothering to do it myself. But these ones? They're all me! Even someone with the most basic of sewing skills could whip these up, no problem!

 

With a little direction from my Mom, I made two super simple envelope style pillow covers out of 1 yard of fabric. The Internet (and Pinterest) is flooded with tutorials for this type of DIY so I won't bore you with another - just click here and use any one of these tutorials to make your own.

 

But how about a few helpful hints before you dive right in?

 

#1 - Always remember to make your cover smaller than your pillow insert. This may seem illogical but it's the most important thing I've learned and the key to getting the fullest pillows! A general rule of thumb is to make your cover 2" smaller than your pillow insert. For example: if your inserts measure 20" x 20", you'll want to make your pillow cover a finished size of 18" x 18". Be sure to account for your seams when cutting your fabric!

 

#2 - Reinforce the seams where the two back flaps of your cover overlap. When you're stuff your cover with the insert, that area will have the most stress put on it from all the pushing, pulling, and re-arranging your insert. Having a reinforced seam will make sure that your cover doesn't literally rip at the seams.

 

With those tips in mind, after my covers were sewn, I gave them a quick press with the iron just to iron out any wrinkles and to press the seams. But I didn't stop there. I decided to add a few yarn pom-poms to each corner of the pillow because nothing says fall like a good plaid and some cozy textures!

 

To make the over sized pom-poms you'll need:

1. Yarn
2. Scissors
3. Steel yarn needle

I started by wrapping the yarn around 4 of my outstretched fingers like so:

 

I wrapped the yarn loosely around my fingers approximately 70 times until my bundle was pretty thick. The same technique can be used around less fingers or wrapped around fewer times to achieve a smaller pom-pom too.

 

There are several tools out there that you can buy to assist you in making pom-poms but I didn't have any of them so I improvised and used my fingers instead which seemed to work out just fine.

 

Once I wrapped the yarn around a sufficient amount of times, I carefully slid the bundle off my fingers and laid it in the center of a 12" piece of yarn that I had previously cut.

 

With the single piece of yarn, I tied a knot in the middle of my bundle and then flipped it over and tied a second knot.

 

With the tied bundle, I slid my scissors through the loops on either end and cut - careful not to cut the center tie.

 

After cutting all the loops on either end you can choose to trim your pom-pom for a more uniform look or leave it as is.

 

Once I had all my pom-poms made, I used a steel yarn needle threaded with a length of yarn and sewed each pom-pom to the corner of my covers. Easy-peasy!
 

Ready to see the final result?

How cozy are these pillows? And what a big difference they make! Not too shabby for $20, right?!

 

 

Gimme all the heart eye emojis...I think I'm in love! Are you too? Please tell me you agree!

 

Living Room Changes - Part 2

Last time I checked in I showed you guys the beginning stages of some small changes that we've been making in our living room over the past few weeks and today I'm back to show you what else we've been up to.

 

The next set of changes we recently made involves a part of our living room the blog hasn't even seen yet - our media wall. Decorating your home to accommodate that uber important TV is often challenging, and in our case, was only made worse when we purchased a larger, more obnoxious television to replace our old, on the edge of death, TV. After purchasing the larger TV, we were forced to do some furniture musical chairs when it became clear that the wall that used to house the TV, was way too small.

 

The previous media wall, as seen in this really bad cell phone pic, shows just how cramped the previous situation was to begin with. The TV and media cabinet were smashed up against the curtains and sliding glass door leading out to our patio leaving no extra room to accommodate a larger TV.

 

 

So...with a new TV and the realization that the existing wall was too small, we did some rearranging and moved the TV, the media cabinet, and Anthony (the antelope) to an adjacent wall with a really annoying nook that I've hated since the day we moved in but since it was the only other place for the new TV, we had to make it work.

 

The nook is off center on this wall and for a person that really gravitates towards symmetry, it's always been a nightmare for me to decorate around. This little nook has seen quite a few changes in the 2 years that's we've lived here which I plan to document in a future post, but this go-around in the nook is by far my favorite.

 

 

After moving everything over into the nook, the entire wall felt visually heavy on the left and really empty on the right, making the nook all that more prominent and irritating!

 

I didn't have much space to work with on the left but I knew that it definitely needed something to visually balance everything out and with all the craziness going on to the left, I thought something clean and symmetrical would be the best solution to both my problems.

 

I decided to do a gallery wall of frames filled with pictures from some of our most memorable travel adventures. The inspiration for this came directly from these two awesome bloggers as seen on their sites here and here.

 

Ready to see how it all came together?

 

 

For the gallery wall I chose to go with these warm wood toned frames that I scooped up at Ikea. I've been on a mission to bring in some wood tones and textures into our home to warm things up a bit and balance out our other black furniture pieces and I think these frames did just that!

 

 

I chose vacation photos that were bright, bold, and full of vibrant colors! It's the perfect way to display our personal memories in a very subtle way while bringing in some fun colors at the same time.

 

To put my own little spin on our travel adventures gallery wall, I used my all time favorite (but sadly discontinued) Martha Stewart bookplate labels on the glass of each frame to name the travel destination pictured. Great thing about this is no matter what picture you showcase, the label can always be updated easily as you add more destinations to your passport! And for those with a short term memory, you'll always have a handy reminder of where your photo was taken!

 

 

To hang the pictures, I used every renters BFF - 3M Command Strips (you can see the little bump out of the Command Strip on the top of each frame in the photo below). Using 3M Command Strips saved me from putting 16+ nail holes in the wall and from having to patch all those holes when we leave. Plus, 3M Command Strips are re-positionable and made it easy to make sure my grid lines were nice and straight. Can't beat that!

 

 

All in all, for all the challenges this wall & the larger TV presented us with, I'd say I'm smitten with the results! Plus I think Anthony is enjoying the new scenery too...

 

 

There's still one more change I'm working on to round out our living room refresh, be sure to check back soon so you don't miss out!