We've had bookshelves in our dining room since we moved in but our computers quickly took up residence and the mess has been getting to us. When D suggested that we attempt
this project, I happily agreed. And by happily agreed I mean I said I was happy to spend the money on it if I could have a free pass to not feel guilty about not helping, because I do not voluntarily put together Ikea furniture. D, who actually enjoys putting together furniture but heartily dislikes listening to me sigh and complain about it, was completely on board.
And so we have this.
{fauxdenza}
Which hides all this.
{the hidden parts}
I'm thrilled.
We ended up leaving one cabinet open because our speaker needs to live there and we can use it to display a few of our most favorite serving pieces.
The cabinets are from the Besta line at Ikea and they are deeper than the cabinets used in The Brick House fauxdenza because the measurements just ended up working better for us.
{beveled edge}
D made the top from walnuts planks that he glued and sanded and cut with a beveled edge. He used a food safe finish because we plan to use it as a sideboard. Not to brag or anything, but he did win the "best in woodshop" award when we were in 8th grade. Of course, we don't have a woodshop in our apartment, so he used
knowhow shop, which is a communal workspace here in LA that lets you purchase day passes. It's such a genius idea, given the number of apartment dwellers around here. They're fully set up with all the standard woodworking equipment along with some fancier gadgets (we've used the laser cutter a couple times). You can also hire them to do custom designs if you're not comfortable doing it yourself. They do really beautiful work.
No, I have not yet taken down
the shower decorations. I'm getting to it!
The cost breakdown:
$140 on cabinets + doors (we got one cabinet from the as-is section)
$120 on the walnut planks
$60 for the workshop time (D did a couple other projects at the same time, so this is a little higher than it really should be - he used two days off his punch pass)
We sold the old bookcases on Craigslist and got $110 to put towards the project. One of the nice things about Ikea furniture is that it tends to sell quickly and at a decent price. We usually aim to charge 50 - 75% of the original price in store. And since we always buy as-is or off Craigslist if possible, it works out pretty well for us.
Looks great! I love it! I know a little about organizing and finding places to hide stuff - I just did an office/craft room combo which required a lot of that: http://honeysuckleblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/officecraft-room-makeover.html
ReplyDeletethis is (unsurprisingly) one of the best iterations of the fauxdenza i've seen - well done, D (and well-delegated, rachel)!
ReplyDeleteyou leave those shower decorations up as long as you need to, woman. they continue to look fabulous.
I am excellent at delegating assembly projects. Anything kitchen related? Not so much.
Deleteum, i think i need a fauxdenza now. thanks.
ReplyDeleteps - can you send some woodworking skills this way, they'd be greatly appreciated.
I wish I could! D has all our skills. I am terrified of all woodworking equipment (I have a decent excuse - both my dad and my stepdad are serious woodworkers, and I think early exposure to multiple injuries scarred me).
DeleteFauxtastic! Having a woodworking husband def has its perks.
ReplyDeletewow, he won best woodshopper? now tell me, did he save the mason jar gumball machine? my mom still has the one my brother made. i always laugh when i see it because i'm reminded of this: http://www.etsy.com/transaction/24626162 haha
ReplyDeleteHe did! I *think* his parents still have the mason jar gumball machine! I have the wooden piggy bank. Hilarious.
DeleteThat looks awesome - well done, D!
ReplyDeleteI have a bunch of wood pieces for bedside tables cut & waiting assembly in the garage - they've been waiting for probably about a year. I should probably get on that, huh?
looks good & is functional...can't ask for much more!
ReplyDeletexoxo from nyc & http://www.the-beautiful-things.com
I am really happy you posted about knowhow shop. my poor boyfriend has been building stuff in his parking space. its awful. He was so excited when i told him about this place. And the fauxdenza looks great.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing! I showed it to Brock and was like, LOOK! WE NEED TO MAKE THIS! We are looking for something similar, after all. And we both got excited for a second... until we remembered that we can't even find a stud in our walls. (We prefer exploratory drilling and dry wall screws). Ruling out possibility of DIY floating fauxdenza, unfortunately. But, tis very impressive.
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing! Did you use the Besta suspension rail to attach it to the wall?? http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10124585/
ReplyDeleteYes, we did - our wall is definitely not even and we have a chair rail, so D had to do some weird adjustments with shims, but the suspension rail worked great!
DeleteI'm thinking of doing this too with the besta units to hold our record player on top and the rest of our electronics inside. Did you have to drill holes for the wires and cut out a piece in back for an outlet?
ReplyDeleteI keep forgetting to check on this, sorry! But yes, we had to cut out holes in the back for all the wires. We also tried to be careful about spacing out the electronics, especially in our new place since we're using it as our media cabinet. We keep the printer in one with a closed door (since it doesn't get hot and we can just open the door when we need to print). But anything that gets hot we leave in the open front cabinet (not nearly as pretty as the ceramics, but hey - you do what you have to!) and we give the hottest electronics, like our router, the most breathing space. So sadly, it isn't a fully disguised electronic cabinet solution, but at least it works!
DeleteHi there. I may be leaving a comment twice - sorry if so! We're using the besta too w/ the suspension rails on our plaster walls. Curious if (1) you've used it as a buffet w/ lots of loaded up heath platters, etc. I'm kind of worried about he weight of heath ceramics plus the weight of whatever is inside. Do you feel that they're pretty secure? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHi, Rachel! Yes, we have loaded it up like crazy. In our last place we were using it as a buffet/storage solution. So two cabinets were crammed full of all my cookbooks and our photo albums (so heavy) and one was our office area (printer, paper, laptops, etc) and another was displaying all our Heath stuff, along with a lot of our china. We always used it to serve food when we had Thanksgiving as well, and it was solid as a rock. In our current place it's our entertainment center, so it still has books, printer, all the electronics, plus a very heavy television. D admits he was a little nervous when he put the TV on it at first, since it's super heavy, but it's been perfectly fine.
Delete