After finishing assembling (and reassembling, thanks voltage drop!) the four levels of Besta cabinets, we were on the home stretch: painting and installing the trim and hacking four Besta cabinet door fronts. For this, I broke out our not-trusty (i.e. very finicky and unpredictable) Graco 360 VSP paint sprayer. The thing atomizes paint beautifully… when it works. Granted, it works about 98% of the time. But, as a Certified Perfectionist, the 2% when it drips or spits because the paint liner isn't fully airtight really irks me. That said, 98% of our cabinets look professional thanks to the sprayer.
Fast-forward to the end and the wall of shelving is complete. Also, quite striking and exactly what we envisioned.
Rewinding then, after another somewhat frustrating painting sesh in the driveway we had a garage floor full of black trim.
I purposefully only cut the top 1x3 sections that I had to custom trace to follow the not-exactly-level ceiling. All other pieces I left uncut so I could position them, measure exactly, and cut them as I installed. Like I did when I hung the faux paneling on the adjacent wall. Which meant it was time to install trim and plywood paneling to truly make these Hacked Ikea cabinets look properly built in to the wall. Also, not like they're from Ikea.
For the plywood panels, I used construction adhesive and brad nails. As always, there was (this time, iced) coffee.
With the trim installed (except for the final baseboard that will run across the bottom of the frame since we're still waiting for
our new living room floor to be installed… ), it was time to customize the Besta cabinet fronts. For the bottom level of Besta, we're adding the complimenting soft-close, push-to-open doors. We just didn't like the Ikea options so, well, like this entire project… we Hacked them.
This started by cutting them down to size––the bottoms and a sliver off the sides and top so I could wrap them with white oak banding. The bottom needed to be cut off because our trim came up to the bottom edge of the Besta cabinets and the factory doors were designed to cover the bottom of the cabinet.
I then used the same 5mm plywood from the cabinet backs to front the Ikea doors, tacking them with good ol' construction adhesive.
For the banding, I picked up 7/8" white oak from a seller on Etsy. I didn't want the red oak option from Lowes and, well, it was only available in 3/4". The extra eighth of an inch would be important to give me some wiggle room when glueing it to the door edges.
I left a sliver overhang on either side and used 120-grit sandpaper to sand it perfectly to the level of the plywood on the front and the paper-covered fake oak Ikea back.
Then it was time to apply the Rubio Monocoat 2C natural.
Finally, hang them and adjust the hinges to align all four doors vertically and space them equally. They turned out pretty well.
With the cabinets essentially finished, it was time to bring up the stacks of boxes of books that have been in our garage since we started this project last November. To arrange them, I made stacks based on the heights of the shelves. Once assigned a shelf, I arranged them loosely by subject. It was a fun little task.
We like books.
And… that was that. We were done. So we stood back and basically admired all the effort that went into this fairly monumental task. Or, as Scott is doing, sitting…
We knew even before we installed our
Jøtul cast iron stove that this wall would have built-in shelving from the floor to the ceiling. It was all part of our vision. After buying some Ikea Billy bookcases and a pile of Besta cabinets that sat on our front porch for at least eight months, we finally began putting this wall together. What's maybe even more fun is to compare what this living space looked like when we moved in with now. The previous owners vs. ours.
A big, bright white box. Not cozy. At. All. Stark, glaring. We had to squint when we were in the space. It was not us. We like cozy, and cozy involves color. And lots of books. And pieces of art and such that mean something to us. And soft light. So yeah, we redesigned our living room.
(Using the same focal length lens and standing in about the same spot… )
The handkerchief glass is from a
local artist who used Mt. Saint Helens ash to create glass sculptures. The ceramic piece is also from a local artist who taught at the college in town for decades. We walked past it at an art show last fall at Pybus Market before leaving for home. A couple minutes into the drive, K turned to me and asked me what I thought about it. I liked it, too. So we turned around and purchased it. The camera is one of many I have around the house. What can I say, I can't help collecting old cameras. To all I say someday I'll make some photographs with them.
I like old cameras, after all.
I'd love to say, with this project finally complete, we could take a break. But there's no stopping. We have a half-torn-up deck waiting to be rebuilt and enlarged before installing a beautiful pergola, a van to get ready for an impending trip, and a dozen other projects. We're a project family and don't know how to relax.
With that, though, we do get to check this wall of shelving off the list. It feels good. It also looks incredible.
