New Dining Room Table

The previous owners of the house left us with their dining table, after they tried to sell it to us for $500 (if I recall correctly) and us turning them down. Presumably they weren't able to find anyone else interested in buying it.

We used it because it was free and we didn't have anything better, but we never really liked it. The chairs steadily breaking didn't help matters at all.

On Saturday, we met up with Brianna's parents at IKEA for an easy dinner while they were up in our part of the state. Afterwards, we were browsing, and came across a really cool-looking table, and Brianna's parents wound up buying it for us!

That split down the middle is evidently the current style. It is permanent and cannot be altered. I could do without that aspect of the table, but otherwise we love the look of the bare wood.

And check out the under-table!

There's no skirt or other protuberances to bang my knees on! Heaven!

Nursery Furniture

Lincoln has been down in the basement bedroom for a while now, and we finally got around to getting him a dresser down there.

It is, of course, from IKEA as-is. And, of course, it is bolted solidly to the wall (four screws into two studs).

We also threw up the picture shelf, and moved the "LINCOLN" letters above Link's crib.

Chalkboard and Grill Tools

I picked up a chalkboard from IKEA as-is recently:

I assembled it upside down, and added a bunch of hooks, then mounted it on the wall by the back door:

A little chalk to add color:

And then I hung up the grill tools. The cast iron pan also goes with the grill:

When we left these tools on the grill, they mysteriously wound up all over the patio. Now they are safely out of reach of little hands.

Interior Star Light

Brianna and I picked up some decorative star lights from the holiday section at IKEA before Christmas. Took weeks to figure out where we wanted to put them. They're in the corner of the dining room now.

And yes, of course they're automated :-D

I named them "Star Lights", as in "Alexa, turn on the star lights, please."

New Shelving Unit in Family Room

We picked up an old, used IKEA shelf from a family a couple neighborhoods away who were moving house. Got it for $13 *with* delivery. It's definitely seen better days, but for $13 we can use it for a year or two and then upgrade once stuff higher on the priority list has been taken care of.

This enabled us to finally unpack the last two cardboard boxes (well, there might be one or two cardboard boxes in the basement, but we won't mention those).

Before:

Now:

The shelf is anchored to a wall stud, so now all the toddlers that live in or visit our house can use this new climbing wall secure in the knowledge that it won't tip over on top of them.

New Coat Rack

A few weeks ago we absentmindedly set the diaper bag down on the floor when we got home from an outing. By the time we turned around, our dog had spread the contents of the entire bag all over the carpet and was eagerly trying to get into the bag containing the dirty diapers.

...

Today we have a coat rack by the garage to hang the diaper bag on.

I don't understand how IKEA designed this particular item. The hooks for hanging this coat rack were 29 inches apart, which doesn't match any US standard for framing houses that I'm aware of (although admittedly there is a hell of a lot about building houses of which I am unaware). I had to cut 4 inches of length off this rack to fit it on this wall anyway, so drilling a few holes to securely mount this thing on the wall didn't bother me, but still: 29 inches seems weird.

Blinds in the Nursery

The curtains in the nursery are not very good at blocking sunlight in the morning, and it seemed to be waking Link up in the morning.

Unfortunately, IKEA doesn't stock blinds in the exact width we needed. We wound up buying two shorter ones (and I had to trim one of those down even further):

Under-Cabinet Lighting

I had a very lazy weekend. Pretty much just hung out with Brianna and Link all day Saturday and Sunday.

I did do one minor project: I added a light under that last kitchen cabinet.

I found an LED power supply at IKEA as-is several weeks ago, but didn't want to bunch up all the electrical cord under the cabinet. So Saturday morning, I got out my screwdriver, wire clippers and soldering iron, and shortened the cords (final product above, leftover wire below):

Then is was a simple matter to slap it up under the cabinet with some command strips.

It looks much more balanced now.

Here's what the cord situation looks like for the three cabinets on the left:

If I get bored in the future, I might pull those cords down and do a similar shortening trick.

Range Hood

This has been a two-day project: I finally got that range hood installed. And it's only been five months since I bought the stupid thing!

The first time I attempted this project, I ran into a wall stud I was unwilling to cut (the left wall, in this photo):

It wasn't until I was messing around with Christmas lights that I realized the back of the house is not one continuous line: about three and a half feet of the wall behind the cabinets is actually exterior wall!

That realization, combined with the plan to have Thanksgiving dinner at our house (it's a small group this year, and that way Brianna stays close to our hospital) led to me installing the range hood this weekend.

Saturday was very good weather - forty five degrees Fahrenheit and sunny. So I installed the exterior vent first. Sunday, when I took this photo, was of course snowy, which made me glad I got this part out of the way early:

Yes, I still have to take down the masking tape.

Once that was done, I prepped the range hood and started work on running the ducting through the cabinets:

I had also trimmed down the top of the cabinets to keep the ducting low:

With Brianna's help, I got the range hood into place:

At this point, I made a mistake. I assembled the in-cabinet ducting, but forgot about the back-draft preventer, which I had left in another room. I had already cut the ducting to size without it, and had to spend quite a bit of time taking things apart and fixing them in order get the back-draft preventer in place. However, things did fit together (in terms of matching diameters) much better once that missing piece was in place.

After that fiasco, I got the electrical sorted out:

And then I cleaned up my mess and called it a night.

Today, I worked on the ducting on top of the cabinets. I made myself an L shape:

And then made all the connections above the cabinets.

In the process, I made a (very small) blood sacrifice to the gods of home improvement. I think that's actually the first one for this house! (Electrical shocks are a different matter)

Later on, and hopefully with some help, I'll get some crown molding on top of the cabinets, which will hide the ducting from sight completely. For now, the vent hood actually looks pretty decent, and is very functional:

...Darn - you can't see in this photo, but all the steam from the skillet on the front burner is going into the hood - and it was on the "low" setting!

Comparing the work I did this weekend to work I've seen someone like my Uncle Gary do is a little disheartening - my "carpentry skills" have a looooong way to go. Fortunately, I can call for advice - Thanks for taking my phone call, Uncle Gary!

Curtains on South Great Room Window

Lily has agreed to come up and hem some curtains for us this weekend. I decided to take full advantage, and hung two more curtains.

Unfortunately, the IKEA KVARTAL curtain rods need to be supported at the intersection point. I had to go back to IKEA to pick up a third wall anchor.

I'll be trimming down the sides of the curtain rod just as soon as Brianna decides how much she wants it trimmed down.

IKEA Trip

Brianna sent me to IKEA after work today to get a changing pad for the changing table. Amazingly, they did not have any in stock, and didn't know when they would get more.

I took the opportunity to look at IKEA's selection of curtains, since we still don't have anything over the bay window. I like IKEA's track system for curtains quite a bit, and I'm confident I can put together a single track for all three walls that make up the bay window.

I kinda like this white curtain. It seems to be the closest match to to the pattern of the blind on the opposite wall from the bay window:

IKEA As-Is

Between leaving work and attending the breastfeeding class, Brianna and I had dinner at IKEA. It's surprisingly good (and fast) food for the price.

I poked my head in the as-is section, but didn't buy anything. I did notice that the workers there had had some fun assembling two chests-of-drawers.

Mattress Topper

I stopped by IKEA today. I have a gift card burning a hole in my wallet, and I really want to get a second, matching bookshelf into the master bedroom.

I didn't find the right bookshelf, but there was a mattress topper that would match our bed. We've had chiropractors and pregnancy nurses on our case to get a mattress topper, so I picked this one up.

Actually, it kinda overhangs, doesn't it? Eh, well, we'll try it for a while.

(I'm saving that gift card for a bookshelf!)

Crib Mattress

On a whim, I decided to stop by IKEA on my way to the gym last night. I was hoping for a cheap bookshelf, but instead I found a crib mattress in the as-is section.

If you look closely, you can see that the quilting pattern includes stars, which seems thematically appropriate for a room with a sun and stars (and a death star) on the ceiling.

Kitchen Cabinet Hardware, Part IV

Alright, I found the last handle I needed for the kitchen! Not sure how they wound up with just one in IKEA as-is, but one is all I needed.

This handle was the first (and last) one I installed while Brianna was in the house and awake. Not only that, but she was in the kitchen watching me. The tension was palpable as I drilled through the cabinet door. Brianna said her stress level went up 50 percentage points just watching me install one cabinet handle. I feel pretty justified about doing the others while she slept.

Speaking of the others: here's the complete set.

Bedside Cabinet in Nursery

We purchased a wall cabinet a couple of weeks ago to use as a bedside table / gliding chair table for the nursery. Unfortunately, IKEA thought you should bolt it directly to the drywall - the mounting points on the cabinet were exactly 22 inches apart. I didn't think that was wise, so I added a board (leftover from the chicken coop) to the back of the cabinet:

With a little work, I got it propped up and level for long enough to bolt it to a pair of 16"-on-center studs.

Elevating a Couch

Brianna has been having trouble with standing up after sitting down on low chairs and couches. The couch in front of the TV was pretty low, so I elevated it several weeks ago on 4x4's left over from building the chicken coop.

Today, I found these at IKEA:

I'm not sure what they were originally intended for, but now they're my new couch legs.

Ceiling Light in Guest Bedroom

It's only been about a month since I got the light switch working in the guest bedroom, so I'm probably jumping the gun a bit (especially since the great room still needs to be painted), but getting a ceiling light installed in that room has been on my mind for a while.

So I installed one.

I had to go up into the attic again, but it was (mostly) easier than last time. I forgot the anchor screws for the ceiling electrical box, and had to come back down from the attic to get them.

I'm quite pleased with how the ceiling light looks, and it works great!

Now I just need to find someone else to touch up the paint - at this point I don't think I'm ever going to get around to it.

Update:

Well, it's still a little shadowy in corners of the ceiling, but the ceiling light gives a lot more light than that floor lamp did.

New Crib and Changing Table

BABY!!!

BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY

BABY!!!!!

Kitchen Cabinet Hardware, Part III

I installed the last four cabinet handles this morning. After my last post, I asked Brianna what she thought about getting longer ones. She very politely told me I could do whatever I wanted.

I still think these are shorter than I would like. But they do have a significant advantage: if you cut that corner coming in to the kitchen, these shorter handles will not be able to hook onto a belt loop or pocket. And hopefully a hypothetical little boy will have a harder time poking his eye with these short handles.

I've spent roughly $40 at IKEA as-is to get all this hardware, and I still have five of the short handles left over. If I had paid full price for just the hardware I used, it would have cost $110.

I'm not quite finished, though. Brianna changed her mind now that she's seen the entire kitchen with new cabinet pulls, and wants one more handle installed on the lower corner cabinet by the sink.