A Porch of My Own

A Porch of My Own

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Ikea, we have a closet!

Once the decision was made to build a bunkhouse instead of adding a bedroom, we had to make some modifications to the cabin. Most urgently, a closet was needed!

So I went to Houston last week so we could go to Ikea. Buying a closet system is a bit complicated and we were glad we had made a previous scouting trip to select the components we needed. We got to Ikea right before they opened and a most helpful salesperson got things done for us. 

It turned out that we had to get a bit bigger closet for the hanging clothes; the doors that went best in the cabin had to be configured a certain way. Happy to have more closet space but we had to modify our plan on bookshelves. No problem for us; we are always modifying plans!

I took the boxes home and unloaded them. Because I was by myself then and couldn't lift the big 8 foot long boxes, I unloaded them in my usual way. Backed up to the porch, opened the boxes, and brought the pieces in one at a time. It wasn't until the next day that I noticed we had left two boxes of drawers on the loading dock. Not to worry! Ikea has a plan for that and I called, they had them, and Rickie picked them up. He came out this weekend and we put the system up.


I was a little worried we would break the corners off when we raised the cabinets after assembling them, but no, all went well. We did rearrange the drawer, shelf, and clothes rods in the one cabinet after we put them in. We didn't want the hanging clothes bunched up so we ended up not using one shelf and one drawer.

They won't go to waste though. The small wardrobe at the end of the kitchen we had been using for clothes is going to be transformed into a pantry and I'll cut the Ikea components down and use them there. I'm going to start working on that today.

I went through my clothes and have 5 large trash bags full to donate. If I didn't have to keep two sizes of pants (chubby and more chubby, depending on whether I have been on a diet or not) I could get rid of another chunk of pants, but it is what it is!


You can see an unfinished cabinet in the corner next to the closet (photo above). I am going to paint this black and make a top out of some cedar we have and stain the top. We have a mesquite storage rack hanging over the cabinet and I'm hoping to match that stain.

We had planned on closing in the window so that we could put one of our bookcases there. But when it came down to it, we hate to get rid of a window. So we decided to change the arrangement of the bunkhouse a tiny bit so we can put two bookcases there, which was our original plan anyway. 

Then I am going to attempt a project I'm not 100% sure I can do. I'm going to take apart an oak bookcase we have, cut the shelves down and reassemble as a thin bookcase. This will go between the window and the fireplace. Then we can keep our wildlife reference books, cookbooks, and photo books in the cabin. I have a backup plan in case this project turns out looking like hell. We got some gift cards from Ikea as a sales promotion when we bought the closet system. We can use these to get a thin bookcase if necessary.

Getting rid of an extra bookcase is requiring me to walk the walk I've been talking about tiny houses! I've already gotten rid of one bookcase full of books, as we had planned to go from 4 to 3. Now we are going from 4 to 2.5. It's hard for a book lover to turn loose of books. But I'll donate the mysteries and thrillers that I can always get on Kindle, and keep the Texas history, classics, and a few of my favorites. 





4 comments:

  1. Wish I had ikea close AND wish I had your ideas and skills in creativity.

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    1. Thank you! We are lucky to have two Ikeas in Texas and both are in cities I have family, so I go on trips to see them. It would be nice to have one closer though because as soon as you get back from going you think of a dozen things you wish you had bought there! All the little items.

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  2. Sue, I think we may have more than two... One in Houston, one north of Austin and we have one here in my neighborhood north of Dallas! So you need to make a trip up here!

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