So I introduced part 1 of my new craft space to you last week. I had mentioned that I opted to go for pre-fabbed IKEA Ivar cabinets rather than building custom ones like I did in my old craft room studio.
Well I painted them all and then secured them to the wall. So the only thing that was left was to figure out how to close the gap on the left and right of the cabinets as well as add some crown molding to the top to finish it out.
The problem with this is that walls are never perfectly square. So I had gaps as anywhere from 3/4″ 1 1/8″. But it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be tackled.
So on the left and right sides I air nailed a 1″ x 2″ into the sides of the cabinets and through the 1″ x 2″ to the wall.
And then on top of that I added quarter round. You can see by the picture below that I made sure the 1″ x 2″ stuck out so it was even with the cabinet doors and not the cabinet bases.
On top of the cabinets I had about a 1 3/4″ in gap. So I added a 2″ x 4″ on top of the cabinet air nailing through the top of the cabinets into the 2″ x 4″ and then into the ceiling.
I added a small piece of crown molding I found at Lowes on top of that.
After all that was nailed in place I caulked all the seams so it would have a nice seamless look. I also used wood filler to patch the air nail holes into the molding.
Never mind the terrible gold chandelier left behind by the previous homeowners. You can see it gets upgraded below. {squuueal!}
I hand painted a coat of primer and two coats of paint on it. And that, my friends, is how you make pre-fabbed IKEA Ivar cabinets look custom.
The last thing I had to do was put the doors on. I also added some rubber bumpers on the top and bottom of each door in order to protect the paint.
Putting the doors on is easy. I used two popsicle sticks between the door and the cabinet in order to make sure they were the right width from the cabinets. This allowed them all to be uniform.
Like any pre-fabbed cabinet you have to finagle a little to make them all straight and even. But it isn’t hard to do. Again, I recommend the Worx Extended Screwdriver over a regular drill because it is too powerful and can strip the predrilled holes.
I got the bar handles from my favorite knobs and pull place D. Lawless Hardware. They are only $2.29 which is awesome for that long of bars.
It is helpful to create a template so you drill all the holes in the same place.
No open storage cabinets for me. My stuff isn’t pretty enough. HA! Keep them behind closed doors please!
I used mostly the Sterilite Medium Show-Off Containers from Wal-Mart. You can also get them from Jo-Ann. I try and get them for around $3 each on sale.
The tall white and orange baskets are Sterilite Ultra Baskets also from Walmart.
I will say it is kind of like the game of Memory when I need to grab something.
But just like my old cabinets I will get used to where everything is stored.
I am just grateful it is tucked away and all organized. It makes my job SOOO much easier!
I will continue on with my craft room makeover on my next post and show you the other wall as well as talk about my curtains.
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Disclaimer: I reached out to IKEA to see if they wanted to partner with me on my studio makeover. All IKEA products were provided by IKEA, the design and studio plan was my idea.
Hi, love what you have done. Here is a tip- Im a retired AF and wife of AF we moved often, at my last military move I did a list and labeled all my containers had my oldest type it up. Then when I needed to find something Id look at the list. It makes that short term memory challenge less challenging. Enjoy. I have a new craft room in my forever home, still dont have it all organized. No Ikea near us but handy with tools. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for the tip, Brenda. I love love love my label maker and do have all my bins labeled. I love the idea though of having a list to look at so I am not searching through all the cabinets. Thank you again for sharing!
i LOVE IT…. ill be losing my craft loft due to us moving but im okay because im moving into a home that will be mine and i will be able to custom build to it. so i have been looking for ideas for storage and ways to organize my craft room and this is exactly what i need. i wonder if you can build in a couple slide out drawers for the silhouette and any other items. okay i’m pinning your cabinets pics to my Craftroom inspiration boards …Thanks for sharing and would love to see the rest of your craft room
How exciting to be building your own custom home! We did that once before when we lived in Washington and loved the process of designing it and picking everything out. You can check out my craft studios in both of my homes here: https://www.infarrantlycreative.net/craft-studio/. Thanks so much for reading!
That works great. Making from wood all home made isn’t what it used to be. You have to look forever for semi straight boards. To build them & finish off cabinets when you are working full time Lots of expensive involved then you vae tones of work. I do not like my things out in the open either. I think your wall looks great! Love the storage.