DIY Craftsman Style Built In Cabinets

New oak built-in cabinets accompany an updated mantle.

Just before our daughter was born in 2013, we used our last drops of nesting energy to complete a remodel of the fireplace. Since that project, we've slowed down a little on the remodeling front, as most of our energy goes to keeping kiddo from falling off dangerous precipices.

That being said, we still get the occasional bug to remodel.

B has suggested multiple times that we should add cabinets under the windows in our living room. I'd always thought there was not enough room, and the window were too low to incorporate anything meaningful — until we were at a neighbors house and saw theirs had the exact cabinets envisioned.

Sometimes you need is a good example of what's possible

The size and proportions worked perfectly for their house, so we got excited and decided to try a prototype for our house.

Before going to the trouble of buying materials and cutting lumber, I decided to use an enormous Amazon box to make a prototype in the space. Mostly I was curious to see how far the box should protrude from the walls, and how thick to make the frame and doors (visual balance, etc).

I'd recommend trying out a cardboard version of your built in idea before committing to a project. It only takes a few minutes and could potentially give you an idea to make your final version even better (stealing this trick from software development). We learned the perfect depth of our box was around 13" deep, where originally we were thinking a little smaller.

Cardboard prototype with drawn lines to indicate doors.

 Once we got our final measurements from the prototype, I made a list of everything I'd need to do to complete the project and put the steps into a logical order. Step one was to prepare the space, which required some removal of baseboard and other oak trimwork.

The Process

We always salvage the oak trim for future house projects.

We used a multiool blade to remove a section of baseboard. (Thanks Cole)

After finishing the box and counter, I made measurements for the doors.

One shelf was deemed better than two. Toddler for scale.

Cut some holes in the back of the box for cords.

Cords magically disappear under the bottom shelf of the box. This is my favorite feature.

We decided on sliding doors instead of swinging since the space is tight. I reused salvaged baseboard for a door.

We added glass to the doors and stained it all up in the last week. Overall cost was around $300 and took about 30 hours to complete. The final results below.

The left cabinet is 1/2 in wider than the right cabinet.

View from across the room at night.

Installing Party Lights in Backyard

So Becca and I have been wanting to finish off our backyard deck with a little pizazz. Our first idea was to get a pergola, then it was deemed too much, and we wanted something simpler. We liked the idea of a canopy of lightbulbs, so we sprung for some party lights from www.partylights.com.

  

This was the box that the lights came in. We ordered three sections of 35' and created a triangle shape  that converged at the garage (scroll for photos). The website said the lights need support to hold the weight, so we strung stainless steel cables for each length.

 Once the cables were up and secure, all you need to do is use zipties to secure the lights to the cable support. It's fairly simple to get them on the line, I suggest getting ones that match the color of your lights.

 Here's a close up of a party light bulb socket and the ring that keeps it secure to the support wire.

Each string required some strong supporting hooks on either end.

Once all the lights are clipped on the the wire, we drug them across to confirm length and support strength.

Here all three sets of lights converge, and we had the electrician wire them together and connect them to a switch with a dimmer.

 

Here I am screwing in 7.5 watt lightbulbs into the lights. This is the fun part.

Mom and Ivy breaking in the lights on the first night.

We like how the tree looks in the glow.

 

Playing scrabble and listening to podcasts in the backyard.

Testing out the dimmer. It added some extra cost, but we love having control over the amount of light they emit.

Looking Back: 5 Years Later, Part 2

Chris and I have loved looking through the old photos of our house before we moved in, that we happened upon the other day. As we think about five years in our house, it's great to see how much we've been able to do (and think of how naive we were when we bought the house).

Earlier this week he shared some of our favorite outside before and afters. Today, I bring you the interiors!

We'll start with the main floor. Here's a view of from the living room into the dining room and office:

Closet turned water closet! 

My first floor favorite - the kitchen. 

How about another view? Can you believe we lived in that before kitchen for nearly three years???

And now upstairs. Here's our guest bedroom before and after. 

Our bedroom.

Ivy's room (good-bye turquoise walls!).

And our most dramatic upstairs shots - the bathroom (I think this one deserves two views).

New Pella Window + Wooden Plantation Shutter

One of the daunting upgrades we've taken on in our house is replacing all of our existing windows with Pella Architect Series windows - aluminum clad, double-hung wooden windows that match the style of our home very well. They are a tremendous upgrade in terms of looks, both inside and outside, and also offer a huge thermal comfort/efficiency upgrade.

They are beautiful (and therefore not cheap) so we're taking a long view on this project, with the goal of replacing two per year. With a total of 27 windows on our two main stories (not including the basement or attic) that comes up to a 13.5 year project - so we're hoping to speed it up at some point in the future.

We replaced two of the windows during or big remodel - one over the kitchen sink (see the exterior here, and the interior here) and another in the upstairs bathroom (see that one here). Those two were installed by our contractor, so we had yet to take on installation ourselves. Until . . . . that time last fall when our baby was two weeks past due and we were about to tear out our hair!

What better time to install a new window?

As I was benched for that particular season, Chris took the project on himself, using this tutorial from our hero Tom Silva of This Old House. After hours of measuring, insulating, shimming, more insulating, more shimming, checking for level, more shimming . . . . we had a new window!

Exterior shot of the newly installed window. All three replaced windows happen to be on this side of the house.

So we're three windows down, 24 to go!

It took about one evening of living with this beautiful upgrade to confirm what we already suspected - that we needed to add some privacy to it. Somehow the new window, while no larger than the old one - made that side of the house feel especially like a fishbowl to our neighbors to the north.

So, I ordered a custom plantation shutter from The Shutter Store, the same company that crafted the plantation shutter in our upstairs bathroom. We were confident in the quality of the product based on our past experience with them, and they were among the best prices we could find in browsing for a ready-to-install custom wooden plantation shutter. (Some sites offered a puzzle-like option, where we would have to assemble frame pieces and doors, and then stain it ourselves. We also checked out this tutorial to build our own - but in the end we found these products offered minimal savings for a LOT of work).

So, we decided it was worth a few extra bucks to go ahead and order the ready-to-install shutter. The major con for us in purchasing this way is the lead time. It's hard to be patient when we feel like we're on display for neighbors, as well as itching to install this beauty, and the wait became even harder when the company missed their 4-6 week anticipated lead time, delivering the shutter almost eight weeks after we had ordered it.

But, it was exactly the color, dimensions and quality we hoped for, so in the end, we are very happy.

Chris installed it in about one evening (a few hours). He had to remove the window stop he installed when replacing the window, and used The Shutter Store's instructions and supplies to fairly quickly have the shutter in place.

Hardware and touch-up stain for hanging the shutter, provided by the vendor.

Window stop removed.

Shutter frame going up. 

And privacy! (You're welcome, neighbors).

In addition to the added privacy, we love the nice, finished look this product offers, which is perfect for this particular window. It still lets in quite a bit of light when the slats are open, and is a perfect privacy screen for the tight side yard we have to the north.

Switchplate Swap

Chris and I have found that some of the most satisfying upgrades in a home come from upgrading small details throughout the house. When we moved in the majority of our light switches and outlets were white or off white plastic, builder grade materials like this.

While there's nothing really wrong with these fixtures, they just didn't do much for us, and in an old house with original brass and iron hardware everywhere (for hinges, doorknobs, heating grates, etc.) white plastic on every wall just seemed wrong.

So, we started upgrading them one room at a time, replacing all the plastic plates with these metal ones. Each plate costs around $6, so total cost per room was anywhere from $18 (for our guest rooms with one switch and two outlets) to around $40 for our living room.

When we worked on our first few rooms, we went to the trouble of actually replacing the outlets and switches themselves with brown fixtures to match the new plates, which required us to turn off electricity in our basement, disconnect the old part and wire in the new one. This added around 10-20 minutes (depending on how long it took us to locate the correct breaker) and a few dollars per outlet - not a huge cost or time investment, but it did add up over time.

After a few rooms were completed, we wised up. We had some spray paint on hand from another project, and decided to just see how it went to paint the old fixture rather than replace it. We were both thrilled with the result. It looks exactly as good as purchasing the new part, and provided a great time savings - and spared a few bucks too!

That time and money savings added up. Each outlet took about 5 minutes to prep and paint, and for every 2-3 outlets we painted rather than purchased new parts, we could buy one extra plate!

Here's the process. Note - ignore the crazy paint color changes. I painted this outlet while painting the walls in our nursery, and we went through several color variations before landing on the grey we liked in the end.

Outlet with old switch plate removed.

Paper grocery bags were perfect for prep. We hung the large side on the wall with a rectangle cut out, and folded up pieces of the handles to plug the outlet holes. We opted not to turn off the electricity, and just be careful - but you could do it either way. 

Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint applied.

One coat was enough - and with a drying time of only 30 minutes we were able to move through with little or no wait.

And after! 

Another angle. These photos were actually taken about six months later, so you can see what they look like with some wear. 

We used the same process for light switches (only with a smaller opening for the garbage sack, and no holes to fill).

The nursery was actually our last room to upgrade - we had done the light switch but since both outlets were behind furniture when it was our guest room, we kind of forgot just never got to them. And five years in, we're still very happy with this little upgrade. While we realize that probably no one else even thinks twice about them, we use them numerous times every day and think they were worth a little work.

Are there any seemingly small details like this in your house, that you've decided are too important not to invest in? Or any "standard" building materials you don't care for in your space?