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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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| We always salvage the oak trim for future house projects. |
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| We used a multiool blade to remove a section of baseboard. (Thanks Cole) | |
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| After finishing the box and counter, I made measurements for the doors. |
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| One shelf was deemed better than two. Toddler for scale. |
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| Cut some holes in the back of the box for cords. |
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| Cords magically disappear under the bottom shelf of the box. This is my favorite feature. |
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| 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.
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| The left cabinet is 1/2 in wider than the right cabinet. |
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| View from across the room at night. |
