Eeek!
ONLY 17 MORE DAYS!
Then we can finally move in.
This week there was a lot of progress on the house, particularly the floors and the kitchen.
Remember when I was debating about what kind of cabinets to use and ultimately decided to go with Ikea?
I’m actually really glad that I did. We decided to go with the Ramsjo white Ikea cabinets and I have to say, I am really pleased so far.
The kitchen isn’t finished and there is a big learning curve, but once we figured out how to interpret the cartoon instructions, everything started going together very efficiently and we LOVE the soft-close hinge dampers. don’t worry, I will give you a full tour when it is finally finished, but for now, this is what we are working with.
I didn’t think I was going to love the white-washed look of the cabinets. I thought they were going to need to be painted, but now that I see them in the space, I think they are going to coordinate really well with the counters and light fixtures I chose. (I hope!) The doors are solid wood and wood veneer and the hinges are of very good quality.
Other than the fact that we had to put them all together ourselves, I have no complaints at all about the Ikea cabinetry.
We did have a pretty major setback when we realized our kitchen sink had shattered inside the box it was delivered in. We had to take almost a whole day over the weekend to drive out of state to the nearest Ikea to exchange it. They were very nice, the exchange itself was easy, and the kids loved the Playland, but it ate up a lot of our time, so we are further behind with installing all of the drawers than we would like to be.
But the kitchen isn’t the only thing that happened this week.
Our siding is also finished.
Our hardwood floors are in!
(But they are covered with cardboard and dust right now, so they are a little hard to see.)
We chose a very dark floor and we can already tell it is going to take a lot of effort to keep clean, but I still love the way it looks.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but there are a lot of people working extra-long hours to get us in soon!
This week they are working on our trim, bathroom floors, and closet shelving, and the electrician and plumber should be finishing up their jobs too.
The builder is scheduled to be finished by next Friday, then we have allowed an extra week for permits and bank transfers and all that not-so-fun legal stuff.
The important thing is that by all accounts it looks like we will be moving in and getting settled before Halloween.
Yay!
Love!!!
So exiting. Love the color of the floor.
We moved into our current home five years ago, just before Halloween, after a rather lengthy renovation. It was THE BEST!
Yay! I’m so glad your wait is almost over. It’s looking good!
We used the same cabinets two years ago & they are lovely, used black granite counters (a nightmare to keep clean, & have developed a white haze in some areas! They were from a marble co., not Ikea)! Anyway the look is fabulous & timeless! I just wish Ikea sold fronts for dishwashers! The designers at Ikea were very helpful & helped us with the plan that we had designed! Very happy!
Your post has been helpful–I am considering Ikea cabinets too. Are you still happy with them? Did you verify about formaldehyde?
We have been in our home for about a year and a half now. We are still happy with them! They were quite a bear to get together, to be honest. My husband is a professional engineer and advanced DIYer (we have built furniture, etc.) and we were working with a contractor so he was fine, but I don’t know that I could in good conscience recommend this project to an average homeowner without the help of a contractor. However, once they were installed they are just as sturdy as any other cabinet (actually more so because they are constructed out of metal) and I really like that I was able to get a lot of custom features like a pull-out pantry that did not fit in our budget with regular cabinetry. This is what I found out about the formaldehyde:
“Since 1986, IKEA has applied the German formaldehyde and VOC requirements, currently the strictest, even where no limit exists. They state that the German limit is such that even persons who are over sensitive to formaldehyde should not experience any problems. IKEA tests its products for off-gassing, according to this from IKEA Corporate Communications in the US:
Both the total product and every single part of a IKEA products has to fulfill the emission requirement (including different materials like melamine and both the inside and outside of a product). This involves limit values both for short term (after unpacking a product; measurements after 5, 24 and 48 hours) and long term (check point after 28 days).” from http://ikeakitchenhelp.blogspot.com/2012/10/about-ikea-cabinets.html
Thanks! Glad to hear you’re still happy with them. Going to the showroom asap!