Ba-da Bingo, It's Lidingo!

IKEA, Elizabeth, NJ
I didn't like the Elizabeth store as much as the Paramus store, but since I had to go to their warehouse in Elizabeth to pick up my door and drawer fronts, I figured I'd check it out. Of course I didn't leave empty-handed. I'm especially fond of my new cheese grater. :)

I took this picture out my passenger side window while driving home. It's NYC! Don't tell anyone what a hazard I am on the road. Oy.

Et voila! My new kitchen doors! Yay! We stayed up until midnight getting it all put together. But I'll tell you what. It's EASY-PEASY to assemble this stuff. I can't get over how wonderfully clever everything is. Seriously, if you're vascillating on whether or not to do-it-yourself with an IKEA kitchen, I'm telling you right now to GO FOR IT. If I can do it, anyone can. Seriously.

Of course, now the floor looks like TOTAL crap. But I need to paint first. THEN the floor. These things take time.

I put handles on the sink fascias because I like the symmetry of it all. BF thought I was a little nutty, but whatev. He also thought I was a nut because after I put those slow-stopper-thingies on each drawer, I pushed it closed and clapped my hands with glee. It's the small things, people.

A friend of mine came in to have a look today and mistook my Pragel stone effect black countertops for Corian. Pretty cool, eh? I guess she didn't see the raw edge to the left of the sink? Heh. (It's on the list. Geesh. Stop rushing me.)

OMG how much am I loving my giant drawers?!!?!?! Oh, like SO MUCH!

And my pull-outs? Hell-OOO!

And everyone must have their very own Boholomen sink cover. I mean, really.
I've already made a batch of salsa today in my shiny new kitchen. One of these days I'll get all the holes filled everywhere, so that I can paint, then lay the floor, then get a table in there, maybe some window treatments--or not. I can't wait for it to be ALL DONE. But for now, it works, and I love it!!

GOOGLE WEB SURFING FRIENDS! PLEASE LOOK AT THE TOP MENU BAR AND CLICK ON "MY KITCHEN" FOR MORE PICTURES OF MY KITCHEN IN PROGRESS. I LOVE MY IKEA KITCHEN, AND I'D LOVE IT IF YOU WOULD POST A LINK HERE TO YOUR IKEA KITCHENS TOO! I GET A LOT OF SURFERS COMING TO SEE MINE--I'D LOVE IT IF YOU WOULD ADD YOURS TO THE MIX!

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

~sharon

Construction Junction

Well, you asked for it, so here it is! My kitchen/woodshop. This is actually a cleaned up version, if you can believe it. BF tends to drop a tool wherever he last used it. It's my job to follow behind and try to keep things somewhat organized, so when he says "Where's the hammer?" I'll be able to put my hands on it.
We were thinking about using that cove molding in the corners, but now we're just going to caulk the corners and skip the molding. It'll look much more seamless that way. Note the stained woodwork that hasn't gotten its first coat of paint. I can't wait to get everything painted out. Even with one shabby coat of white, it's SO much brighter in the kitchen.
Note the new apron under that window over the sink. BF broke the old one when pulling it off to get the wainscoting on. I had to laugh, because he was busting on me for putting the backs of some of the cabinets on backwards. WhatEVER.

My new sink! Yay! My new faucet! Yay! New countertop! Yay!

New plumbing! Yay! Thank GOD I have BF to do this stuff. I could have done all the beadboard and trim, but the plumbing is beyond me. I mean, look at that mess. WTH? He even managed to figure out why the dishwasher wasn't draining properly. I bought it from someone from Craigslist about three months ago, so I didn't even know if the thing was going to work at all. I lucked out! $75 well spent!
I like the cap molding I picked out. What a pain, though, because it doesn't come with a lip to go over the top edge of the paneling. So there is a flat 1.5" piece of wood behind it that pushes it out so it goes over the egde of paneling. An ingenious solution, figured out by me, executed by BF. :)

My new dishwasher! Yay!! (The stove is new too, but the dishwasher is much more exciting, don't you think?)

Last night, when BF was getting irritated with some of my ball-busting, he said..."Go over there and hold those two wires together, will ya'?" Har. Good thing I'm not a dummy. Or I'd be dead.