Seeing as how I posted about my handy man for Valentine’s Day – I thought I should post the next chapter in our DIY built in bookshelves.

When we bought our bottom cabinets I knew that I wanted a handle on the doors that matched the opposite side of the kitchen. I had originally seen the idea for horizontal hardware on cabinet doors one of my favourite home decor blogs, House Tweaking.  I loved the idea of doing the hardware so that it is streamline and not up and down – it’s also easier to open.

I was happy to see when we moved in that the hardware was already like that (above). One thing we really loved about our place when we first went to the show room was the finishings – they used really great hardware and everything was just what I had imagined I would want in a kitchen.

We thought maybe we would change the door handles on the other side of the kitchen, but I like everything to match, as usual, so we decided to use the same style handles.

We had looked at IKEA, however theirs were slightly longer than we needed – they come in a pack of two for $14.99

We found some at Home Depot – that were a little pricier at $8.00 each

We wanted them to fit in the middle of the doors at the top, so that the ends of the handles were between the shaker trim. The ones at IKEA were a little too big, bigger than the ones on our current cabinets, and overhung on either sides of the trim of the cabinet door.

We ended up buying 8 of the Home Depot ones – for $64 + tax. While they fit perfectly in between the trim of the door, it was a bit pricey for handles.

We didn’t really search much further, figuring RONA would be about the same price. However, when we went to pick up some lumber that Nash had ordered for us for the top of the cabinets from Windsor Plywood, I realized the lumber store sold cabinet hardware as well.

Well, it was the exact width we wanted, the 5 1/4″ handles that we ended up buying, and they were a fraction of the price – regularly priced at $3.99 each. D’oh. Next time we’ll look a little further – too bad they were already screwed onto the doors!

Oh well – now we know!

First we decided how low we wanted the handles – the first measurement was 1 inch down from the top of the cupboard, but it felt a little too close to the top for grasping it, taking into account the lip of the countertop as well. The second measurement we made was exactly halfway from the top, and it worked much better.

Mark along the cupboards with a pencil

Drill your holes with a 1/8” drill bit

Then screw the screws in the back into the handle

Thanks to handy Adam – we now have a handle on it. Excuse the pun.

Second part of our built in’s finished – and a word to the wise, don’t buy cabinet hardware from Home Desperate before looking around more first.

When we purchasd our new house we had lots of ideas of how we wanted it to look once we moved in. Of course, buying a townhouse in a complex means that there are certain things that are going to be the same as every other unit (layout, finishings etc.) There were also some other things we wanted to do, or change, to make it more our own. We did do about $4,000 worth of upgrades when we purchased: Frameless glass shower for our ensuite bath, granite countertops in all the bathrooms, changed the kitchen countertop to white quartz, enclosed the downstairs room, plus laminate in that bedroom (that will be an office), tile throughout the entranceway to the garage, and a central vacuum.

However, there were many upgrades we did not purchase due to the high price. Many are things we could do ourselves later down the road if we choose, such as framing the windows and crown moulding. We also opted out of the window covering upgrade because of the steep price (still can’t believe they came standard with those old aluminum mini blinds). It also helps that a family member owns a window covering business and will kindly help us with much nicer coverings than the faux-wood upgrade we would have had to pay for. I personally love the top-down-bottom-up honeycomb shades for the bedroom so you still get light up top, but privacy on the bottom (a must – especially in townhouse complex when you can easily forget someone is across the way) like These Applause Honeycomb Shades here.

One other ridiculously overpriced upgrade was the built in options they offered. The one for the TV, Kitchen as well as the closet organizer were crazy for what you got. A teensy-tiny closet organizer that barely fit anything (Adam made me a closet organizer pretty much the first week we moved in, and it is awesome! plus it fits everything I needed), and a super shallow kitchen built in with no cupboards, made of flimsy looking hardware. Needless to say Adam and I figured we could do something better ourselves, at a Fraction of the crazy price they were asking. Plus, it would be totally customizable to what we wanted.

The empty space

I have always loved the look of built in book shelves, and our super open-concept second floor with the kitchen/dining/living room we don’t have many corners for bookcases (we had three in our condo). I wanted something that I could display my cookbooks in, picture frames, and other items. We really don’t need two tables – in the show room they had a large dining room table, and a small round table across from the kitchen in the nook area where our bookcase is going to be and where their built in was – but, with only two of us we usually end up eating at the island, coffee table or dining room, so another table was not needed.

Kitchen ‘nook’ across from the island

After looking for ideas and inspiration online, and help from Adam’s dad and Nash, we got started on the design. We decided to use pre-built kitchen cabinets from Home Depot for the base, so they would be sturdy and also hide/store extra kitchen items with cupboard doors. Plus, they were pre-made and already finished so it was easy.

Adam has compiled a list of products, tools and instructions for the base so far.

So here’s Part One:

Products needed:

All Purchased from Home Depot

• 4 x pre assembled cupboards 30.25” x 30.25” x 12” $99 each
• 3 x 10 foot 2 x 4 3.87 each
• 1 x 8 foot 2 x 4 2.77 each
• 1 x 4×8 sheet of 3/4 inch mdf 37.84
• 1 x box of 100  3 inch wood screws 9.99

Running Total: $458.01
Total time so far: One Saturday  

Tools required:

• Drill
• Chop-saw
• Sand paper
• Level
• Pencil
• Measuring Tape

After first getting measurement of where the cupboards were going, it turned out that the pre-made cupboards from home depot were almost a perfect fit for the space, all we will need to do is install two 2″ spacers on either side.

Step 1 Make a box for the cupboards to rest on. These cupboards are designed to be upper kitchen cupboards, so I could have just mounted them to the wall, however, since we are planning to build bookcases on the top, I wanted to rest them on the ground as well.

To make the base, I used the two 10′  2 x 4′s as the long sides, and cut 1′ pieces to screw on to the end. I then cut six 9 1/4′ pieces to fit exactly between the 10′  2 x 4′s to add strength to the base. I just laid this base on the ground, it is not screwed in to the walls or to the cabinets. This makes it easy if I were to ever want to remove them. The existing baseboards behind the cabinets are untouched.

The existing baseboards are 4″ high so I wanted the box to be just over that height. I got the mdf ripped at 11″ for the top of the box, Home depot offers lumber cutting and it is very accurate and straight. Much faster and easier than using a table saw.

Step 3 After you have the base made, I ripped the MDF at the same dimensions of the base and placed it on top. I fastened it with 3” deck screws.

Step 4 Mount a 2 x 4 to the wall to keep the spacing correct and keep the cupboards from moving. Using 3″ screws to hit each stud. Mount it to the exact height of the cabinets you are using.

Step 5 Mount the cabinets to the 2 x 4 using 2” deck screws, I used twelve of them.

Step 6 using MDF ripped at 15″, make a shelf for the top of the cupboards, (will be doubled up when I start the next phase of construction)

Part one – Done!

Poops was a very good helper, even with her pink bandage (more about that later)

Growing up I always thought “I’ll never be like my mother.” Not that there is anything wrong with my mother, I love her dearly and am grateful for all she does for me. However, growing up there was one thing in particular that I absolutely hated – her insane cleanliness.

But it was more than just cleanliness, it was an overwhelming need for things to be clean. When she was mad – she would clean. And a reason for her being mad may have been because something was not clean in the first place. (My brother and I could make a real mess sometimes) It was a vicious cycle – lol. Growing up, however, I  was made to do it all as well- I cleaned and scrubbed bathrooms, vacuumed the living room in such a way that the vacuum head left my mothers distinct pattern in the grain of the carpet (my family members will know this one!) – in a room that we were never allowed to step in unless company was over, might I add.

Yes, I had lysol’ed and Vim’ed every inch of our house growing up. I remember spending my Saturdays or Sundays with my mother cleaning out the drawers of the bathroom, organizing our hair products, sorting and arranging the cupboard pantry in the kitchen and re-stocking the linen closet so it was tidy. Heck, we even stood in the dirt and washed the entire outside of our house in TSP one summer before we painted  it (by the end we threw the ‘protective gloves’ to the side and were pretty much bathing in it, hey, we lived)

We laugh about it now, my mother and I, about her insane cleaning ways. I remember having some pretty good fights about not cleaning up. She hated beds that were not made in the morning. She’s still pretty ridiculous at times, my mom. Although I am all for her visiting and cleaning at the same time (Thanks mom). No one can clean / organize quite like my mother. Her love for the smell of a clean house cannot be beat.

However, just like my Zia probably said she would never be like my Nonna (the QUEEN of clean – seriously. She would come over to visit and end up cleaning our outside windows with newspaper and windex. You know that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond when Deborah can’t find a SPECK of dirt at Ray’s moms house? Nonna is THAT kind of clean) – Just like she said she wouldn’t be like my Nonna, and is probably on equal terms now in terms of a clean home, I fear I am well on my way to becoming my mother too. Sorry to my future children – I might get clean-angry.

I love clean. I love organizing, I love wiping things down – although I won’t go as far as laundry/dishes. Still my most hated things (perhaps a childhood nightmare due to the insanity lol), Thankfully Adam is an all star in both categories (Thank you!)

{The Before – A big fat mess. Things teetering on things, half falling out. Chaotic}

Since moving into the house it’s been trial and error as to where everything is going. So far the bedroom is still a work in progress, and the living room is on it’s way now that the couch and coffee table are in. However, the kitchen needed to be done now. Somehow moving into a larger kitchen = our stuff from the old house not even fitting. I may have just a feeeeewwww kitchen gadgets / items.. and they seem to be taking over. Thankfully a little DIY we are working on is going to help majorly in that department.

The #1 problem we were seeing right now was the large pantry. Large in the fact that it is soooo deep. It’s 13″ wide and 22″ deep. This just means that things get shoved right to the very back only never to be seen again. Try digging through two layers of cans to find some soup (turns out we had none – lots of canned tomatoes though). Once something is put at the back you really could not see it. Things were piled on top of things, on top of things. Something had to be done.

So – Last week I ventured out to get some organizational tools.

• Baskets
• Mason Jars
• Spice Jars
• Funnel (necessary to fill the jars)

{A whole basket just for Pasta – I am Italian}

{I was all excited for glass spice jars, but for now they can all stay in their own containers}

{The cracker / rice cakes basket}

{My favourite shelf}

{The bottom shelf is buckling at it’s seams due to my hoarding of canned tomatoes. Whenever they are on sale, anywhere, I buy them. We also may have too many cans of coconut milk}

Yes, I am well on my way to becoming my mother. And I’m ok with that. However I probably won’t vacuum in consecutive patterns.

{Before and Afters make me happy}