Workroom space and cabinets

 It occurred to me I haven't shown anyone my workspace. 

Years ago I took over one half of our finished basement and set up a hobby table and purchased a nice Effictiv Ikea cabinet. It has served me well over the years. The top is double doors and I have paints and stains on a shelf, tall spray paints, and glue bottles, sandpaper boxes in the top shelf. 

The bottom space in this top cabinet is set up with 2 plastic drawer units. Those drawers include 2 with lighting and electrical supplies, one or two that have architectural embellishments in them, one drawer with stain pens. 

The next section down is 3 drawers, with the top drawer being open divided boxes with clamps, one with tools, one with painting supplies- brushes, and spatulas. There is some open space for larger things. The middle drawer is wood strips and the bottom drawer is wallpaper. Yes, I have a stash of each and that has grown more than I will ever use, truth be told. 

The very bottom section of this cabinet is 2 short doors, and its mostly junk odds and ends  - wood parts, supplies that I didn't use from kits (stairs etc), and rags, as well as some plastic grocery bags that I use to line my garbage can. 

Last year I had more things and needed another cabinet. I wanted the same series, but Ikea no longer makes it. I went with Havsta - a light grey unit that is really 2 units. The lower half is deeper and has 2 doors, and the upper is taller but less deep, also 2 doors. I wanted to find drawer units that fit it as well, but I've had some trouble finding ones that are not too deep for the top cabinet. See how I put it together and how I've filled it...notice it just fits, about touches the ceiling!

I was so tickled when Sherrill posted recently about her Havsta build!

French Country kitchen cabinets

 I am back to working on what to do with the finish and placement of the kitchen cabinets. I've played around with base stains, and if I do that, it will be General Finishes Warm Cherry. I have vacillated between a base stain and then paint over with a creamy paint, like the Welsh Pot Board. 

To get a sense of what that might look like in practice, I've stained some Houseworks cabinets and am now painting them on the exterior. I also painted 2 cabinets simply from unfinished wood. The challenge I have is that the cabinets I have are M&R and are delicate and intricate and without taking the doors off, I'm trying to figure out how to finish them. I have stained these before, for my B&B and that worked out very well. I've also painted them for my Thornhill and this is where I ran into challenges. 

So I'm thinking that maybe I stain the insides, and paint the exteriors, kind of the best of both worlds. Staining the interiors will  be easy, easier than painting them, with the shelves and cut doors. At that rate, I will probably just stain exterior also to start. 

Here's one stained and with first coat of chalk paint Folk Art Bavarian:

Here's the painted only ones in Folk Art Bavarian Chalk (they also have antique wax on them):

Here's what they look like next to the Pot Board:

Here's a shot with them before I applied Antiquing Wax:

The placement of cabinets is also up for debate. I took several shots and I wont post them. It also made me struggle with the huge refrigerator, and if that should be painted to match. I think I've settled on this for now (obviously the uppers will be higher on the wall):

I'm also considering possibly attaching the double cabinet with glass doors to the corner cabinet and having it look like its suspended, can't show that so I've just placed it on top of the cabinet for now.