Built-In(security): a house log

We have a nursery update for you folks in the form of two new purchases that we brought home, assembled, and will now attempt to customize. After this planning post we pictured ourselves diving right into constructing our two custom built-ins to flank the crib, but then we realized that before we could in fact start on those, we needed to make some decisions about what we hoped them to look like (base cabinets with doors and a bookcase top? lower cabinets with drawers instead? dressers that we could top with shelves and molding? tall armoire-ish things for each side of that wall?).

So after a lot of inspiration-room browsing and comparing measurements/product choices on a slew of cabinetry and furniture websites, we at last landed on something that we hope will be extremely functional for the long-haul. Strong sturdy wood drawers as the base, with a bookcase-like top that we will build to the ceiling and frame out with molding. So far we have picked up two of the best drawers we could find for the job (more on that in a sec) and put them together, so the room’s right now looking like this:

But eventually we envision them looking a little something like this. Except less photoshop-y.

I will get more into the Hands-on part of this post in a minute, but first I hoped to talk about some insecurities I have been having about becoming a second-time father, and how (oddly sufficient) putting these dressers together helped me work through some of them. Sorry to get sappy for a moment. Can I blame it on pregnancy hormones?

Let me preface this by saying I am a harsh critic when it comes to my own parenting. I generally think I do a good job, but there are consistently things I’d like to do better – be more patient with Clara, have more adventures with her, and generally give her more of my undivided attention. It is that last one that seems especially daunting in the context of having a second child: how do I give two kids sufficient attention when sometimes I feel like I am falling short with simply one?

Life also felt simpler back when we were expecting Clara. She arrived on the quite day I was leaving my advertising job to come journal full-time with Sherry. So Clara came into a household where time felt nearly leisurely. Sure, the journal was still somewhat busy back in 2010, but suddenly having two full-time employees made it feel like we had plenty of hours to soak up this new baby of ours – especially since we moved at a slower project pace and had plenty of other stuff in the mix like multiple mood boards, Reader Redesigns, House Crashings, Email Answers, and Window Shopping posts along with lighter fare like Budget Blooms, random posts about mushrooms, or weird dreams.

Things will not be that way when the Barnacle arrives. He’ll land right as we are scrambling to finish our showhouse. Right as we are supposed to be photographing some of our second book. Right after our secret project will at last be out of the bag. So I already worry that this excellent little boy will be meeting a busier, more distracted version of us. And sometimes I feel like I owe him an apology that he will not get the same experience that his big sister got back in 2010.

But building these Ikea dressers snapped me out of my worry-fest. Why? Because as I opened that first Ikea box after dinner – tired and less than excited about the task – Clara walked in and asked if she could assist. It made me realize that yes, this baby’s experience will be distinct, but in many good ways. Mainly in that he’ll hopefully have lively doing random things like assembling furniture or other house-related stuff that Clara seems to enjoy sharing with us. And that he’ll have a doting big sister to play with him, watch over him, and enjoy him. That is something Clara did not have and that will be an exciting experience that is uniquely his.

As usual, Clara and I had lively building together. Sometimes she was simply playing or singing nearby. But the more remarkable memory will be of how she in fact participated in the build. She helped me pick out the pieces from the bag (“I need six wood pieces that look like this, can you find them for me?”) and even took over the task of putting dowels in the right holes.

She was quite the little helper, and I realized how cool it is that this baby’s room will not simply be created by his parents, but that his big sister literally had a hand in it too.

All of this is not to say that I have squashed every one of my insecurities about fatherhood 2.0 (“do I even remember how to hold a baby?“), but at least I have realized that I should stop comparing the two experiences and beating myself up over what will be distinct. Things are distinct, and that is not a bad thing. But sufficient about my feelings. {insert manly throat clearing here} Let us talk about these built-ins…

Most of the other built-in projects that we saw online were either made using base cabinets from the home improvement store (a bunch of which looked a little too kitchen-y to us, or felt a bit steep in price for not-solid-wood) or with Ikea items like BILLY bookcases (like this one), the BESTA system (like this one), or even some combination of the two (like this one). But we hoped something a bit deeper (BILLY is 11″ and BESTA is 16″) and we hoped the bottoms of ours to act like dresser drawers, not like cabinet doors (for some pleasant deep, straightforward-to-access storage). So when we stumbled upon the FJELL dressers (21″ deep) online, they seemed to fit the bill nicely. And when we checked them out in person, they looked – and felt – even better.

At $299 each, they are a little pricier than your usual Ikea dresser, but they are made of solid wood (i.e. no particle board) and we liked some of the details like the wood grain texture on the top and drawer fronts (which has inspired us to stain the top). Plus we figure if we are spending the time and money building these dressers in, we like the idea of paying for something a bit more substantial that will hopefully hold up for the long haul, so we will not find ourselves replacing them anytime soon.

We are fairly sure we are going to paint everything but the dresser top (which we will stain) simply so whatever wood I build the tops out of will match the bottoms. But as you can see from the rendering, we are considering a non-white color. Perhaps a medium gray or a quite muted green? Either way, we are waiting to have all of the building and painting wrapped up before attaching the hardware (no sense in putting that on, simply to remove it when it is time to paint). So for now we are rocking some temporary string handles. But the hardware that comes with them is in fact truly pleasant.

We also picked these because they were a good width. I know from the picture below it looks like we could’ve gone a little wider (do not mind that off-centered crib) but we hoped to be sure that the space between them would eventually fit a twin-bed (lengthwise) or even a full or a queen (widthwise). Simply typing that feels like we are jumping the gun, but obviously we want them to grow with the room and last longer than its relatively short-lived nursery phase.

As much as I am hoping my next post on these will be of the “yay, they are done!” variety, I am trying to be realistic that there is plenty of building involved here, which will then be followed by caulking, priming, painting, and staining. And somewhere in there we will likely be installing crown molding around the whole room (to match the crown that is going on the built-ins). So if you do not hear about these for a little while, you will know what we are up to. Though perhaps I can enlist my little building assistant to assist move things along.

She does have a fairly good handle on dowels and allen wrenches…