And I haven't been the same since.
(See my ode to Lindsay's banquette here and my fun with IKEA here)
This past weekend, it all came together.
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| L-O-V-E. |
And as Lindsay's banquette post suggests, it's not a hard hack.
Here's how I put mine together:
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| Before |
I laid 2 primed and painted 2x6x8's like a railroad track on the floor.
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| Frame the Vent |
Luckily, the floor vent is far enough away from the wall to lay the tracks around it. Which will allow for airflow under the banquette.
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| One Cabinet |
Then I laid the first cabinet on the tracks.
My total length is 8 feet, or 96 inches. So I used three "AKURUM top cabinet to refrigerator" frames, two at 30" wide and the middle one at 36" wide. All 24" deep and 15" high.
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| Line 'Em Up |
With all three cabinets in place, it felt awfully deep.
But I knew the shallower cabinets were waaaay too shallow. So I put the temporary cushion on and kept the faith.
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| Deck Chair Cushions |
I'm keeping it real here. That was our kitchen for a few days. I was cringing.
Then came the cushion.
(SFX: church choir singing "Hallelujah!")
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| Fits Like a Glove |
I found an outdoor fabric called Spectrum Graphite by Sunbrella that almost perfectly matches the 'Grimmy's Grey' Dulux paint on the kitchen cabinets. I love the unity it brings to the room.
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| View from the Back Door |
The foam itself is a firm 4" thick piece covered in batten to perfectly fit the length (96") and width (24") of the cabinets. To give it a polished look, I asked the upholsterer to add piping...and since I have kids, I asked for a zipper in case I need to remove and wash it.
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| View from Below |
I gave it a test drive by hosting a coffee with 8 of my closest girlfriends today, and they loved it. Four lovely ladies fit comfortably on the banquette and stayed for a couple hours. Success.
So...how about some fun Before and After pics.
My view walking into the kitchen from the main hallway:
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| Before - From the Fridge |
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| After - From the Fridge |
And from the dining room:
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| Before - Dining Room |
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| After - Dining Room (pillows for placement only) |
My favorite view:
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| Love the Grey |
If you haven't noticed, the highchair is gone. There's something about the gorgeousness that's keeping George's throne in the dining room. I roll it in for feed time and then roll it back when he's done. Highchairs are just not gorgeous.
But George is. And I managed to keep him out of every banquette shot.
Except for this one.
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| Toy & IKEA Box Corner of the Dining Room |
I think he's happy to get his toy corner back.
** Thank you to Lindsay for her amazing inspiration found here **
