This may come as a surprise, but I have never customized anything important like a piece of furniture - besides painting it. But soon I (or my husband) will be taking a saw to pieces of an IKEA wardrobe to just take a little off the top. For me, this is a big deal, because
what if it's crooked??
Unfortunately, we have no choice. At least, no choice that makes sense, financially. I will relate the tale...
It all started with a kitten. A kitten who is diabolical and has figured out how to open drawers, even drawers with baby locks on them. A kitten who likes to eat clothing. The temporary solution became to just tape the drawers closed, but it's hard to get dressed in the morning when you are constantly taping and un-taping the dresser. We decided to get a wardrobe from IKEA.
After several hours in IKEA trying to come up with just the right thing, I ended up with a custom wardrobe set-up. But when I went down to the warehouse,
of course they were sold out of just the pieces I needed for the medium-size wardrobe frame. I called my husband and we agreed, the taller frames would probably be fine. I mean, most of their wardrobe frames come in the taller size, so wouldn't that mean that it should fit a standard ceiling height?
It turns out it's just two inches too tall to fit in our apartment. I called around to try to cancel the order or see what my options are. I realized that we were kind of in a bad spot. To cancel the delivery and order a new, smaller frame would cost us lots of extra money. I called the hardware store and, upon consulting with the lumber guy, it was decided. We are going to buy a saw and try to customize this wardrobe ourselves, a la
IKEA Hackers.
Well, I am excited to have the saw. I think this is actually a really good outcome! That is, assuming it works (which I will document here, of course). Because once we have the saw, there are so many other things we can do! I've been wanting to make a
litter box hiding cabinet for a long time because I hate that the litter box creates a No-Fly Zone in an apartment where vertical space is at a premium. The saw would help us cut the hole necessary to make a cat flap! (When I showed this to my husband he got very excited because we have two litter boxes and they don't smell like roses)
I remember when I took a shop class when I was in middle school and the jigsaw was my favorite saw. Looking back, I can't believe I used a jigsaw when I was 12 years old. But it was my favorite. I made very small little precise pieces on the jigsaw. My favorite was a tiny little arrow I made from some scrap wood, about two inches long. I put a magnet on the back of the arrow so it could point to things. I ended up just sticking it to the inside of my
Keroppi pencil box but it did a good job at pointing to things in there.
In any case, a saw opens up a world of customizing possibilities! I also have other plans for customizing this otherwise very bland wardrobe. It's going to be awesome!
