I have been fielding a lot of questions about the mudroom built-ins I posted last month, and I wanted to do a post with answers to the frequently asked questions. I hope to update this post with any new questions that happen to come up about that project.1. How are they holding up? Do you worry about the TV stand supporting the weight of people sitting on it?So far the built-ins are holding up beautifully. They have gotten a little dirty in the garage, but nothing that can't be wiped down. I did need to add baskets to some of the shelves in order to contain all the clutter, but with the easily manipulable shelves fitting everything in is easy.As I noted in my ikeahackers post, I did reinforce the smadal TV stand with a couple of L brackets because I didn't actually attach the cardboard backing to the unit nor did I attach it to the wall. Right now my kids are too short to reach the hooks without climbing up onto the bench, and even with that wear and tear I haven't had any problems with it. The bench is rated to hold 110 pounds (per IKEA) so I am not worried too much about the kids sitting on it.
2. What color paint did you use? Is it available or is it custom?I actually had the color custom matched. I brought in a shelf from the bookcases and came home with a color I am calling "Ikea white" Behr Premium Plus Ultra Pure White Base 2050 (Eggshell)CLRNT 384 AXL 12CL 5LL 25 
What does that mean?Each paint colorant/tint has a code (like C, L, AX, B, KX, D) and the L after it indicates Behr's new Low VOC formulations. The CLRNT is the code for how many "shots" of dye are in one ounce. Frequently they use a 32 or 64 shot ounce, but in this case, because the color is pretty close to white, they need to make teenie additions of dye, and thus use 1/364 of an oz as one shot. Once you translate the codes you can figure out that "Ikea White" is: 12/384ths of an oz of AXL (Low VOC Permanant Yellow)
5/384ths of an oz of CL (Low-VOC Yellow-Oxide)
25/384ths of an oz of LL (Low-VOC Raw Umber)
in one Quart of Base 2050 of Behr Premium Plus
Just take those numbers to Home Depot and they will know what to do! (You can't use those numbers accurately in other paint brands because they don't use a common base formula and your color will be different)
3. I can't find the Smadal unit on Ikea.com. Is it still available?I recently learned that Ikea has discontinued the smadal line. It is no longer available online or in stores. If I were going to build them now I would substitute out another Billy wall shelf for the Smadal unit. It would fit perfectly. It would be slightly shorter than the Smadal TV stand, but it woudl be easy to put four block legs beneath it to make it a bench. The price is actually 40$ cheaper so you would be able to do it for even less money!
4. What are the actual dimensions of the unit?
The tall bookcases are 16 inches wide and 79.5 inches high
The wall shelf is 47 wide x 14 high
Because I mounted the wall shelf offset relative to the bookcases and added 2 inch molding I ended up with the total final outer dimensions of: 87 inches tall (in the center) x 79 inches wide
The entire unit is 11 inches deep
The section in the center is 47 inches wide x 72 inches tall
If you have any more questions, please post them here or email me at kim [at] themoney-pit.com
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Thank you for your understanding.
I recently did a project with Billy bookcases and found a hint online that Home Depot's Martha Stewart Talc color patches perfectly. It matched so well that I didn't even have to tape off the bookcases - smears and run overs didn't even show!!
ReplyDeleteLovely! Where did you get the beadboard?
ReplyDeleteThey sell sheets of beadboard at the Big Box Home Improvement stores!
ReplyDeleteBuilt this today and it turned out to be a nightmare project. The placement of the holes with which to attach the billy wall shelf are NOT 48 inches apart therefore they did not fall over the studs. At any rate, we figured it out after putting multiple holes all through the back side of the shelving unit cardboard but they will be covered with baskets so no one will know
ReplyDeleteI think the BESTA TV Stand will work well at the bottom. We haven't built this yet, but the width is the same as the Billy aall shelf.
ReplyDelete