From 1940  to 2009

We’re updating a kitchen in a 1940′s house that currently has solid pine paneling. The room gets fantastic light, as it faces south, but the paneling is quite dark & the room is already fairly tight. So we’re taking most of the paneling out & replacing with wallboard. The flooring is sheet vinyl which has held up amazingly well, but the pattern is dated & we’re going with a modern look & opening up the kitchen to the dining area.

Specs

Demo is in about 2 weeks, & I’ll be collecting pictures. Until then, here’s a rundown of what’s tentatively going in:

• IKEA cabinets w/ NEXUS birch veneer doors and STRECKET pulls
• Countertops: Cloud White Zodiaq quartz from IKEA
• Flooring: Natural Cork Roca Eco Series or Woven Vinyl from Design Materials Inc
• Backsplash: Hakatai Crimson/China blend mosaic
• stainless & black appliances
• LED under cabinet and above cabinet uplighting – DIODER from IKEA

The warmth will come from the birch veneer and the cork flooring, lighting, accessories like utensils & towels, the red in the backsplash, dinnerware, and food itself.

Stay tuned for updates!

Remodeling!

Sarah Susanka’s new book, Not So Big Remodeling is now available in hardcopy & getting good reviews. The message? Improve the space you have. And a great endorsement of IKEA for kitchens in USA Today:

“You can save thousands of dollars” by using simple materials in a well-designed space, says Susanka

[Photo credits: Randy O'Rourke, Sarah Susanka]

Eco-modernism featured in N&O’s Home & Garden

One worth considering, especially in a soft housing market.

It gets pummeled into our brains daily now: HOUSING MARKET IN THE CRAPPER! Yes. Yes it is. I thought it worth a post, especially highlighting Kelly’s excellent summary on the IKEAFANS site.

Basically, the two ways for your home to increase in value, is with time, and/or with improvements. To maximize your return, you can either DIY on that custom kitchen. That’s great if you have time. And the skills. If you don’t, you can still maximize by going with IKEA:

My IKEA kitchen reduced the cost of my renovation by half, with some labor hired out. If you poll the people on this site, you’d find similar numbers.

In this example, I’ll still use the midlevel kitchen remodel which looks like others costing $20k, and which you can expect a resale value of $16k out of. Remember this is how real estate valuation works- comparables, not actual cost. I’m still assuming that the materials make up $16k of the $20k expense as in the original example.

But, with IKEA, this kitchen will cost you $8k, or 50% less than the $16k of materials in the first example. Remember, there is $4k on the table for labor which you can retain by doing it yourself (the work is the same regardless of what kitchen you choose). So, if you hire someone to do your IKEA kitchen, you will pay $12k ($8k materials + $4k labor=$12k). Remember, the $16k resale value is for kitchens that look like those which cost $20k. In this example, an IKEA kitchen installed by a professional nets you a margin of $4k.

Let’s go over that again: Build in a profit margin of $4k (IKEA with an installer) OR build in an upfront loss of $4k (other cabinets with an installer).

Win, win

Another bonus: you get to enjoy the improvement while you wait out the market recovery. And you may even decide to stay put, further saving the cost of moving.

Eco-modernism gets a mention in the N&O Business section on Ikea. [where:27603]

Eco-modernism gets a mention in WSJ article on Charlotte IKEA®.

SAVE THE DATE! Feb 15, Open House for the love of IKEA® [where:27603]

Article: Why Choosing IKEA® is Smart.

Green grow the options

In 2005, IKEA® and Zipcar® teamed up in Boston to make it greener to get to IKEA® in Stoughton for non car-owning folks in the Boston area. UNC Chapel Hill has had Zipcars® since 2004, and Zipcar® has now arrived on campus at Duke, with two Toyota Prius and two Toyota Matrix models available.

Where am I going with this?

Hypothetical case: say you’re in Durham and want to get some products from the IKEA® Charlotte store.To use the Zipcar® service, here’s what it would cost (Note: we’re using Atlanta rates b/c we don’t have access to Durham rates right now):

• $25 application fee (if 1st time user)
• $50 annual fee (if 1st time user)
• $70+/- if hourly rate, assuming 6 hour driving, 2 hours shopping or
• $66 if daily rate
• $54 +/- extra mileage fee (180 miles are free, out of 300 round trip, so fee is additional$0.45 x 120 miles)
• Total Zipcar® IKEA® run scenario: $124. That’s if you’re already a Zipcar member. Add another $75 to that if you’re a 1st time user.

It’s Do-able, but is it Optimal?

The above scenario assumes you can get everything you want into a Prius or Matrix. And if you’ve never been to an IKEA® store, you can very easily spend 4 hours or more there on a first trip. The store is 365,000 square feet! And all the creature comforts are there:

• a place for kids to play while you shop
• a restaurant
• bathrooms

Meanwhile, the Zipcar® clock is ticking, especially if you go hourly.

When is Ecomod a better option?

• if you already know what you want from IKEA® Charlotte &
• if you don’t have time or desire to go get it
• if you are over the initial magic that is IKEA® shopping
• if you’re ordering bulky products like furniture
• if you want things that are unavailable for online purchase
• if you want to minimize your shipping and handling costs.

IKEA® Charlotte opens next month. We’re ready. Are you?

Your time is valuable. So is the planet. We pick up multiple orders on a single run, which is certainly better than multiple cars making individual trips. We’re friendly, we offer a convenient service, and we’re insured. We can even assemble and install for you if you like.

What’s not to love?

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Work with what you have

Susan over at the IKEAFans blog posted about an article in the International Herald Tribune about how design thrives during tough economic times. As Susan so aptly puts it: “Necessity is the Mother of Invention, no?”.

There’s no doubt that constraint breeds creativity, whether it’s lack of space, material, money, or time. And it *is* possible to create good, durable design under those conditions, which are all present in a depression.

Modern is already green

What I love about modern, simple design, is that it lends itself so easily to being responsible to the planet. Heck, minimalism is one of the modern design camp’s most very favorite words! And so should responsible be.

Generally speaking, modern = clean lines = less materials for detailing. And less materials means less energy to fabricate. It also means less weight to ship, especially if it’s flat packed.

Lucky for us, IKEA® embodies all of those aspects of design at an affordable price. Unsurprising, since its roots are in frugality without sacrificing culture.

Soft spot for the pre-cursors

Susan also brings to light a book called Livable Modernism, by Kristina Wilson, about how interior designers responded during the depression. Early pioneers of American modernist designers combined the avant garde with middle class taste to create products for the middle class during the depression. (Also, I had no idea that the buffet party was a Depression-era invention!)

This book is totally on my wishlist, since it recognizes designers like Russel Wright and Donald Deskey – designers who preceeded the usual attention hogs like Frank Lloyd Wright and Corbusier, but are equally deserving of recognition.  Color me crazy, but I have a soft spot for folks who set the stage for the credit grabbers after them. (Like Eileen Gray, for example, before Corbu.)

What if?

Wonder how it would have fared had IKEA® (it was founded in 1943) been around during the depression?