Finished basement kitchenette

Hey hey! Well I’m getting things done this month, that is for sure. The no spend month is in high gear and I’m purging and organizing and getting little projects done like crazy. It feels GREAT! But I’m dying to go shopping. :) I usually don’t mind it but I haven’t stepped foot a “fun” store for more than a month now. Starting to twitch a little bit.

But did I mention I’m getting things done? I’ve had the materials for this project since two IKEA trips ago, which I’m figuring was about eight months ago. As usual, I am incredibly efficient and on top of things!

This was our little basement kitchenette last year:

We had the cabinets installed and then I installed the countertop and painted the cabinets. Then I jazzed it all up with a fun stencil.

A few months later we had the sink installed and since then it’s been a really functional spot. Love it! I’ve always wanted storage up above but knew cabinets would feel too heavy and would block the lighting.

So I picked up these shelves and the EKBY BJÄRNUM brackets from IKEA awhile back. (Sorry, didn’t mean to shout those at you in caps, but I copied and pasted that from their site cause I’m not even trying to spell that.) I could have just used basic stained wood for the shelves but these were the exact color I wanted and they were done, which is nice once and awhile:

That’s actually one shelf – I cut it in half for this wall. So I only used two shelves total. The brackets were easy to install – some of them I got right into a stud:

And for the others I had to use anchors:

You just install one side, then place the shelf and bracket on the other side, make sure it’s level and then mark where your anchors need to go. When you have the anchors in, put the shelf and bracket back up and then secure it to the wall. You have to insert the shelf first!

Funny thing was I’ve put this off forever and it took less than an hour to finish up. Typical! I wasn’t concerned about how strong they were because this one tested them out immediately:

Of course he did.

My original plan was to hang three on each side, but I thought that would get a little busy. We don’t need a ton down here – just a few plates and smaller items so the four hold everything perfectly!:

Here’s the basic sink we put in – it’s just a drop in but very deep. I gotta have a deep sink to hide the dirty dishes. ;) I went pretty basic with the faucet too and didn’t add a sprayer. Kinda wish I would have but we don’t use this sink a ton:

I was using what we had to fill the wall – the dishes were on clearance last year, the basket holds towels and washcloths, the ball jars serve as glasses and the sign above is one I made years ago:

It all came together just like I envisioned it!:

I may add a mirror to the middle to see how that looks. I don’t want it to get too busy so we’ll see about that.

Here it is with the lights off so you can see the stenciled wall a little better:

We also have a small fridge and microwave down here in the stair storage. Someday I can see us adding to this spot and wrapping it around the corner to add a bar or something. For now that area to the right of the cabinets is the Bub’s indoor basketball “court” that he uses every day in the winter. :)

When he’s older we may expand it a bit. For now it’s a great little spot with everything we need for movie and laundry folding nights:

This basement is a dream come true – we absolutely LOVE it down there. And now that we have cold drinks and running water we can just hibernate (which we did a lot over Christmas break). By the way…pizza rolls are the BOMB in a toaster oven. Just sayin. Try it.

One project down, a million to go! :)