John Webb wraps up his walkthrough by showing us the quality and selection of finishes of both IKEA and Dendra Doors products. The form and function seen in this new home design are what make this project into a real home. These highlights of John’s walkthrough are a great starting point in our efforts to document the Hatfield Project.

“Handrails – same thing: sandblasted details. Even the little tracks I found these online. All the woodworking is stained the same. The door was a learning experience. I tried a hunk of. After we got it all stained and done, the whole thing warped - we had to take it apart. We ended up putting two layers together and gluing it, and it kept everything nice and true. So it was two 3/4” pieces married together. Then we sandblasted it all and then we put it all back together. This is stuff – these were pieces that were leftover from when we were doing the ceilings and soffits outside around the building. So, we used every piece of wood. Same thing here, we reused everything.

Going back to the storage and IKEA. This is honestly – I love this. This is one of the first times I built everything in. So, these are all PAX with a standard IKEA door which is wrapped, so you’re never going to paint it. It’s got soft closes on it. It enables you to do whatever you want inside of it. So, this one here, I’m not into the whole house vacuums anymore. They’re cumbersome, they’ve got hoses.. Honestly it’s a big deal to have to take it all out, hook it all up, do your vacuuming, and put it all away. Here you can get a cordless in this day and age – I’ve got a plug built in the cabinet. You can get a cordless that are usually light, you can do all your vacuuming, hang it up and recharge it and put it away quickly. So, less hassle.

If you know about the IKEA Pax cabinets, this could have all hanging in it, it can have all drawers in it, it could have whatever you want in it. So, lets just say the closet wasn’t big enough you could take a couple bays of this closet and store a lot of clothes in it. You could store all of your winter coats in here in the summertime and then, you know, do a switch. Downstairs I have three bays in the entry. Same thing with the vacuum setup with the plug in it downstairs. For coats and whatever else and shoes. So, again everything is more universal – things aren’t one way. You could have it anyway you want it. So the house is much more flexible that way.

Here’s a typical bedroom closet that we built in. Again, same IKEA PAX cabinets, this one here is with double hanging. You could have drawers in it. This one here I threw drawers in the middle of this one. And as you see they’re soft close. What you see is what you get here. They’re all planned in here. Continuous baseboard around everything. So they’re totally nicely built in storage around this home. Again, you can put your furniture wherever you want in here. You’re not stuck with anything, you don’t even need a dresser. You could have just a bed, nightstand, desk, armoire, anything that you personally want for beauty instead of something that you need for function to store your clothes in.

The bathroom here was a lot of fun. I’ve done some of this before, so I had a few extra pieces of tile leftover. I bought some more tile and pieces to match. I utilize everything and my crew laughs that I don’t throw anything away. You know, it’s pretty nice to have and use every bit of things and not have to throwing them out. This bathroom vanity is IKEA, Godmorgon. No, actually, this is a Hemnes dresser bottom. And like the others we made the mirror frame made from repurposed lumber and stained to match. We have a nice big walk in shower. And more IKEA Sektion cabinets for more storage.

This house, what’s different with this one is that you don’t have hall closets and closets. All the storage is very well planned – to be used, every bit of it. I see people’s closets that you just want to shut the doors – they throw everything in and they barely get the door shut. So, nowadays with our homes this is a pretty typical standard of finishes that we like to do. Again, same detail, same type of wood finish that we like to carry throughout the house, which is natural and timeless.”

Posted September 16, 2022 by John Webb