The One Thing I’d Do Differently If I Were Starting Our House Remodel Today

I love DIY and building things myself. And I feel very proud that I can imagine something like a piece of furniture and then take it from concept to completion with my own hands and a few tools.

…and then I built everything from scratch. He was so proud of how it turned out!

I built it in 2018 and it is still in our driveway today. I gave it a little makeover a couple of years ago, so it looks a little different today.

So those are the kinds of things that I find great satisfaction in spending my time building. But there are other things that I have dedicated my time to over the years that I remember and think about: “Because?“Looking back, it doesn’t seem like there was any real benefit to building it myself from scratch, other than bragging rights. But now, I wish I had given up the bragging rights and made things quicker and easier for myself.

What am I talking about specifically? Wardrobes! If I could start from the beginning of our home remodel today, the main difference would be my approach to all (or most) of the cabinets in our home. Specifically, I would use IKEA cabinets.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m now a big fan of IKEA cabinets. I had never had any experience with them until I started working in my studio, so I am a recent convert. 😀 But when I installed them on the studio’s 20-foot long mural wall, I instantly became a fan.

They are easy to assemble and work very well. All doors and drawers are soft-close and there are so many customization options available that I’ve only begun to delve into. Plus, all doors and drawer fronts are three-way adjustable (in/out, left/right, up/down) so you can get the perfect space.

It’s not that I’m not happy with my DIY cabinets. My pantry cabinets are fine. But I remember all the time I spent building my pantry cabinets from scratch and while they turned out great, I could have saved a lot of time and frustration by using the IKEA cabinets.

And I have to admit, there’s a part of me that wishes I could come up with a really good excuse for why I need to rip out these pantry cabinets and remake them with IKEA cabinets. 😀 So far I haven’t thought of a good excuse and I highly doubt I can think of anything other than “Desire…“. And that’s not really a good excuse to rip out perfectly good, functional cabinets. I’m fine with that. I am really pleased with my pantry cabinets.

I really like the consistency. And knowing that I will probably have a new IKEA kitchen one day relatively soon, I long for that consistency in the pantry. But again, I highly doubt that will ever happen. I just can’t justify the cost…and the waste it would produce.

We’ve already talked about the kitchen and, above all, how inefficient and basically unusable the upper cabinets on this wall are.

I won’t feel guilty at all about ripping out the cheap utilitarian cabinets I used to remodel our kitchen 10 years ago (because that’s literally all we could afford at the time) and replacing them with new IKEA cabinets. I will find a good home for these cabinets. Someone else can put them to good use and I’ll replace them with functional IKEA cabinets that can actually hold a plate and hopefully a lot more! 😀

But you know where else I wish I had used IKEA instead of building from scratch? The closets in our guest bedroom (which is our master bedroom for now).

I would bet money that if you went back and read the comments on the posts I wrote about planning these closets, you would find at least a few comments from people who suggested I use IKEA Pax closets instead of building them from scratch. But back then, I was still rejecting anything from IKEA. I simply hadn’t had any experience with IKEA products (beyond our wood countertops in the condo kitchen), so I couldn’t imagine it would be worth it to have mass-produced cabinets or wardrobes in our house.

So I did what I do and built the cabinets from scratch. I put the doors on a track to open to the side instead of opening on hinges. It was a fun build. I enjoyed the process and learned a few things along the way.

But again, now that I have my own personal experience with IKEA cabinets and know how much I love them, I look back and wish I had saved myself the time and effort of building from scratch and gone with the IKEA Pax cabinets.

Every time I see someone else reveal their new Pax wardrobe, I want to place an order and exchange these DIY wardrobes for Pax wardrobes. And again, it’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with DIY cabinets, but the possible customizations available with Pax cabinets make them so easy to use and ideal.

While I’ll probably never have my IKEA pantry (which, again, is perfectly fine because I’m happy with what I have), I’ve really started to consider swapping out the guest bedroom closets for IKEA Pax closets. And of course, our new bedroom will have an entire wall of Pax cabinets on the shared wall with the bathroom. I’m so excited to customize all that storage space.

So that’s really the biggest thing I would change if I started remodeling this house today. I would opt for IKEA cabinets and wardrobes at every opportunity. Never mind building from scratch when IKEA makes it so easy! It’s funny to me how I went from ignoring the mention of IKEA to loving IKEA cabinets so much that I will gladly tell everyone about them, and I’ll do it without anyone paying me. I wish I had taken a chance on them 10 years ago!

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 upper that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has MS and can’t do physical work, so I do most of the I work at home alone. You can learn more about me here.