Measure twice, cut once...

“Measure twice, cut once” was a favourite of adage of my Father. I had this advice in mind when I carefully measured up before choosing the new wardrobe. The bedrooms in our house are in the converted attic, so we have to cope with sloping ceilings and thick oak beams. We use the smaller of the two rooms as our bedroom and the larger one as a combined guest room, dressing room and general storage area. One of the problems of the converted attic is the lack of storage space, but the house had previously been a holiday home, so the lack of wardrobes was not a problem to the previous owners.

The hanging rails were really starting to annoy me. I had to keep the dust overs on to stop the fabric fading, but they gathered a lot dust which aggravated my allergies. These rails have followed me around for a long time – we’ve moved ten times in ten years! The only house they ever worked in was when we rented a three storey townhouse, with an office on the ground floor. I was able to use the spare bedroom on the top floor as a large dressing room. Everywhere else I’ve always had to share my office space with the rails, the suitcases and usually several boxes of ‘stuff’.

From this...



...to this

 

I checked the measurements carefully, only a couple of designs would fit under the sloping roof, between the beams. I made sure the OH checked that the wardrobe I picked would fit (good move, I’d later find out) and placed an order with Ikea. It worked out cheaper to have them delivered than drive down to Bordeaux, so I took the opportunity of ordering a matching chest of drawers and two bedside tables. It was going too well – two texts from Ikea confirming the delivery date and the van turned up on time, the driver even managed to follow my dodgy directions. By the end of the afternoon we had built two bedside tables and the chest of drawers.

We’ve built a lot of Ikea furniture in the last few years so we’re used to the figurative instructions, allen keys and plastic fittings. We set aside the entire morning for the wardrobe. It was going well until we came to move the wardrobe into position. Problem – the wardrobe did fit not between the beams. Although the width was fine, the top overhung the width by a couple of centimetres. Unfortunately it was a few centimetres that we didn’t have, so it was time for a complete re-think. The sloping ceilings dictated that the wardrobe had to be in the centre of the room, where the ceiling is highest. After a few minutes thinking of different configurations we came up with the idea of using the new furniture as a room divider, which gave me the opportunity to create a separate office area behind. Once the furniture was in place it was time to re-arrange all the clothes and, of course, I couldn’t resist the chance for another mini-clearout.