Group 6 2 minutes Read

studio loft: stolmenized

Lauren Zerbey

Last weekend Kyle and I went down to IKEA to take a closer look at the Stolmen drawer units that I wrote about a few weeks ago. We went on a Sunday evening, thinking it would be less busy. Yeah, just kidding…it was crazytown.

As is tradition when shopping at IKEA with Kyle, our first stop was the cafeteria. After devouring plates of meatballs and glasses of lingonberry juice (apparently I could eat 15 Swedish meatballs) we headed to bedroom wardrobes, but not before making a quick detour to look at cribs(!).  I’ve been eying the new Sundvik style since my last trip to IKEA, which comes in a gray-brown (for some reason that color doesn’t show up on the website) and looks similar to the much more expensive Oeuf Sparrow crib. Well, similar enough when there’s a $600 price difference at stake. So even though it felt way too early, we agreed that we could just keep it in the box and return it if we found something we liked better. Unfortunately, when I went to look up the aisle and bin number the tag read “temporarily oversold”. Of course.

After a few more diversions, we finally made our way to the sparse and rather neglected Stolmen display. After about 45 seconds of deliberation we decided it was worth a shot and I tracked down an employee to look up the information. I could tell he was reluctant to design an entire wardrobe system so when I told him I only wanted three drawer units, he looked at me with a raised eyebrow but also let out a sigh of relief. It was Sunday night and he didn’t want to be there either.

One night last week (while Kyle played catch up on the first season of Downton Abbey) I went to town assembling the three units. (The boxes had to be opened in the living room and then Kyle handed the individual pieces up to me.) Overall, I’m happy with the quality and design. Because they’re designed for clothes, the drawers aren’t meant to hold a lot of weight, but that shouldn’t be an issue for most office and art/craft supplies. (By the way, who let that crazed racoon in the house?)

The big dilemma now is legs. Although they look ok sitting on the floor, I think they would look better at least 4″ above the floor. At this height, the units would also clear the base trim and sit flat against the wall. I’ve been looking (ok, dreaming) for a way to use hairpin legs somewhere in our house and originally I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. But after realizing how many I’d need (8 if the middle unit shared a pair of legs with the one next to it) the cost added up quickly. So I’m now brainstorming other, less expensive ideas.

We’re also looking into a few options for the desktop. What would you think about some reclaimed wood and steel? Yeah, I thought so.  =)

Felix has been my little “helper” during this process – playing in the empty boxes, stealing hardware and getting all up in my business. Actually, he’s been especially “helpful” in general lately, so this picture is a good reminder that he does have his cute moments.