Studio Office Area Cabinet Progress (Plus, a Design Consideration)

Today is supposed to be sunny and 79 degrees, so I hope to get all the trim done so I can paint today. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and couldn’t do anything yesterday, so it will have to be done today. Our weather is supposed to be beautiful all week, so it looks like I can paint on Thursday. When I finish it, I feel such a sense of accomplishment!

Anyway, this is what I did two rounds of prep, trim, caulking, priming, painting and adding gold leafing Ikea wedding cabinet doors and drawer fronts, and I wrote about it in more detail in the first go round.

So now that I’m well on my way to finishing the doors and drawer fronts, I’m thinking ahead and planning how I’m going to finish the actual cabinet boxes. The exposed side on the right needs to be covered, and since I don’t buy any of those panels from IKEA, I use MDF or plywood.

I’ve already done that process once and it worked great, so there’s really nothing to figure out. I repeat the whole process to cover the right side of the cabinets. But one thing I have considered is adding a bridge to connect the two upper sections.

I’ve literally been toying with this idea since I started designing this room in 2017, but someone else suggested a few posts when I asked for ideas on how to incorporate floral design into this area of ​​the room. . Someone suggested building a bridge to connect the upper upper cabinets and then adding floral wallpaper to the wall in that enclosed area.

I don’t plan on adding floral wallpaper to the inside area as I don’t think it will look worth the effort. But what I love about the bridge idea is that I can add lights above that countertop. I don’t know if I’ll ever need lights in that area, or what kind of work I’ll be doing on that countertop that would require overhead lighting, but I love the idea of ​​having it available as and when I need it. .

However, if I don’t do the bridge, I can always add sconces to the sides of the cabinets facing the window, just like I did with the closets in our guest bedroom.

I also like that bridge cabinets give a more finished look (in my humble opinion) against a tall, wide wall. With the bridge, the entire cabinet area looks like a more cohesive unit to me.

So this is the main design decision I’m trying to make right now. I have a few days to decide as I am currently focusing on the doors and drawer fronts. Those might take me the rest of the week and the weekend too, as I have to do Gold Leaf as well. But hopefully I’ll be ready to start the actual cabinets next week and I’ll have to make that decision so I’ll be ready to go.

what do you do Add a bridge with crown molding for lighting? Or leave the bridge and add crown molding to the top of each individual upper cabinet and add some sconces to the sides of the cabinets?