Fauxdenza update.
Remember when I first shared my horrible Frankenword, “fauxdenza”? At the time, there were no other mentions of such a term anywhere on the internet. Now, a mere four months later, there are 323 search results. Take that, Merriam-Webster! Of course, I’m sure every single one of those search results is a referral of some sort to my post, but still. Fauxdenza! You heard it (and hated it!) here first.
More importantly, though, the fauxdenza is no longer topped with a too-long, too-wide, perpetually dusty table runner. As of this weekend, it now has a wood top! And it only took us 15 months!
The great thing about mounting IKEA wall cabinets at credenza-height is that they offer a huge amount of storage while taking up very little space in the room (and they don’t require any legs, of course), but the downside is that the top is seriously unattractive. IKEA designed these cabinets to be mounted high on a kitchen wall, so these screws, joints, and gaps would never show under normal circumstances.
We debated buying a length of butcherblock-style countertop from IKEA to fashion a top, but the logistics (How would we get it in the car? And would we have to then lug it up to Newburgh to cut it, and then bring it back to the city? Ugh…) proved too complex. In the end, we just went to Home Depot and bought a ¾”-thick length of pine. It was 6′ long, the exact length of the fauxdenza, so we just needed to have them cut the width down by a few inches. The waste was minimal, and I think I can even use the scrap to make a shallow shelf for…somewhere.
We decided to have the wood cut to the exact depth of the handles. They stick out quite a bit, so this makes the overall look much cleaner from above.
I was hoping that the wood would magically lie flat, but of course it’s warped a little bit. We still have to make a decision about how to finish the wood (I’m leaning toward wanting to live it pale pine and just sealing it with non-yellowing, matte poly, but we’re also considering an ebony oil stain…), and then I’ll put some screws through from the inside to pull the top down.
F-f-f-f-faaauuuuuxdenza!
Anna, you are so right! I have read “fauxdenza” pop up all over the place (and not just your blog!). And even more importantly, the fauzdenza is looking great!
romana
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Weight the wood down and much of the warp could come out, try out both sides to see where the warp is the worse. I think natural color would be perfect!
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It looks great! I also think sealing it with a clear sealer would look good.
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NICE.
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Looks great! Were you able to get by with a 1×12 board?
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No, since we decided to make the top the same depth as the handles, that required a depth of 13 5/8. I think the board we bought was 6×16, so we have a little scrap left over.
yay, you did it! And it looks great! Ebony would look great too, but the pine looks lovely. If you decide to leave it untreated, does it make sense to oil and wax it rather than poly?
So glad “fauxdenza” is catching on like it should be.
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I did a test with oil on the bottom, and it darkened the wood so much. The pine is really knotty, and I’m just afraid it’s going to look too yellow if I oil it. I hate poly so much, but I think it’s the only thing I can use to seal the wood while keeping it light, right?
Yay! I love this idea! Randomly, my brother did the same thing at his place, but around the entire unit are ikea door panels that frame it, to make look finished.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1493871121669&set=a.1493860121394.57965.1680799368&theater (hope that picture works)
I feel like an ebony stain would look beautiful in your place.
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Nice!
Looks great, Anna! And ebony stain would be so lovely with your pops of black.
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Brilliant. The fauxdenza looks awesome.
Do you think that ebony stain would work on the other natural wood Ikea sells? We bought a Trofast storage system and I’m wondering if I have to sand it first–I can’t tell if it’s coated or not. I just love the ebony stain on your planters in the garden and wanted to try it. But I’m feeling lazy and don’t want to sand.
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The description on the IKEA site says that those units have a clear acrylic lacquer on them, so I think you’d have to sand them down before staining them. Paint would work fine, though, and you could probably get away without sanding if you use a good primer.
the top has just finished it off nicely. sooooo impressed and jealous!
the fauxdenza would be the perfect solution for me in my lounge, if only i owned my place and didnt rent! aaaaaaah!
(loving the term ‘frankenword’ too btw haha)
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Unfortunately, I can’t take credit for “Frankenword”…but I love it so. :)
Oh, and this is in our studio apartment! It’s a rental! We’re just going to take the cabinets with us when we leave. Hanging IKEA uppers is pretty painless and relatively temporary—just a few screw holes from the mounting rail that will need to be patched when we go.
GORGEOUS. you are brilliant, anna.
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Walnut coloured stain would be my pick. Does anyone love minwax in Jacobean as much as I do?
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I like that color too, donna, but there’s already a lot of dark brown stain in the room (the inlay on the floor, the coffee table, the runners on the rocker…), and I don’t want to add even more brown to the mix…
That turned out really nice! Great work. I like the simple color scheme and the breaks in the white of red and black.
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I think it would look super sexy stained the same color as the inlay on the floor.
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You can’t see in the photo, but there’s already a coffee table a few feet away that’s stained that color, so I think it would be a bit of dark-brown overload!
Maybe get some Sally Hansen Insta-Dry in CLEAR for the fauxdenza!
jbhat
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HAHAHAHA. Yes.
Looks so great! I really like the light pine look as it is now too, but I’m excited to see how you finish it.
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What would you seal it with if you wanted to keep it looking natural/not yellow? We’re constantly putting stuff down on this thing, so it really does need to be sealed or it’s going to look gross in no time.
I’d say water based poly or just a wax. Poly would be stronger of course… Wax would have to be applied more often.
Ebony it. EBONY. Great work, Anna. But ebony.
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Hello Anna,
have you ever heard about pigmented wood lye ? It prevents light woods from yellowing – completed with white pigmented oil it will maintain the freshly sanded look. I like it very much, I did all the pine wooden floors in my house like that, it looks very “clean” an soft the same time.
Like your blog very much!
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It looks great Anna. We unknowingly created a fauxdenza out of Ikea kitchen cabinets many years ago. But it was using the tallest wall cabinets so the proportion never really felt right. It had glass doors and we used the cover panels to cover the top and sides. We gave it to my mum a couple of years ago. I always thought that the shorter 35cm high cabinets would look great as a wall-hung tv unit.
By the way thanks so much for your help with the wallpaper on the weekend. I ordered the Bindweed wallpaper for our bedroom and dressing room. We decided not to wallpaper the living room wall for now.
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That looks great! We’ve got one, too…pretty much built our house around it. I think I was inspired by something I saw Lotta Jansdotter do? I love ours, though it has a “walnut” finish to match our floors and has a thinner top (wish we’d gone thicker) and we added some tapered “mid-century” legs (also walnut). The best part, though, is that it holds an insane amount of toys.
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Fab! I wouldn’t have thought this originally but looking at it in the pic I like it pale.
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I love the way this looks! I’m concidering a Fauxdenza in my apartment. There is a long wall that always looks empty. Its a great space.
Thanks for the inspiration!
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Anna, that looks awesome!!!! And I LOVE the photo you took of it at the bottom… so pretty!
Kathy
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It’s PERFECT with the art hanging above.
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Sooo…. How many people went and googled “fauxdenza” after reading this? I did!
Looks great. I vote for the pine colour.
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I vote pale also. And although I’ve never heard of Etet’s suggestion, it would be worth looking into. I have some beechwood bookcases that I Minwax Natural finished many years ago, and they now look completely yellow and grody. But then, they are almost 30 years old and have lived a hard life . . . .
Your fauxdenza, both the word and what it describes, are awesome!
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looks great!
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add my vote to the natural pine look.
also, more photos of the apt, please!
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I see you already did a test stain spot on the “bottom” of the wood, but if possible, i’d flip that board over, so the high spot due to the warp is in the middle of the board, not the ends.
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The warped spot is actually only at one end, and it’s lateral—so flipping it just moves the high spot to the back end. The center and opposite end lie flat regardless of position.
It looks fantastic Anna! I also love that print above it. Did you mention it in a past post?
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Thanks! The print is from Banquet — there’s a link in the first “fauxdenza” post. :)
thanks :)
Love it. We have just had great success with a warped piece of beech that we’ve made into a desk top. It is sitting patiently waiting for our new Mac to arrive!
We gave it a good oil (as this was the finish we wanted anyway) and then added some gym weights to the warped end. We have left it now for 4 days and the warping has nearly disappeared. Might be worth a try?
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Screws will work just fine to close the gap (it’s only about 1/8″)…I’m not worried about it!
With a solid top (as opposed to plywood or veneer-on-MDF), it’s always best to over- drill the holes through the cabinet top (so the screw actually wobbles a bit). The screws will still pull the top down tight to the cabinet, but it allows the lumber to move a bit without the risk of cracking.
Thanks for the tip, John!!
Excellent, as usual! Looks really clean, Anna… I love it!
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I love it and would keep it the light pine. I am wondering if butcher block wax would do the trick to preserve it.
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The fauxdenza looks great and I really like the natural pine! It may also look good if you bleach the wood to make it look a even lighter. Did that once with hydrogen peroxide but I can’t remember what I used to finish it off and not make it look yellow.
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Where did the ampersand go? I would love if you could share more pictures of the apartment (the living space) right now I can’t really figure the layout out.
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The ampersand is in the kitchen now, still waiting to be hung up!
I’m not sure if I want to show photos of everything in the apartment, but it’s really just a rectangle. :)
Hey Anna! Where did you get that cool bear print?
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Susie, the print is from Banquet—there’s more info about the other stuff in the room in my earlier post about the fauxdenza (linked above). :)
Hey Anna, I absolutely love your blog and your style! I stop by often to see the beautiful things your are doing with your house! right now our whole living area is painted light blue, but I have totally been inspired by you, and to just follow my heart and paint it all white! We have light terrazzo floors as well, so I can’t wait to see how it turns out. My question for you is, how do you pick the right white? I’m looking at bm cloud cover right now, but I just thought I would see what your opinion is before I jump in. Thanks!
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I love the natural pine. Black would be nice, but would show dust more. Not that I am saying that you wouldn’t clean it.
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Hello,
I don’t think I’ve ever commented before on your blog before, Anna (if I have it was a long time ago)… So I just wanted to come out of the non-commenter pool and say how much I enjoy your blog. Your projects are so neat and your pups are so cute. This fauxdenza idea is so awesome and I hope I get to use it one day for myself. I will proudly call it by it’s proper name to all who inquire. Ffffaudenza!
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Thanks, Jesse Lu :)
yep. stealing this idea. coming to a secrets from a stylist episode near you. its genius. totally genius.
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love this. we’ve been humming and hawing about doing something similar. must take the plunge!
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Where did you get the pulls for your fauxdenza, are they STRECKET from IKEA?
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Yep!
Looks great… we are launching a RE-DO line at Dwell on Design this year that includes optional legs, tops and side panels.
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very inventive you should sent it to IKEA flickr ;P
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I am so glad I stumbled upon your blog. I love your style! I also love your fauxdenza is awesome! Such a great idea.
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Hi there, I wanted to let you know I linked to this post on my blog. We were so inspired we built our own Fauxdenza and it rocks! Thanks so much for the great idea!
http://deepnorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-week-of-rain-and-occasional.html
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This is so smart. I love the ‘after’ and although the word is like nails on a chalkboard, you still get props for being so creative;)
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We have butcher block counters in our cottage and use a beeswax product on them. The wood retains its natural colour and is protected.
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I’m not sure wax is recommended for pine…
i like this idea. my hubs and i wanted a computer in the main floor without a huge bulky computer armoire. so we took ikea upper cabs and floated it in the corner, installed a slide tray and an outlet. totally unique computer desk for about $80.
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