What bedding will go in the room? I would make sure that is set before choosing the dresser color. I could see that dresser painted a persimmon color for some reason. It would look nice with the gray/brown and would add brightness to the room. Of course, it has to go with the bedding as I said before. A lighter version of the gray/brown would look nice too.

LOL My DH reckons I should have them in to photograph the house for their inhouse magazine, we have so much Ikea. The funny thing is, few people believe me. Like so many of you said, you get what you pay for, so the cheapest doesn't always last, but if you get the higher range stuff and the "real" stuff, the quality is fine. I had a classic pine coffee table for over 20 years that eventually got passed on: it had been sanded and resealed and was solid as a rock despite being in my possession from my early teenage years through 3 kids... My knack is that I mix Ikea with other stuff that is a bit more eye-catching, maybe that is why our house isn't so noticeably Ikea. Also I have been buying there for nearly 25 years so people have forgotten that some of my stuff was ever for sale there! I am lucky to live close by and often go by to see what is available - it is sometimes hard to go with expectations and things are out of stock, but if you can be relaxed, I find plenty. Some nice accessories never even make it to the catalog and sell out if you don't happen to be there in the few days/weeks they are selling them. I am happy with most things from there, the beds last forever, the wardrobe is awesome (it was the only store with closet systems that were low enough for our 250 yr old house ceilings!), our oak table beautiful, our last and present dining chairs indestructible (my mom inherited the last set when she moved), the kids' stuff fun and nothing can beat Billy shelves. I have used them everywhere for continuity, some with doors on the lower half, some with glass shelves, some with tall glass doors. My only problem is that they have discontinued some sizes of Billy and Lack, which is very annoying. They also change the colours available according to the "fashions", so oak is unpopular in this area and not available. I have certainly had no trouble with upholstered goods. I had the cheap version of the Poang chair over 16 years ago and often picked up a new cushion for it in the cheap range when pets ruined the old one or I wanted a different colour, though they are also washable. Now I splashed out on a leather cushion for it, it is so comfortable and still looking as good as ever. Also my Ektorp sofabed has been used a lot and squeezed up the narrow stairs of this house and is going strong. I have 3 sets of covers for it, they wash well, haven't faded or worn and I can put them on slightly damp and they need no ironing. What more could I want?! Each season I check to see what new colour covers they have in case I need a new set, as they are not expensive. In this country, no other store has sofas with removable covers, it's a great novelty for my friends and neighbours that I often change the covers! All this is why I am a fan, not everyone agrees, though...

We did this with our Ikea cabinets. You can still use the rail system, which is designed to support the cabinet 100% without having to attach it to any side support (which standard cabinets require). You just have to build out a "box" on the rear wall to make up for the needed 8" of space (really 7.5", because the doors on the front of your cabinet will be 1/2" deep). The "box" or structure that you build needs to both (1) give a solid piece on which to mount the rail and (2) include a build out at the bottom against which the lower rear of the cabinet rests -- just like it would against the flat wall. If you skip (2), you end up with a cabinet hanging from the rail and then tilting forward from the top while the bottom of it swings back toward the wall to find something to lean against. Regarding side panels, the 36" x 8' tall side panels are what you need (which at one point weren't in the planner and your Ikean had to add them at the time of the order). Make sure you order these, and not the ones that are only 24' deep and 88" tall. The correct panels: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70022758/ In our particular install we didn't use side panels, because (1) the panels are only 8' tall, and our installation was meant to go flush to a ceiling higher than 8' -- so there would be a gap at the top or bottom if we used Ikea's panel, or (2) we would have to create our own panel and try to match the finish and the horizontal grain. Our solution was to create a fridge "alcove" and ignore the panel issue altogether. The fridge was already flush against a bumped-out pantry wall on one side. DH simply built another wall on the other side and we finished it with drywall and painted. The cabinet and fridge then went in the alcove. For our install, this worked nicely, as there were no upper cabs on the rest of the run (in the rest of the kitchen, actually) and it separated this vertical "column" in the overall look of the room. It also eliminated the ageless argument of how to end the backsplash behind the fridge. We lost the 5-1/2" of space the new wall took up, but in the end we didn't miss it at all. It actually helped us keep the rest of that wall symmetrical. We mounted the cabinet about in the center of the vertical "space" available above the fridge and used trim pieces at the top and bottom. This trim was cut from one of the 36" x 8' panels, the remainder of which was used to cover the ends of our island. Re attaching the panels, you'll want to screw through from inside the cabinet into the panel. You'll need to buy screws for this and make sure they are long enough but not too long to fit through the cabinet side and at least half way into the cover panel. Consider also using adhesive on the cover panel where it abuts a cabinet. Although we didn't have cover panels on the fridge, we had them on the ends of our island. We used adhesive and screws. One last thing: If you've created sort of a boxed-in area, make sure you slide the cabinet bolts onto the hanging rail BEFORE you secure the haning rail in place. There's noting like getting it secured and then going "wait a minute . . . " and taking it down again. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the box or the process, but here is what I have. I hope this helps! The wall before: The wall after: Cover panels on island:

@julieste The general contractor will do everything EXCEPT install the cabinets. Traemand doesn't doe the construction work but you will need your final design BEFORE your general contractor can get started as they need to know exact measurements and where all the electrical and plumbing needs to be. Our process was: 1) Come up with our design and find a general contractor. This meant measuring, measuring, measuring and checking with a contractor (electrician, plumber, hvac) to make certain what we wanted was even possible as we needed to move plumbing, electrical, A/C ducts, and remove a wall. I played around on the IKEA site (very frustrating but also very educational) and finally paid $300 to Inspired Kitchen Design (IKD) to do a couple of design options for me. I learned about IKD here on Houzz and although their designs weren't perfect they did help me refine what I wanted. Once I had their design I went to IKEA (a few times) and also had them do a design for me which they sent to Traemand for an estimate on the installation costs. I didn't buy the cabinets or contract for installation because I didn't want the cabinets delivered and in the way during construction, but I did have a good idea of the costs. 2) Construction was done by a general contractor. In our area no one has experience or wants to do the installation of IKEA cabinets so first we had to find someone who was willing to do just the construction portion and let me use IKEA to do the cabinet install. You don't want someone unfamiliar with the IKEA system to learn on your kitchen install so make certain if you have non-IKEA people do it that they are very experienced. We had lots of construction work to be done before we got to the cabinet installation. I removed a wall to open the space up to our TV room, we then had to build a small wall to bring electrical to the island, we removed a dropped ceiling, moved all of the AC ductwork that was in the way of my new kitchen plan, put in all new lighting and ran new electrical wiring, and then put in a new high ceiling, and moved the plumbing line to the sink. The general contractor does all that work before you get to the cabinet installation. They need detailed design plans to assure that everything is going to fit perfectly when the cabinets are installed. 3) Once we got to a point where we had a ceiling and walls we could have the cabinets installed. I ordered the cabinets about midway through the process and had them delivered but waited to finalize an install date. During that period my contractor had questions about how the island would be secured, who would build the base for my peninsula, etc. I was able to talk with the Traemand estimator to get the questions answered. That process was actually much easier than I anticipated. I had Traemand build the peninsula base (I was using upper cabinets as lower cabinets and they have no legs so they need to rest on something, plus I was installing a floor AFTER installation of the cabinets so I needed to assure enough clearance that the doors would open after the floor install.) 4) IKEA/Traemand installed the cabinets. That was a two day job. When they left the appliances were in place but not hooked up, electrical work needs to be completed, countertops need to be templated and installed, plumbing needs to be reconnected. 5) The countertop man came the following day @Hannah(he is part of my general contractor agreement, not IKEA) and measured, You don't need to use IKEA countertops. I'm actually using two countertop people as I have a mix of quartz counters in my prep areas and a wooden bartop that is being made by a different person. 6) After my counters are installed (about 3 weeks from now) the tile person will come to do the backsplash, and finally the electrician will be back to finish the electrical hookup, hang the hood, etc. and the plumber will come to hook up the sink, dishwasher, etc. It seems like it has taken forever but I've done remodels before and have tremendous patience with the process. We also had Thanksgiving and Christmas in the middle of our construction which slowed things down. My husband mentioned that my first email to a contractor about getting this project started was Feb 1, 2019 so it will be just over a year from start to finish. Actual construction didn't start until Nov 11 when they did the demo of my old kitchen so I figure we will have had about three months of actual construction.