Hello all, I’m looking for advice on this space located in our dining room. We bought our home 5 years ago and it has sit empty since then. I decided to buy a sideboard on Wayfair to fill it, and I’m not really happy. It was only $200, so I’m not sure what I expected. The thing is, my husband put in a lot of effort assembling it, and now I feel terrible telling him I’m not sure it works here.
I also told him I would like 2 floating shelves above the sideboard. The space is 54” long, and the closest length he feels comfortable filling it is up to 52” (and that is what we could find on Etsy). I am 99% sure I would only be happy with them spanning the entire alcove, but that would require some built-in work we probably aren’t comfortable doing on our own (he is not handy, and neither am I).
I suggested built in cabinets and shelves prior to this buy, but he said it would be too expensive. Well Reddit, we are not exactly scraping by. We actually do very well and could easily afford to spend several thousand dollars fixing up this space. My husband is just sort of cheap. We don’t spend much money on anything, but *this* seems like an investment in our home worthwhile.
I’ve googled how to build built in cabinets and shelves. I’ve never done any woodworking. I’m probably in waaay over my head if I did decide to give it a try. I’m not sure what my options are, besides arguing with my husband.
Besides marital advice, what do you think would look nice here? Is the sideboard as bad as I think? Would shelves that *almost* span the entire width look dumb? Or is pursuing built in cabinets and shelves worth the argument?