Category Archives: Ikea

10.04.11

Put Your Name On It.

It’s no secret that I love Ikea.  Here’s another one of my favorite Ikea hacks.  Has anyone checked out their line of Ikea Family travel bags? They are great quality for a fraction of the cost.  E picked out a backpack at the beginning of the school year.  What a great bag- it’s so well thought out, there pockets for everything!  The backpacks start at $19.95 and the toiletry cases are $7.95.  I took them to the Stitching Station at the mall (I need to find a better source for embroidery– it’s highway robbery over there.)  Look at how cute they turned out!
E’s back to school gear.
One for Anna… It had to be blue, of course.
Daddy was in desperate need of a replacement.
A case full of sunscreen for the beach bag.
They even make great gifts…
Just fill them up with goodies for the birthday girl or boy.

09.27.11

Lou’s Room: The Reveal.

Bit by bit, we have been working on Lou’s big girl room since last spring.  And I am proud to finally show all of you the finished product.
In between work, kids and blogging, we built the room, step by step.  It all started with a plan.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13
Unfortunately, the fabric for the curtains has been discontinued.  It is a P. Kaufman fabric.  The Pattern is Camelot and the color is Lake.
We were able to repurpose the bed skirt from the crib to make the bed skirt and borders for the throw pillows.  The sconces were on sale at Restoration Hardware.
Corrine Marlowe painted the stripes on the ceiling in the same Melon Shine paint that I used on the bed.
 I kept the Little Castle glider from the nursery because I love it so much.  The store that I bought it from (that has since gone out of business) allowed me to customize it with my own fabrics.  The little chair was a gift that Mom brought back from Rhode Island when she found out I was pregnant with E.
 Luckily our changing table was convertible.  The mirror was a originally a butterfly picture that I scored on clearance at Home Goods.  I painted it Pear Green.
I knew exactly what I wanted for the chandelier… the problem is that it didn’t exist.
Then I found Lindsey at Simply Salvage, who worked tirelessly on this baby.  Poor Lindsey had no idea what she got herself into with me.  This took over 4,000 hand painted beads.  She painted them Bird’s Egg to match the walls.
My little Lou Lou Bug simply adores her room.  When it was finally done she stayed in there for hours.  While in another room, I heard her talking to herself saying “This is a dream come true!!!  I love my room.  I love my chandelier… I love my pink bed… I love my special lights (that would be the sconces.)….  I love my flowers.. ” Yada, yada, yada.  It warmed my heart.  And that my friends, made it all worth it.  She has slept in her room every night since.

09.06.11

Mykea.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about O’verlays.  I have recently stumbled upon another alternative to sprucing up your Ikea furniture.  They’re stickers and they’re called Mykea.  First you choose what piece of Ikea furniture that you have, then choose your pattern.  Here are examples of what you can create:

07.12.11

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.

If you don’t know by now, our house is in a constant state of “progress.”  It drives my poor husband crazy.  We have made some progress on little Lou’s room.  Here are some sneak peaks of the work in progress.

When I originally had the nursery painted six years ago, I had my amazingly talented artist Corinne Marlowe paint this Lion over the changing table and a laurel wreath around her chandelier.  (More of Corinne’s work on our house to come.) As you can see the big girl bed takes up a bit more room than a crib. 

That changing table has now been converted into a dresser, and between the new bed and the shelves that we were installing, the dresser had to be moved a few inches to the left.  Here’s the problem with that: 
As much as it killed me to paint over that little lion, he had to go.  Now the question was, what to put in his place.  I knew I wanted a mirror, but couldn’t find anything that was better than what I had in my head… so I took matters into my own hands.
 I found this guy at Home Goods.  On clearance for $25.
I primed him,

Painted him,
and had a mirror cut for inside.

I should also mention that Corinne replaced the laurel wreath with stripes on the ceiling.  
 Love them.

(I was actually in her closet taking this picture… You can see the door on the side.)
The left shelving unit is lacking as you can see.  We added more drawers to the shelving units than I expected, so I am waiting on more bin pulls. I would also like to work on the styling of the lefthand shelves.
Next up:  Pillows, pictures and a new chandelier!  Stay tuned.

07.05.11

A Blank Slate.

I am currently working on a kid’s playroom and found this one designed by Westbrook Interiors.  I love that the walls are covered in chalkboard paint.  It’s like a blank slate to allow creativity to thrive.
I adore everything about it.  Notice that the main color is black, but there is no lack of color.  This is a lesson I have tried to impart on many people.
 Just perfect.
Here’s my budget-friendly version:

06.30.11

O’verlays.

I love a good Ikea hack.  And for those of you (like me) who have champagne taste and a beer budget, have I got the product for you!
They’re called O’verlays.  They are prefabricated trellis screens that perfectly compliment some of Ikea’s most popular furniture.
Just look at what they did for this $79.99 MALM dresser
And this $29.99 RAST
And my all-time favorite, a pink and orange RAST
The possibilities are endless with O’verlays.
Dress up a coffee table
or create a privacy screen.
What a fantastic, inexpensive way to dress up your furniture.  There are three different patterns to choose from.  I see some O’verlays projects in my near future.

06.15.11

Progress.

Remember this update on Lou’s big girl room?  Well, I was finally able to paint her bed.  This bed has special meaning, it was mine when I was a little girl.  I had to prime it first.  The bed was originally white, but my brother painted it black when he inherited it for his bachelor pad in Georgetown.   Gone are his bachelor days… He’s now living in the burbs with his wife, Milena and baby girl, Olivia.  They didn’t need the bed in their new house and I thought it would be so great for Lou to have it.
It took me almost an entire day to paint this baby.  Here is is (back to white) with the primer.
… And the finished product.  I used Duron’s Melon Shine.  I love the color!
I am somewhat embarrassed to show this picture as there is still so much left to do on “Project Big Girl Room.” But we’ve come a long way, baby.  Here’s a peek at what that poor little girl was sleeping on for two months until her Momma painted her bed.
So uncomfortable.  It was two mattresses stacked together.  No wonder why she wouldn’t stay in her bed!
As you can see, her room is pretty small. Here are some shots of it when we were awaiting the arrival of it’s original occupant. Perfect for a crib!
A little more crammed with a Big Girl Bed…
But we are making progress.   I just picked up the green pillows and coverlet at HomeGoods for a grand total of $80. God, I love that store.   The “Anna” letters will be 86’ed.  I’m in the process of designing her new bedskirt and a few other really exciting changes are in the works.  The bookshelves should be done this week.  I am sorry to say that most of the fabrics that I used (I originally designed the nursery 6 years ago) are now discontinued.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13
Stay tuned.. This one’s gonna be GOOD.