Before & After: Rast Hack

After taking care of some business online today, I decided to treat myself to a surf of my favorite design blogs and came across this amazing IKEA Rast hack by Kelly of Hello Boudreau via Jenny of Little Green Notebook. I can’t stop looking at the pics! This is, in my opinion, the best Rast hack I’ve seen yet.

Kelly started out with this…

…and ended up with this! Sweet, no?

Check out more pics of Kelly’s project at Hello Boudreau: Ikea Rast Hack. For extra credit check out more of Jenny’s picks for best Rast hacks at the top of her post.

Until next time!

Framed!

I didn’t do it! I’m just a patsy!

Seriously, I did do it… I finally framed that Artaissance print that I got from the thrift store that was going out of business a few weeks ago. Remember that? Well, in case you don’t here is a pic of the print in question:

Breakfast Treats II by C Biggio.

It’s got some really beautiful colors in it and I wanted to let them stand out so I picked up the largest size of Ribba frame from IKEA.

It took me a few minutes to get it in there (all those brads to pry up and the flatten down again, the poster was curled up and wouldn’t lay flat, the plexi kept popping out of the frame…) but I finally managed. I think it came out pretty nicely.

All the components together...

Ribba frame is ready to go!

Prying up brads... NOT fun.

Peeling the protective film off the plexi.

Now I just need somewhere to hang it!

And done! All framed up!

Hey, That’s My Bike!

Sometimes you can get what you want… even when you’re late to the party.

I am slightly bike obsessed. You may have noticed here and here… So ever since I’ve been working at IKEA, I’ve wanted to get a hold of the bike that was given as an Xmas gift (the Christmas right before I started) two years ago.

IKEA coworker bikes.

During a casual conversation with a coworker I was offered two of the IKEA bikes and I jumped at the chance. So now I have them sitting in the living room. One of the bikes needs air in the tires and they both need more comfortable bikes seats so I’m going to have to do some shopping. 🙂

Razor Adult Helmet, $19.99 @ Target.com

Schwinn Soft & Wide Bike Seat @ Target.com

I’m still hoping to get one of the Schwinn Meridian Adult Tricycles but I’m looking forward to spending some of my days off cruising down a couple of local trails like the BPA and King County Interurban on my new to me IKEA bikes!

Trying New Things

My sis got these chairs as freebies from her neighbor and she wants me to help her fix them up. Check out her post here:

Trying New Things.

I ran fabric paint by her:

Painted chair project via A Pinterest Addict.

And reupholstering with budget upholstery fabrics from IKEA:

Rosmarie at IKEA

Benzy Skepp at Ikea.

Premier Fabrics:

Newell in Stone/Denton at Premier Fabrics.

Barber in Stone/Denton at Premier Fabrics.

Or using Joann’s 40% off coupons to get some cool looking pleather:

Eaton Square Adrift at Joann’s.

Here’s another view of this style of chair (by complete coincidence, I pinned the exact chairs from a Craigslist ad a few months ago on Pinterest).

On my CL Treasure Hunt board on Pinterest.

I’m going to meet up with her on Friday to take a closer look at them (so far, I’ve only seen pics). I’m so excited! What would you do with these chairs?

Pimp Your Patio

Yesterday I had a few minutes to spare while I waited for my sister after work. I walked around and checked the activities section at the end of the store (that’s where we put all the seasonal stuff) and textiles (only my favorite department in IKEA. It’s been about three months since I took a turn through the sections at any length and I figured by now there were some new things in… I wasn’t wrong! Here are some of the cool things I saw:

The Malin Lov pillow:

eclectic pillows design by furniture and accessories IKEA

The colors in this pillow are just amazing! I’m going to be picking up two or three of them… I’ll figure out what I’m going to do with them later!

The Hogsten chair:

This chair is cute and compact and would look really nice (and fit nicely too) on an apartment patio. There is a matching stool as well.

Pekannot plant pots:

I like the whitewashed color and the texture reminds of grasscloth a little bit (which I LOVE). I really want a couple of these too. The smaller one is $25 and the larger one is $39.

Anyway, that’s it for me today. I hope you all are having a happy Thursday. I’ll catch you next time!

Who Knew?

Sy sewing machine @ IKEA - $59.

I work at the big blue box (aka IKEA) and it never ceases to amaze me how you can walk around a random corner and find something totally unexpected, yet utterly delightful. And that is exactly how I felt when I saw the SY sewing machine. It is a cute little thing with the IKEA blue and yellow for accents and would be great for a beginner… like me! I’ve got a vintage machine that my Aunt Connie gave me but it needs servicing and it never hurts to have a backup sewing machine, right?

99¢

Will get you this:

At least it did today anyway. I got them at IKEA Charlotte. Regularly $4.99 so a good deal in general. Tomorrow I’m going back (on my day off) to pick up the 25¢ wine glass special. Cool, eh?

Tablet? Thank you!

A quick share: my new tablet. I like my new gift lots! Until tomorrow!

New Projects

I have a dream… that one day this will be glam not ham.

Now that the chair is finished, my plan is to start work on some new projects for the next couple of weeks.

Project #1:
I bought four IKEA Lack tables to do this project from SpaceSays. Basically, you use the tops from two tables to make a cube and then decorate the edges with office tacks. I’m thinking of upholstering them as well. A little batting, a little fabric. Maybe an animal print or an ikat?

Project #2:

Someone really did a number on this IKEA Klubbo table… I’m going to do another number on it. But better.

Another IKEA table, this time the Klubbo coffee table. I found this with the veneer almost completely peeling off the edges for $20. It is going to replace my mom’s Lack coffee table (the larger sized one with a shelf below) in the living room. I’ll be removing the peeled veneer, priming and painting it in Krylon’s high gloss Cherry Red and painting the legs gold. Cool, eh?

Project #3:

Lamps should not be this color. Ever.

I bought these two lamps from a big box clearance section. The medium brown tone of the wood is a no go. Instead I’ll be spraying on high gloss black paint and putting on new shades. I’m leaning toward a black shade with a gold lining… really going Glam with it.

Project #4:

The dresser… holding my lovely A Giannelli horse head bookends and Design*Sponge @ Home.

The Simmons dresser. I’ve had this for a while. I’ve vacillated wildly on what to do with it. At first I thought I’d just strip it and clear coat it. Then, I decided maybe a two tone finish similar to the original finish would be good. Finally, I thought a high gloss bright would be the best option. Actually, I wont be doing any of those but I think the idea I did come up with will be pretty and unique!

Project #5:

The armoire with the doors off…

This tall Asian style armoire was a ReStore find. Originally, it was meant to house a TV and related components. I disassembled the turntable and removed the upper door with a view to converting it into office armoire. Now I’m thinking it will work out better as a bar. I’m still not sure what direction to take as far as color goes… any suggestions would be much appreciated!

So, that’s what I’ve got on my plate in the coming weeks. Now that my arsenal of tools and helpful friends and family are coming to my aid when I need them, you should be seeing a lot more DIY around these here parts!

I hope you’re having an awesome Wednesday! See you tomorrow!

Jingle On

How I spent my Sunday night…

…and therefore an extremely late post. Tomorrow we found out if they are giving us a Kindle or a tablet. I’m hoping for the latter… but wont kick the former to the curb.