Thursday, October 3, 2013

My First Ikea Hack

I live in Montana, have I mentioned that ;)?  And while I adore it here, we do lack some of the modern conveniences and amenities of living in a larger (as in population, not land size) area. One of those is we have no IKEA in the state.  Yep, tragic, I know, or so I have heard--I have never been in an IKEA.  I believe the nearest one is in Salt Lake?? or Seattle??

As a result, I have been deprived to have no IKEA furniture to hack (which is the new word for repurpose??).  So, when I spied this little piece with an IKEA stamp at a garage sale for $2 I envisioned my first hack.
I think this was the top part of some type of shelf or desk unit, but I saw a bench.  It needed to be made more sturdy and I chose to put a back on it to do that.  I used some tongue and groove reclaimed flooring (?) for the back, attaching two 1x2's on the back of the top and bottom to secure it.
Here is a hint--when putting board together to make a panel of some type or a sign, you need to put two screws in each board at an angle from each other so the panel or sign is not wonky or doesn't move back and forth.
I attached the back panel to the shelf, i.e. bench with screws through the back.  I added a top trim piece to the back wit the brad nailer.
I painted it in Old Ochre from Annie Sloan.
I did a little distressing--but not much, didn't want the blonde pine to show through too much.
I decided it need a little something else so I stenciled home on the back.  
A place to put on and take off shoes, 
a little shelf for baskets for mittens and hats--
perfect for the entry!


10 comments:

  1. I love this, it is so cute and so creative and so useful, it also looks so easy to make....thanks for your wonderful creative idea...Phyllis

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  2. Hey - great job!! It looks great and I love the word "Home" on it...

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  3. Love it! I love anything turned into a bench. If I had my way, I'd have 50 ;)

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  4. Nice job Becky!... now run and send it to ikeahackers.net , It's a great project and good exposure!

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  5. great hack Becky! :)

    love the color and the stencil!

    gail

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  6. Aww super cute! And did I know you lived in Montana??? I'm just north of you! not far from the border at all. So cool to find another blogger actually lives fairly close to me!

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  7. Very cute! Glad you finally got to join the IKEA club ;-)

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  8. Your first Ikea hack may be just the inspiration I need for a spot behind my front door! Thanks a bunch!!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate your kind words!