The Greatest Ikea Hack of All Time (For Me, Anyway)

How do you take a cheap Ikea organizer unit and turn it into a huge, expensive, pain in the butt?  Like this:

Okay, wait.  First, let me show you my inspiration and supplies:

This is a photo I found on Pinterest that made me gasp and clutch my pearls.  I slowly craned my neck around behind me like the girl in the Exorcist and glared at my MOPPE art table organizer unit.  My roommate dropped her pen and asked, "What is wrong with you??"


That apothecary cabinet.  The first thought I had as soon as I let go of those pearls was, I could MAKE THAT.








Here are the two Ikea MOPPEs I fixed up for my art table back in August. 

I adore it.  But what if I had another one...that was HUGE...and could hold all the little household bits and pieces?  I remember thinking, while staining these things, "A whole bunch of these could be kinda cool."









Here's the Ikea MOPPE by itself, as it comes from the store - unstained and fully assembled.

Very potential.  Such ideas.  Wow.











I spent about a week planning and sketching, and making supply lists.  When I was ready, I walked through Ikea pushing this thing around:

I swear there were PLENTY more left on the shelf. 

The first thing I did was set about staining 9 boxes and 54 drawers:

This is only about a third of them. 

As soon as  the boxes were stained and dry, I started assembling the unit: I set out three boxes on my bottom board, dowelled and glued them all together, and then set in the remaining six boxes the same way.  

All the clamps I own. 

Before adding the top board, I glued in six 1/4" square sticks behind the boxes.  I know the boxes are glued in securely; but just on the off chance that repeated use of the drawers knocks them loose (it won't), these sticks might add a little extra security against the boxes being pushed out of place (won't need it).  There's so much open space behind them; I really wish I could have made this thing double-sided. Right now it's going to be used against a wall, but one day it might make a nifty room divider or something.  Maybe I can go back and add more boxes in the future.  For now, when this is done, the back will be covered by a sheet of Luan.

Surprisingly not front-heavy. 

While I was waiting for all the glue to dry, I stained a billion more drawers.  I also cut out papers for the drawer bottoms (thanks, Past Me, for making templates in August that I could use later!), and labels to go into the labels holders waiting to go onto this piece.

Fiskars paper cutter FTW. 

As much as I want to show you a picture of a finished project - it's not done yet!  I can't WAIT to see this thing finished!  I'm hoping it will be by the end of the week.  I'll post updates along the way.



. 

Art Storage: An Ikea Hack*

In March of 2017, I started refinishing what would become my art table.  I got 2.5 legs stripped, and then had to stop because I broke my foot...and then I never got started again.  This will be one of my next projects, but for the time being, it still works great as an art table. Over the weekend, I picked up a couple of Ikea MOPPEs to create some storage for the top:

The MOPPE comes already assembled, so I didn't have much work to do here.


I stained the entire thing(s) with Minwax's "Dark Walnut", and added knobs and labels.

At the moment, I have butcher paper covering the table surface;  my plan is to make a custom plexiglass top for it once it's done, to protect the wood and so that I can just wipe up paint spatters without damaging the wood - as old as this table is (possibly early 20thC; more likely a 70s or 80s piece made to look like an antique).

Eventually, the table will be stained the same color, and my hope is that the table and MOPPEs will look like a single piece of furniture.

The knobs here are 1/2" button plugs from the hardware store, just glued to the drawer fronts (actually the drawer backs). 

The labels are cardstock from an old sketchbook, affixed with tiny black tacks - an idea I saw on Pinterest.

The end result is enough like a card catalog or apothecary cabinet that I'm kind of in love with them!





For now, though, I am LOVING the MOPPEs!!

Next Up: 

More living room?! 

* I refrained from titling this post “MOPPE It Up”. You’re welcome.

"Honey, we're out of arsenic again!"

Fun with kitchen canister labels:

AFTER - chalkboard paint

I'm sad to say, my little quart can of chalkboard paint is badly dented, and doesn't seal properly, as I discovered the other day when I went to paint these canisters and discovered a can full of black peanut-butter.  Fortunately, I was able to reconstitute the paint by mixing in about a cup and a half of water  (I figured, it's not usable now, it can't hurt to try).   Some of the paint peeled and chipped when I pulled off the tape, but it's all good.  The labels are totally cute.

And I'm sure the same friends who like to write on my chalkboard when they come over will re-label the jars for me when I'm not looking.   LOL.

Before - 2009. Paper labels.  Also painted faux-tile on the backsplash.

.