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.



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Guest Bath No More

Now it's BFF's bathroom!  And it's white no longer:

Here's the before...

That's Olympic "Turquoise Mist", if anybody's wondering.

BONUS FEATURES:

This idea came from Pinterest (really, what doesn't anymore?)  A trash bag tied over the toilet tank - no paint to clean off the porcelain, and the bag doubles as a handy-dandy receptacle for all your painting trash at the end of the job.

Know what I discovered today?  If you flush the toilet while the bag's on the tank, POKE A HOLE IN THE BAG.  It did this crazy thing where it tried to swallow itself because of the air being sucked out of the bag by the retreating water, LOL.  0_0

I like to rock out with my caulk out.











Now the bathroom just needs BFF's stuff!  She moves in in a week and a half! :D


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They Say, If You Can't Laugh At Yourself...

So, you guys got to see my new coffee table Wednesday:

I was goldbricking at work re-organizing some of my Pinterest boards yesterday, and while perusing my Furniture board, I came across these old pins from long ago:

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c===3

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Gee, do you think I've been into this style for a while or what?  Heehee.  Just a neat little moment of, "HEY!!"

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It Really Is That Easy

Pinterest is full of DIY instructions for making simple rings out of jewelry wire.  Like this one, or any of these.  My BFF ribs me about how often I say, in various circumstances, "I could make that in like an hour!" or "I'm not paying that price when I could make this in a better color for like ten bucks!"   Mostly it's because I never actually follow through.

But this time:

Tada!  So easy a caveman could do it!  I used a silver-colored memory wire, like I used for the beaded hoop earrings I made last month.  It was already round, and already mostly finger-sized - I just had to wind it around the cap of a nail polish bottle to tighten it to fit.  (I really wish I had a ring sizer, though).

I have to say, it's been a long time since I had a ring I could wear on my first two fingers.  I have BIG fingers, you guys.  My hands are short and broad, like everyone in my family;  add to that all the work that I do with my hands that has made them strong and muscular, and the bit of extra weight I'm carrying - my index finger is like a size 12, I think.  I'll definitely be making more rings in the future!

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Fail.

This past week, I've been focusing my attention on knocking out some little things that I've had looming on my to-do list for a long time.  Simple, quick, easy, small projects - like swapping out cabinet knobs, spray-painting some doorknobs, cleaning up the weird clutter that keeps accumulating on my fireplace hearth for some reason, getting some "landing strip" areas of the house re-organized and cleaned up;  stuff like that.  The desk lamp that I posted about the other day was one of them, too.

I also tried a few ideas that I've had that didn't work out.  I thought I'd share them with you, because some of them are funny:

This lady painted some chairs with Rit dye!  I can do that!

KaraPaslayDesigns.blogspot.com

I tried it on the big green wing chair that I brought home a couple of weeks ago.  I didn't have Rit dye, but I had a ton of India Ink lying around from my calligraphy studies.  I've actually used it on fabric before, so I knew that it would stay put, not run or fade, nor rub off on my clothes when I sat in the chair.  I decided to try it in a tiny area on the back of the seat cushion where it wouldn't show, and I'm really glad I did.

Apparently the stain-treating chemicals in the chair are really good at their job.  The ink didn't soak in, it just dried on the surface of the chair, into this gross, crusty mess that blackened my fingers the second I touched it to see how it was coming.  FAIL.

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Several months ago, Kress' mom left us some of those plug-in air fresheners with the oil bottle that you pop in, that fill up the house with this nasty, cloying, putridly-sweet, disgusting fucking smell that gives me migraines and makes me sick to my stomach.  She loves them, and it was sweet of her to buy them for us, but, um, EW NO.   I saw this on Pinterest:

Essentially, you take the air freshener apart and refill the bulb with your own blend of essential oils.  Not one to waste anything, I tried it.  And I really should have tried it with gloves on, by the way, because after scrubbing my hands with soap, dish soap, vinegar, orange cleaner, and finally BLEACH, the residual smell on my hands is STILL making me sick as I sit here typing this.  *barf*

Needless to say, it didn't work.  Maybe it works with some other types of air fresheners,  but on the kind that I had, the wicks broke while I wast trying to get them back into the bulbs, so the whole thing was just a waste of time, effort, and expensive essential oils.  FAIL.

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Here's another one from Pinterest, although I originally got the idea from a friend who did this and had great luck with it:

That's right, bubble wrap window insulation.  My bedroom gets HOT in the Summers, y'all, and not in that fun way.  The idea here is that the air in the bubble wrap insulates the windows and keeps some of the heat from coming through, without blocking light.  It's not terribly attractive, but behind curtains?  No big deal.  The cool part is (wa waaaa get it) that it works - I've seen it in action, and I know it works.

I, however, didn't have any bubble wrap, and that crap's expensive.  What I did have was leftover foam underlayment from back when I put new flooring into the craft room and guest room.   It's light and clear, and should do the same job, right?  I never got to find out, unfortunately:  when I went to put it up on my bedroom windows I realized something I'd forgotten.  There are big, red manufacturer's logos stamped all over the damned things.  The foam itself wouldn't have shown behind the white sheers in the bedroom, but the logo sure would have.  FAIL.

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Tomorrow's another day, though, and I have lots more small things to catch up on. For the moment, I'm going to go saw my hands off now, because the bleach (or the devil air freshener oils!) is making my hands peel and burn.

In the meantime, everyone have a safe, happy Memorial Day...and remember to stop and say "thank you."

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Nailed It: Adventures In Surface Tension

One of the blogs I read is Pintester (dot com), by Sonja Foust, who is rapidly becoming my hero.  ine.     I ADORE her posts, her videos, and her series of "Cocknails" where she drinks and fucks up manicures.  She's hilarious, and my kinda gal.

So the other night, sitting in my living room with a glass of rum in one hand and no nail polish on either hand, I thought, "Hey!  WWSD?"  So I set about testing out this whole marbled fingernail polish thing.

The first attempt came out better than the second, which we'll get to in a minute.  The first time, I didn't feel like messing around with glasses of water and what-not, so I just drooled some random nail polish on my fingernails and scootched it around with a toothpick.  It's messy, and it didn't come out at all looking like I know what I'm doing, but it wasn't that bad - I think if I practice this, I can get the hang of it:

Pinky and pointer are done with blue and pale lavender.
My thumb and Driving Finger are also mixed with pink, which came out looking like vomit. 

The next night, I thought, "I got this".  About 3/4 of the way through another glass of rum, I might add.  This time I got down with the water marbling.  Afterwards, I consoled myself by paging through pages and pages of "nail fails" on Pinterest, laughing at both those poor bastards, and also at myself.

Because, I mean, SERIOUSLY:

colors are Blush and Bashful  white and Fuck Me Red

That is disgusting.  After the first few minutes of staring amazedly into my glass of water and watching the effects of the water on the nail polish and vice versa, and playing with the way the colors interact with each other, I threw all my supplies out and started again - this time I put it on my nails, and the result, well, look at the picture.

Nail polish in water looks, at first, like it dissolves, but actually, it spreads out into a very thin skin on top of the water.  The idea is to dip your finger into this skin, and it adheres to your nail (and everything else that goes into the water, by the way.  The how-tos on Pinterest all say to protect the skin with Vaseline;  I didn't have any of that, and I can report that Neosporin kinda works, but not really).

Let it sit a second longer than necessary, and the entire nail polish skin on top of the water's surface comes off at once and wraps itself around ALL of your fingers, your glass, your coffee table, pants, you name it.  And it's slimy.   My index finger is the only one that looks marbled at all; and all of them have teeny bubbles and cracks and wrinkles in the finish; and all of them just look like I put stickers over my fingernails. Oh, and?  This crap got UNDER my fingernails as well.  What a gross feeling.

This "manicure" is still *on me* as I write this, so, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get rid of this hideosity and paint my nails BLACK in protest.

Don't try this shit at home, kids.

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Time Out For Some Bandwagon Jumpin' and Pin Testin'

You guys, surely, are aware of this whole smoothie trend.  If you follow anything on Pinterest at all, I bet you see at least fifteen "recipes" a day.  I wasn't into the idea until it started involving booze, myself.  Of course, I can't find the pin I took inspiration from, but here's something similar:

(pin)

That would be a Champagne Mimosa Float, made by pouring champagne over orange sherbet.  Mm-mm!

I didn't have any champagne at home, but I had tequila, and as luck would have it, I saw another one like this (there are many versions) using lime sherbet and tequila.  I had both of those!

big. ass. straws. 

I'd call these "Margarita Smoothies" a flying success!  They were tasty and sweet and smooth, and there was a LOT of it once I realized I'd used WAY too much tequila in the blender and needed to add more sherbet.  Um...twice.  (The original recipe was for a float like in the picture up above, but my BFF and I both wanted it blended, because us + straight tequila, even if there's ice cream in it = bad.  And since I apparently didn't actually pin the lime version of the drink on Pinterest, I couldn't remember the proportions, and so I guessed.  Wrong. Twice).

I can't wait to try the Mimosa ones next!  Or raspberry sorbet...mmm... maybe raspberry sorbet with rum, as another friend of mine suggested.  HOORAY BOOZE!

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Meanwhile, In Living Room Land

This week, I have lots to do in the living room.  I'm finally making that day sofa cover, and I'll get to talking about this "new" couch I've alluded to in the past few weeks.  I'm also juuuuust about ready to start re-arranging the entire thing.  You heard me. The entire. Thing.  You'll see.

In the meantime, some inspiration pictures, which also serve as hints:

via Pinterest

Decorology

Pinterest

Apartment Therapy

In Lieu of Simply Apologizing...

Again, I mean. For the lack of substantive posts.  I *am* actually working on things this month, though.  I may or may not have a couple of nifty posts for you this week and next, if my schedule works out this week. 

Here are some hints as to what I'm working on at the moment:

restorationhardware.com

trendland.net

Lotus Trio, by Mark Epling

A gorgeous planted tank at AquaTek Austin

Hans Memling

More later!  :o)

To-Do List

By the way, I'm still working on the craft room, little by little, as well as the mini-couch and plans for re-arranging the living room.   One thing at a time...or, rather, one thing from each room at a time.  I've got a looooong list from which to choose.

In the meantime, here are some cool pictures of blue things from Pinterest.  Guess the relevance. ;)

Sweet Home Style

 

Delight By Design

Apartment Therapy

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Motivation FAIL

Actually, it's more of a daunting thing.  I am daunted by the craft room.  There's just SO much to do, and every single step is huge and time-consuming and tedious (since it involves slowly beating back the last advance of what very nearly became the beginning of a serious hoarding situation). Not to mention the fact that the rest of my life has gotten so blindingly busy lately that when I get a minute to myself I hardly know what to do with myself aside from just taking a nap, I'm so stressed out.  UGH. 

I'm planning some more work in there this coming weekend, if I get a minute and am feeling up to it; but for the time being, here are some photos I've collected via Pinterest to keep me inspired as I trudge along through the details of getting the hard stuff in the room taken care of so I can move on to the fun stuff:
  

from

The room's already gray and off-white (and green, but, we'll deal with the floor another day).




Soft linen, aged wood...

from

Gray/cream, warm and touchable wood.

I love the mirror, too.

from

Nom nom nom.

from

These blue shutters kill me.

Pin this!

stuff

The craft room closet is REALLY coming along.  Last night I got most the contents of those two black shelves into the closet, and most of the *stuff* piled up in the room organized into it, too.  Success!  I even restrained myself when I saw exactly the plastic totes at Target that I want to put my fabric in, because, you know, one must pay one's electricity bill before shopping.  Or so I hear.

The next step is to hang a curtain over the doorway ( I decided against putting the doors back up - curtains will be easier to move out of the way, and softer, and I just happen to have some that I'd forgotten about); and do something about all those mismatched boxes.



In the meantime...



I rarely hawk for websites, but you guys have GOT to see this (if you haven't already, which you probably have;  I'm often in the very last car on the Internet Train).

I even have a pin board just for BLUE STUFF  :D

Pinterest  kicks butt.  It's kind of a visual bookmark site:  create an account, create as many "boards" (albums) where you can "pin" (bookmark) pictures that you find online and browse through them all on one page instead of digging through text bookmarks and wondering which one is which.  Pinterest also saves & links the sources for the things that you pin.

You can comment, "like", tag people/places/things in pins, re-pin others' pins, follow boards other people maintain, and organize your boards and the photos in them. There's even an iPhone app coming soon so you can pin from your phone.  You DO have to request an invitation from the website itself and create an account, but it's free, and it's quick. 


Mine is here. I'm slowly but surely migrating all of my internet bookmarks over to my pin boards.  I'm not remotely done, but the process is fun, and fills many boring hours during the week. :)
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