DIY FROM IKEA

I have been looking for a new shelving unit which was sparked by a dinner party I had the other night. My friend Anastasia Bowen who worked for an architect for many year suggested that I mount the TV on the wall rather than putting it on the vintage credenza I have, and open up the space a bit more. She has exquisite taste and is my high end design expert and totally agree.

There is amazing blog called IKEA HACKER which I read often for ideas. Ikea is the affordable place to go for a quick visual fix in the house...sort of how H&M is for my closet. I found this DIY project. I had this lacking shelving unit in mind to put two or three white units together against the wall to make one long unit for extra seating,and place misc things on such as books and plants. I like what they suggested and you can see how they turned it into a bench below.


Materials: Lack shelving unit, Capita legs, Iris chair pads

Description: This may not be a new idea, but I though I would share the end result!

Instructions: We made the benches before we had the table, only because we had them in storage. I love the look, but as a vertical unit they are not that practical. The benches are Ikea Lack shelving units turned on their side. Please note, their needs to be some attention taken to the amount of weight that the shelves can hold. They are not intended to be benches. We have found that they can easily hold 3 150-180 pounds adults.

We used 6 Capita legs (different heights available), 2 at each end and 2 spot in the middle. Choose the height of the leg depending on the height of your table - we used the 10" size. I chose 5 Iris chair pads as they fit the length and depth of the bench almost perfectly. The cubbyholes can now be sued for baskets or other storage containers for toys, games, table linens. etc

A last trick for rented homes and apartments, hang your own lighting or ask your landlord to do it. If it doesn't require a change to the existing electrical hardware, it is easy to put up and then take down when you leave. And really, it makes such a huge impact. We hung a Kroby light fixture and even installed a dimmer switch. The switch we'll probably leave for the next tenants - every overhead light should be on a dimmer in my opinion.