Ikea Hack - Gold Frames

Happy weekend. Since I just showed you my trick of how to get the best looking gold frames, here is a post that will give you some inspiration using Ikea. First of all I love Ikea frames - they are economical and are offered in a variety of interesting sizes so you can create interesting displays on your wall. I'm regularly hacking Ikea frames. (Remember this piece?) Above is an example of my latest DIY project, turning an Ikea frame to be a gold shadow box with modern art. 

Step 1: Start with this Shadow Box Frame from Ikea

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Making Ikea cabinets look custom

I have always loved the look of crown moulding around kitchen cabinetry, especially when you're using "Big Box Store" cabinets. I think it's one of the key elements in making something out of a flat packed box look custom. (See Carol Reed's blog for inspiration on ways to make Ikea kitchens look custom) Early in the design process we accounted for having crown moulding above the cabinets.

First thing - we went with the tallest Ikea cabinets possible. After accounting for the space between the counter and bottom of the cabinets (18") we were left with enough for a 2" crown moulding. Prior to installing the crown moulding, I painted it in Benjamin Moore's Paper Mache. Because we're working with a lot of whites, it was important to match the Ikea doors.

If you're going to do the same - make a note of the fact that Benjamin Moore's Paper Mache is a perfect match for Ikea's Adel Doors. Ikea Adel doors are not white - they are a creamy tone. I fretted about this originally, but I'll tell you now that the cabinets are gorgeous and I love the tone. I think if they were any whiter they would look too white. You can see in the photos above the crown moulding against the ceiling colour (bright white). The cabinets are definitely cream. By painting the crown moulding the same colour as the doors it makes the entire upper cabinetry look built in. Best decision.

Almost there! We really have only one thing left to do.....

Ps., Thanks to Leigh-Ann for helping me figure out the paint colour for the doors! If you don't have a friend that is a part of the Benjamin Moore Design Team then do what I also did and bring an Ikea door with you to your paint store and start pulling out paint swatches to try to match. (I did this to double check that we were going with the right tone)

Ikea Adel Doors

Although we installed the cabinets last week we didn't start adding doors until a few days ago. We delayed the door installation until after I had painted the ceiling. (I wanted to eliminate the risk of getting paint splatters on the doors) So Wednesday AM I painted for three hours. I hate painting ceilings. I really do.

So with the freshly painted ceiling Aubrey was able to do the door installation and Wednesday night he sent me some photos ..... it looks amazing. I can't stop staring at the photo. I'm really, really happy with the Ikea Adel Doors. We still have to add crown molding, a valance, backsplash --- still lots to do.

Part of the reason for showing this shot is because a lot of people have commented on the exposed brick wall that has been seen in previous photos. Although it's lovely, it's not staying like this for a few reasons.

First, the other side of the kitchen doesn't have an exposed brick wall and I think it would look odd to different back splashes. Number 2 - I don't think brick cleans very well so food splatters would be hard to get off. Last - although I like the look, it's not the look I was going for. Now - that being said the interesting thing is that the soft grey of the brick has me debating whether I really want to do a white subway tile as we had originally planned. The grey looks lovely with the cabinetry. Because of this - we've decided to wait until the countertop is installed to decide on the backsplash.

Still a lot of things to do, but this shot was too fun not to share. ;) Have a lovely weekend! xo Linds

Ikea Rast Makeover

I nearly fell of my chair when I visited Apartment Therapy a few days ago and saw our Ikea Rast Sidetable project. Although they had previously featured them, it was nice to see our tables as the main image in a roundup of tables. (See our original post on the tables here) When I saw the post I remembered that Jen, a reader in New Mexico sent me a link to this. Did any of you spot the following in InStyle Magazine?

I'm proud that our very own Style at Home was first on this trend. ;)  Although I'm not a huge fan of this makeover (I prefer Style at Home's original version, and ours more) I kind of adore the knobs they used. Image via Paris Apartment. (where you can get the knobs)