Ikea Tarva Hack

Waaay back in April, my BFF's and I journeyed to Ohio on an IKEA pilgrimage and I had been planning a little "Ikea hack" ever since.

I bought an Ikea Tarva dresser with the intention of turning it into a grand hutch for our kitchen... but of course the practicality of hacking a giant hutch with no construction experience..... yeah, no.

After I stared at the boxes for a solid month... my dad and I put it together with a minimum of swearing.

The first thing we noticed, which you can see in the picture below, is that the drawers are ever-so-slightly wonky.  Like... the gap in the middle of the 2 sets of drawers are just off.



My dad, handyman extraordinaire, determines that this will ruin my whole project.  I am not deterred.

So we get to cutting out some trim to snazz the Tarva up.

Many hours later (like 3), things are looking good.  

 

We get the whole piece trimmed out, including the sides.  And miraculously, the trim seems to have magically evened everything out.  No weird gaps, it looks pretty perfect.

Miracles do happen!  Even IKEA miracles.

Four layers of stain, 3 layers of paint, and approximately 8 layers of polyurethane later... things were starting to get real.

Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!!  The only thing better than dreaming up an Ikea project is FINISHING it. 

It's not so much a "kitchen hutch" as I had planned... but it's actually holding overflow baking supplies, and I just loooove to kick my shoes off underneath it after a long day.  Which is really classy and totally Pinterest-worthy. 

Bam.  Nothing like a good transformation to make me want to do it all again!

Now... I can't understand why my husband doesn't want to make an Ikea trip and start on another project together.

I mean.... it looks pretty amazing, right?  We won't go into some of the "little tweaks" I want to make to it. 

DIY 4-Ever

Back in May, during Garage Sale time, we unearthed a kitchen table from the attic.  Seeing as how Mr. RH and I nave a brand-new apartment with very little furniture inside.... I was still hesitant. It was just so.... country kitchen.  

So I decided I was going to re-finish said table.  After much MUCH hemming and hawing, I decided to just paint the table legs a similar creamy-ivory color, and to stain the top darker. 

So I sanded.  And then I sanded some more.  Thank the Lord for my little electric, handheld sander. 

Afterwards, I applied my first layer of stain.  

I'm not sure if you can see it or not... but it was a disaster.   I let the tabletop sit in our back porch for a few weeks... and then I knew it had to change. 

So I started over.  Sanded it alll the way back down to bare wood.

Meanwhile, I worked on the base inside due to crazy humidity levels.  Make it work!

After all that sanding, I did a little more testing of stains... on the bottom of the table.  And then I ended up mixing my own on the fly and all the testing was for naught.  TYPICAL. 

In the end.... I think my stain-mixing wildness paid off.  A perfect, mid-brown stain.  Ahh, much better.

The humidity outside increased again... so it was back inside to apply varnish to the tabletop.  The pic below is after two layers.... my dad said it needed more like 3 or possibly four layers.

As per usual, I may have overdone things a wee bit.... but it actually really paid off.  Six layers of varnish later - that tabletop is as smooth as glass.  

I cannot wait to get that baby into our new apartment.... which we got the keys for yesterday.

More details on that to come!

As for me... I'll be busy crafting.  Centerpieces don't make themselves!

 Have a fabulous weekend!

First Craft Fail of 2013

So, if you might remember, I went craft crazy in November for Mr. RH's sister's baby shower.

I posted this pic before, and of course I don't have a better one, but I've been obsessed with the canvas (that I circled in yellow below) since I made it.  

Right after the shower, I decided that Mr. RH and I needed canvases like those to decorate with.  Have I mentioned that I still have a picture I started painting last April that isn't hung above Mr. RH's bed yet?  Yeah.

Anyways, we needed initial canvases.

So, over the past 2 months I've been playing with these canvases.  I put the buttons on once at least 3 weeks ago... and I just wasn't sure I was digging the aqua color mixed in with the blue.

So I dumped them off and tried again from Mr. RH's couch during a TV-marathon.  I got them looking really good...

... and then I bumped the dang canvas when I went to the bathroom.   Ruined my masterpiece!

So I quickly decided to just glue them down... big mistake.

This is the canvases as of this morning (above).  What happened to that S?  It is so jacked up.

And then the B is quite squished.  And much smaller than the S. 

Alone, I don't think that they're a disaster... but together, can you say hot mess?

Luckily, I only used Elmer's glue.  I'm thinking I can pry the whole mess apart, rip the canvas off and start fresh, and maybe use a stencil next time.

Why didn't these ones turn out like the gorgeous shower gift above?

First fail of 2013's on the books.  Let's hope the wedding crafting goes a little more smoothly.

Dear God I hope.

Nightstand Redo (an IKEA Rast Hack)

A couple of months ago, I became enraged that Mr. RH didn't have a nightstand next to his bed.  Not even a table or anything.

Myself, I can't live without a nice table next to my bed with at least 2 drawers in it.  Plenty of room for all of my nighttime essentials.  Ibuprofen and allergy meds and chapstick and at least 6 different types of lotions. 

So, I found myself seeking out nightstands anywhere I went.  Target, TJ Maxx, random other places.... no dice.

But then there was the trip to IKEA.  Three months ago, no big deal.

And then an amazing Rast Hack tutorial from A Charming Nest. 

And then, of course, I convinced my dad to help.

First I put the IKEA pieces together.  Boring but necessary.  Letting them sit in the garage for a week or two is optional.

Next up, deciding what size of trim the piece should have.  Who knew 1/4 of an inch would make SUCH A BIG DIFFERENCE?!  Difference?  Negligible, in the end.

Then there was the testing of stains.  How in the heck are you supposed to know what stain is going to look like?!  Also, stain is scary and dangerous.  

My dad borrowed a fancy saw from a friend... and we then spent an entire morning sawing.  I sawed at least 5 pieces. 

The hardest part of cutting all the trim was making sure I didn't accidentally cut a long piece into a short one thinking it was scrap.  There was a lot of stacking and counting and re-stacking of trim pieces.

Then there was the varnishing of the top piece.... let's just say I'm not so familiar with varnish.

The hardest part for me was putting on the drawer pulls straight.. and if you can spot it, I may have messed up once... fortunately, my dad fixed this a couple of days later.

So, if you're thinking that you can't do a major IKEA overhaul on your own... you may be correct.  It actually ended up costing me quite a pretty penny to complete the project.

$40 each for the night stands.
$21 for paint, stain, and varnish.
$22 for the wood piece we used on the top.
$15 for drawer pulls.
$10 for disposable gloves used for staining.
$10 for moulding for the base of the piece.

And of course I'm missing the receipt for the trim which was probably the most expensive thing... bringing us to at least $80 per night stand.

 

Can't say I'm sad with the finished project though.  Now if only Mr. RH didn't view them as a major imposition on his daily life.  Apparently they're blocking his zen or something.  

Men.

Feel free to tell me how impressive the transformation is.  My favorite thing to do as of late is to go visit them at Mr. RH's apartment when he's not home.  They miss me, I can tell.

I IKEA'd and Lived to Tell About It

Last Sunday, I left the house at 7 am to head to church with Mr. RH.  From there, we returned to his apartment (across town) for breakfast and then I ran off to work.

I put in my 8 hours to The Man and then proceeded to jump directly in a car to Indianapolis.  From there, we went directly to a yummy dinner at Mesh... and then directly home to the BFF's Indy apartment to bed. 

And by "bed" I mean a few hours of light facebook stalking and gossiping about people from high school.  Cause obviously WE have been such raging successes since 2005 that we need to talk about others to make ourselves cool.

Exactly.

At approximately 3 am, I popped up out of bed - and stayed that way.  It was extremely depressing.

At 8 am, however, we put our game faces on (mine with extra concealer) and set ourselves toward West Chester, Ohio - home of IKEA.

Now, I've never been to an IKEA before.  I'd seen and heard of the goodness, but I'd just never experienced it myself.

We pulled up and I saw what I was expecting.  In my estimation, I'd say an IKEA is about 2-3 Wal-Mart Supercenters wide and 2 high.  For comparison's sake.  Although really, there's no true comparison that I can think of.

Basically, IKEA is huge.

I asked the BFF's to take my picture in front of the yellow and blue goddess... but alas, my eyes are closed in both pictures.  So they are about to get blog famous.

We arrived just as the doors opened and were off to the races.

I wasn't exactly in NEED of anything specific - except for a kitchen table for Mr. RH's apartment - but alas it wasn't exactly on my shopping list.

So, we did a loop of the whole place before my blood sugar tanked and we had to refuel with meatballs.

 

Many thanks to @emshrock for her superb meatball shot. 

And then, we had to quick chill and recharge in the first display. 

Many thanks to bad angles and my long arm for this shot.

After that quick recharge, we had a second lap and really hit our stride.  I injured my pinkie toe twice (not really sure how, but hot damn it STILL hurts) and really had to throw out my elbows on the showroom floor cause some little kids were getting a wee bit feisty for my taste.

We had a fairly excellent experience - minus maybe one thing.  The overall staffing level at Ikea West Chester on a Monday morning was pretty dismal.  A couple of items were AWOL and we just wanted to find them.... but locating help was almost more difficult.

It wasn't too bad and fortunately we weren't really EXTREME shopping.  More like a light Monday trip with not enough money. 

We got to the checkout and there were a grand total of MAYBE eight lanes open.  It seemed like it was going to be a forever wait - but it really wasn't SO bad. 

My only tip for IKEA-ing is to bring as many reusable bags as you can find (especially if you find yourself shopping with two girls with much less self control than you have).  I grabbed my entire collection and we filled up every single bag.

We got to the car and loaded it up.... none to shabby, if I do say so myself.  There was room for another $200 merchandise and the back seat wasn't even full!

So, what did I buy?  Honestly, not SO much.  At this point in my daily life, I don't particularly need anything and anything Mr. RH wants is not likely to be found at Ikea.  

That being said, my entire haul is at his apartment, so you're going to have to settle for my verbal description of my purchases.

• Set of 2 small dressers/night stands that are unfinished and will go by Mr. RH's bed
• 2 sets of silverware
• 4 gray curtain panels to be used in the future (fell in love with the color, and they were cheap)
• couple of kitchen gadgets
• set of cheap wine glasses so I can get my drink on

I bought the least of the 3 of us but I'm already regretting it... I'm convincing Mr. RH to take me to Ikea when we go to Chicago in a week.  Wouldn't that be FUN?!

First, though, I need to stock up on sleep.  I'm worn out just remembering all that walking.  :)

Happy Wednesday!!

Bathroom Facelift

First of all, I'd like to say in the case of red coat vs. blue coat - the results are still nearly tied.  21 votes red coat, 16 votes blue coat.  It's stressing me out, I still feel really torn. 

The red coat is bold and bright and fun.... but the blue is my power color.  And I just do not need two coats.  I don't have enough hangers.  Ha!

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Anyways, in 2010, I posted about my terrible, horrible bathroom.  And it apparently took me 18 months to figure out how to slap a little paint on the walls.

But... I finally did it.  From before....




To After:

Not a huge difference, just a bit of paint, new drawer pulls.  Since I don't plan on living here that much longer, I thought it would be best to just do it.

My favorite thing about the room is the light fixture.  The shades are "linen" finished which means they have this awesome etching on them.  Sooo pretty.

Don't mind the fact that the 2nd light bulb burned out and the only replacement I had was a 20-watt bulb.  Does that ruin the whole effect?  Yes.

Either way, my bathroom is decorated.

And I'm not sure I even like the gray shower curtain anymore.  The whole point of decorating it in the first place.

I am the worst home decorator.  On the planet.

Now, I'm gonna go stare at the two trench coats in my closet.  Red or blue, red or blue, red, blue, red, blue, redblueredblue.  I give up.

Stuff I Don't Know

It's finally back to "normal" around here - Mr. RH heads back to school today (boo hiss, bye-bye free time!), I go back to working 5 days a week (I shall miss you, company holidays!), and me attempting to get back into some kind of routine - with life, blogging, cooking/baking, whatever.

My first big objective of the year is to finally paint/decorate my bathroom.  I've lived in this house for almost a year and the bathroom is the only room that hasn't had a THING done to it.  I posted about it in August... and I've done nothing since then.

Actually, not true.  I asked Santa for a shower curtain... which he bought for me and then told me that shower curtains are a crappy Christmas present.  So he just handed to me.  (Santa=dad).  So now I have a cute, simple shower curtain.  And I am painting the walls either yellow, pale green, or some shade of blue.  (Yes, I have Made. Decisions!)

 

I am buying a new light fixture this week.  I can't decide if I should pick a paint color before I find some rugs for the bathroom.  What if they don't match?  Rugs first?

And then there's the horrible vanity.  I don't anticipate living here that much longer, so I am rationalizing the fact that I don't need to refinish it or replace it.  Ok, rationalizing done.

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In other "stuff I don't know" news, I need to learn how to use my camera.  I know how to technically use it, but I never have anyone to practice on!  I hate taking pictures of.... stuff.  I love people!  Why do I have no people?

Ok, I think this post is long and boring enough for a Monday.  Come back tomorrow for some fun with Mr. RH!

Happy Monday!

I'm So Shamed.

Today's post could be called Tacky & (Not-At-All) Fabulous.

Or My Secret Shame.

Or I Might Be Able to Dress Myself but I Obviously Can't Decorate Worth Crap.

So. I moved. Into a house that had never seen a lick of paint in 14ish years. Or a mop. Shudder.

But now that the obvious stuff is out of the way... and the bedrooms and main rooms are well on their way to being complete... I have hit a major roadblock.

My Bathroom.

Dun dun dun. (That was that scary "danger is coming" music.)
Yeah. 1995 done this bathroom good.

First off... the vanity. Oh lord the vanity.

When I told my dad I wanted him to buy this house (geesh, pampered life I live. I'm sure he would tell this story a different way), I didn't remember seeing the bathroom.

I was happy-ish.

Then we went back and I saw the sink.

I mean... come on. There are brown swirly turds all over the damn sink! Would white have been SUCH a bad decision? No. It would have been liveable.

Ok, fine, this is livable. Especially since it appears this bathroom was used approximately 25 time in the 14 years before I moved in. Damn it for being in perfect condition!

The current "soft" decor is a holdover from my old big childhood house.
I had a big turqouise bathroom and when I switched it from a "kids" bathroom to a big girl bathroom... I got brown and white stuff. Riveting, am I right? (Snore.)

I took down the mirror to paint the bathroom... and chipped it. Ooops.
But I think I can still salvage this mirror if I frame it out with trim and make it a framed mirror... right? Cause mirrors get pricey if you think that the only way to have a nice bathroom is to throw money at it. (Down the toilet.) Not that I have that view or anything. Noo.

And last but not to be forgotten... the lighting.
You can't see it from this shot, but it is shiny, shiny brass.

I want to rip it out but I'm afraid there is a big long rectangular chunk missing from my wall that would be a big issue towards a new light fixture.

I kinda think it's cool in an old-Hollywood-Art-Deco way... but not with the shiny brass-ness of it. No. Over it. 1994 wants its brass back.

So far, I have replaced the towel bars. Very classic and neutral, I hope.

(Like I said... I can dress myself but my home is a whole 'nother story.)


I also bought a set of towels from Macys that I thought were cute.

As opposed to the three sets of white towels I have been using since I moved... I think these might hide my makeup smudges little better. Just sayin!

It's the same towel, just front and back. The reverse side, if you will.

So here's why I need you, internets. Have I mentioned you look pretty today?

What color do I paint the bathroom?

My brain says "Yellow yellow yellow cause gray and yellow are so hot right now."

And by right now I mean... last summer? This summer?

Or do I go with some kind of blue shade? Cause in my mind, bathrooms are almost always blue. Maybe because bathroom=water=blue=blue bathroom? (Decorating algebra is HARD!)

Tell me, wise and style-ish decorators. I am tacky and clueless.

Wow me with your color picks.

(And do I have to buy a new shower curtain? For real I shopped for a curtain for 3 months and can't find one I like under $80. Which means I should keep the quilted white one, right?)

Ready set give me your opinions.

(Cause if you don't... I will never defeat The Tacky.)