Decorating Fun: Start with IKEA, Finish with Something New

Stunning tricked-out IKEA kitchen cabinets (Apartment Therapy / House Beautiful)

Jay Johnson - When Apartment Therapy and House Beautiful start to include design details that feature modified or "tricked-out" IKEA fixtures and furnishings, then you know you have a serious trend on your hands. Modifying the clean design of IKEA's furniture, cabinetry, and other home goods has become a global pasttime as do-it-yourselfers and home designers make modifications to create custom looks from basic pieces. The kitchen cabinets in the photo above, for instance, never looked like that in the showroom or catalog; they were custom detailed and finished to elevate the look. Saving money on the basics is what IKEA is all about, but elevating and tricking-out the basics to create a one-of-a-kind end result is what interior designers and DIY homeowners are all about.

The Gallant wall storage shelves were tricked out to create a new media console (IKEA Hackers) 

This trend has become so hot that there's even a popular website documenting a wide array of tricked-out projects: IKEA Hackers. Here are a few tricked-out projects that really caught our eye. Click on each photo for more information.

High gloss red tabletops become a backlit headboard (IKEA Hackers)

Regolit lamp covered with paper muffin liners (IKEA Hackers)

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Irwin's Kitchen Remodeling: Our Cabinets Are Coming!

 

Irwin Weiner ASID - I want to tell you that Jay and I are very excited with our kitchen remodeling project in our Bucks County farmhouse! We've been taking videos which we'll edit and post in the coming weeks, but at this point we've cleared out the kitchen and laundry room/back entrance area altogether and turned our dining room into a large storage area. We had our last breakfast in the old kitchen on Boxing Day (December 26). Shortly afterwards, our contractor Charles and his son made short work of the demolition phase with all old countertops going out to the dumpster. The cabinets will be reused and recycled.

As I write this, I'm driving to Bucks to receive the kitchen cabinet delivery from IKEA, many boxes that we'll store in our emptied-out garage until the installation around early February. The IKEA experience we had last month was fascinating, I must say! We hit the last day of a 20% off kitchen sale, and we stocked up. We selected the off-white Ädel cabinets because of their clean lines and overall simplicity (see photos above and below). IKEA kitchen departments are efficient assembly lines like in a car wash - you follow the numbered stations and make your selections.

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Reorganize Kid Space to Make Way for Baby

Irwin Weiner ASID - Is it just me, or are we having another baby boom? It seems like there are a lot of pregnant women walking around the streets of NYC lately, and another boom will leave many families with the task of squeezing the older children together in a single bedroom and clearing out a separate room as the nursery for the new arrival. DadLabs offers sage advice for fathers on all-things parenting, and this how-to video demystifies the process of prepping your living space for a new baby, and I like the three-step process they use: getting rid of clutter; using vertical space to organize; and arrange furniture in a logical fashion. Go to the terrific website Arranging It All for great tips on organizing your home.

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