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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Small Apartment Decorating

Irwin Weiner ASID - French designer Tony Lemale turns a flat French apartment into a zingier whole using bright colors, stenciling, and coordinated furnishings. I'm appreciative of the respect he showed for his client's color preferences, and the way - as the designer - that he pushed his client's envelope and went beyond the scope of her imagination. Good decorators dream bigger and see more possibilities than their clients are able to, and that's only one of the payoffs in interior design. Look at the way Lemale turned architectural weaknesses in the client's bedroom into strengths with paint colors versus remodeling and construction!

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