Embellished Lack Side Table

Materials: Lack Side Table, corbels, nailhead trim, sand paper, wood filler and glue, spray paint, metallic paint

Description: With less than $45 and a little elbow grease, I transformed my $10 table that was destined for the dumpster into one of my new favorite pieces of furniture.

I started out by sanding down the "wood". The surface is actually a very thin veneer so it doesn't take much but does need to be thoroughly sanded. After whipping off all the excess dust, I flipped the table over and glued the corbels to the inside of each leg. Be sure to let them dry COMPLETELY before the next step.

After the corbels have dried, use wood filler to fill the tiny cracks between the table legs and corbels to make the surface flush. When the filler dries, lightly sand it until it's smooth. After removing the dust, apply a thick coat of primer and follow it up with several coats of high gloss white spray paint. Spray painting furniture is tricky but there are lots of videos out there with helpful tips. The best tip I can give is to be patient - don't try to get it all done in one coat. Spraying too close or too heavy will leave ugly drips or pools of paint on the surface.

To draw attention to the edge detail, I painted the inside surface of the corbel with a pretty bronze metallic paint. The edges of the corbels are a little rough and could have used a light sanding, but I hardly notice it on the finished product.

When I first started out, this was all I had intended on doing to the table but when I put in my living room, it seemed, well...lackluster. After tossing around a few ideas, I decided to try out a nailhead design. I purchased some nailhead trim from Joanna's and hammered it in place to create a border around the table top. Adding the trim really helped finish the piece and brought out the bronze paint on the corbels. There you have it- a beautifully repurposed table for $45!

See more of the embellished Lack side table.

~ Lacquer and Linen

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Lova Is For Bee's Too

Materials: 1 Lova, 6-8 zip ties, 1 tree branch, 1 binder clip & 1-2 rubber bands.

Description: It has been a hot one this summer in the Midwest and the bees in our hive have been roasting in the afternoon sun. But now with the Lova they have gotten a reprieve from the afternoon heat.

1. Assemble the Lova as the instructions indicate.

2. Find the angle you want over your bee hive or other item in need of shade.

3. Place the Lova in the holder and zip tie to the fence in your desired angle.

4. Place binder clip on the tip of the Lova leaf.

5. Lupe the rubber band around the tree branch.

6. Link the rubber band to the binder clip.

The binder clip and rubber band keep the Lova at the angle for our hive but there are many other way to do that if you don't have a tree branch in close proximity.

~ Erika, Mission, KS

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Recycle Bin Dresser

Materials: RETUR Recycling bins, Lack Shelf, Wall Anchors, Screws, Cordless Drill, Table or Circular Saw, Spray Paint

Description: I soooooo hate folding clothes. I used to have two piles of clothes on the floor, one for dirty clothes and one for clean.

I wanted to create something that didn't take up any valuable floor space. While visiting IKEA I had an inspiration.


Using the two different sizes of IKEA Recycle Bins (this and this) and a Lack Shelf I was able to come up with a nice contemporary looking wall dresser.

The storage bins come in white but they were not white enough (my bedroom is painted bright white) so I spray painted them in my garage.

To mount them to the wall, all it took was a few plastic wall anchors, screws and about 20 minutes of time.

To finish it off and make it look like it is a piece of furniture I took a Birch finish Lack Shelf, ripped it down to just 8-inches wide (The depth of the Recycle Bins) and cut it to a length of 59-inches (the width of the 5 Recycle Bins). I then attached it to the very top using a few screws from underneath the top recycle bins.

And just like that, I have a great wall dresser that I can just drop my clean underwear, socks, t-shirts, etc into with absolutely no folding whatsoever!

Someone may ask why I used the smaller Recycle bins as well as the larger ones. I chose to use four of the smaller Recycle Bins to keep my different kinds of ankle socks and sports jocks separated instead of dropping them all into one of the bigger Recycle bins. It just makes it a little bit easier when I want to find one or the other.

Over all it took about 3 hours to build when you take into account the drying time of the spray paint and cutting of the Lack Shelf.

~ Daniel P Poling, Miamisburg, Ohio

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Vittsjo Shelving Hack

Photo: IKEA.com

Materials: White spray paint, wood plywood sheves, Minwax stain

Description: Kate of Centsational Girl wanted a space to store books, art supplies, games, a TV as well as replace an old bulky laminate media unit. Enter the Vittsjo but it was not in her colour of choice.

A few spray cans later, the two tall Vittsjo shelving units are white. And the glass shelves are replaced with dark stained plywood.

See more of the Vittsjo makeover.

~ Kate

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Billy/Benno Cubby Unit

Materials: 6 Billy Bookcases, 2 Benno TV Benches, 18 coat hooks

Description: Build the Benno TV benches, leaving out the drawers.

Build the Billies, flipping all shelves and the top/bottom upside down as you go.

I chose to omit the back panel too. Do not use the shelves in what is now the bottom half of the unit.

Place 3 upside-down Billies on each Benno, anchoring them to the wall. Screw coat hooks into the sides and back wall of each cubby.

~ Melanie Ward, Muskoka, Ontario

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How to: Extend UTBY Legs

Photo: IKEA.com

Materials: UTBY Legs (901.289.71)

Description: If you want a free standing cooking island with a countertop of more than 90cm you need to extend the UTBY legs since they are only 16cm .

16cm (legs) + 70 cm (cabinet) + 4 cm (countertop) = 90 cm

To get to 95cm (or more) you can extend the screws of the feet with a 4cm piece of an M8 screw and an M8 x 30 coupling screw. Both you can get at the hardware store for almost no money.

I bought a 200cm M8 screw for 2 EUR and cut 8 pieces out of it. Together with the 8 coupling screws I've paid 15 EUR for parts.

The only downside is that you can't use the bottom part of UTBY since it is not long enough.

Tip: The coupling screw gives extra stability if you adjust the extension piece so that the coupling screw goes right to the UTBY leg.

See more of the UTBY leg extension.

~ Frank Schroeder, Amsterdam

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IKEA IVAR Distressed Farm Chairs

Materials: IVAR chair (pine), Behr enamel paint, 80 grit sandpaper, and steel wool.

Description: I recently acquired a farm table (the one shown in the photos) and needed some chairs to match. I couldn't find any I liked, so I decided to make my own using IKEA IVAR chairs made from pine wood. Here are the steps I used to distress each chair:

1. Paint all of the pieces individually using Behr enamel paint, which also includes primer. I only used one coat.
2. Let the paint cure for one to two days and then assemble each chair.
3. Using 80 grit sandpaper or steel wool, distress the edges of the chair. Some of the best spots include the corners of the seats, the edges of the legs, and the back of the chairs.
4. Wipe with a slightly damp rag to remove dust and debris from the sanding.

You can use a wood sealant if you intend to use the chairs outdoors. Otherwise, I prefer to not use a sealant so the chairs will wear quicker from normal use.

~ J. Danny, Plano

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AirPlay Ikea Butcher's Block

Materials: Bekvam Butcher's Trolley

Description: Brian sneaks in an outdoor amp and an Apple AirPort Express into a Bekvam kitchen cart so that he can stream music from his iMac to his outdoor speakers while the barbecue sizzles.

Check out how it's done here.

~ Brian, Canada

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