50 Ways To Turn 5 Of IKEA's Best Sellers Into DIY Gold As we speak, I'm sitting in my IKEA chair, drinking from an IKEA mug, and resting that mug on an IKEA coffee table between sips. As a 20-something with approximately zero dollars between rent and bills, I appreciate the fact that I can get sleek furniture for a fraction of what I'd pay if I went to a store where people with lots of dollars like to shop.Business Insider recently released a list of the furniture powerhouse's best-selling pieces. Do I have most of them? But here's the thing. With help from some of the internet's many do-it-yourselfers, you can transform the IKEA staples everyone has into pieces that are stunning, functional, and totally unique. Here are five items every IKEA lover has and 50 ways to give them new life. Click the blue links to purchase and to find detailed instructions! At just $24.99, the black Lack coffee table I have is a sleek, affordable addition to my living room. Although I haven't altered mine, here are a few projects that could revamp yours.
Why not bring a shabby-chic vibe to your space by creating this wood topper? When Her Kid Had An Epic Meltdown, This Celebrity Mom Had An Awesome Reaction While She Was On The Toilet, Her Grandson Was Lured Into The Arms Of A Kidnapper He Started Playing His Accordion In A Field. Watch What The Cows Do! You Might've Gone To Their Shows As A Kid, But Here's Why Their Closure Is Good They Were Out Kayaking When An Unlikely Friend Jumped Aboard! Those 'Farm Fresh' Eggs You Bought? Yeah, They've Been On The Shelf For A While Now This Started As A Cute Animal Encounter And Ended In Pure Ridiculousness She Shared Her Inspiring Story About How She Transitioned In More Ways Than One When This Cow's Mom Died, An Unexpected Caretaker Took Over When Dad Told Her That He Was A Boy, She Did Exactly What He Taught Her... This Guy Tried To Crack A Whip...And Whipped Himself Instead When They Had To Either Drop Two Players Or Forfeit, They Did Something Amazing
They Were Just Watching TV When All Of A Sudden His Laptop Burst Into Flames -- OMG! Undercover FBI Agent Catches South Carolina Man Planning Something So DisgustingToday’s post brings me great pleasure to share! It’s a secret project I’ve been working on since I was 7 weeks pregnant. It is my first DIY project for baby Crowder. (First person to come up with a solid nickname for the IBK Fetus gets a prize!) I’ve always been in love with wingback rockers. You might as well trade your first born child for one, and then, what’s the point?! The rocker on the left came from Nurseryworks, and the rocker on the right is from Pottery Barn Kids. And then, it hit me hard like my pregnant emotions during country music. I could EASILY make my own wingback rocker. All I would need to do is find a wingback chair, and some rocking chair runners. It was so simple. I thought “surely, this has been done a million times.” But I googled it hard, and didn’t find anything on the matter.
(But in the Internet’s defense, my googling skillz are weak like a teenage girl at a One Direction concert.) We picked up the Strandmon Wingback chair from IKEA, for $279. I looked online and found a place that sells unfinished wood rocking chair runners. I order a pair of adult large in maple. We measured where we would need to drill holes for the legs to attach to the runners. The holes need to be 1&1/8″ in diameter. The center of that hole needs to be 7 1/2″ in from each end. The hole needs to be 3/4″ deep. **DISCLAIMER** Double check those measurements by holding up your runners to the legs of the chair to make sure it ‘dry fits.’ It has been brought to my attention that there is variation in the legs of the Strandmon, and my measurements might not be a perfect fit for your chair. We used the drill press at my parents’ house. But if you have a cordless drill, you can use a forstner bit to drill the same kind of hole. My two favorite men!
I spent countless hours in this shop, learning the ways of woodworking and DIY from a great teacher. We brought the runners home and fitted them to the chair. Fit like a glove. Now we had to match the runners to the legs of the chair. Instead of painting the runners, I thought it would look better if we stained them black. I will admit, I did help with staining. BUT I was very careful to not get it on me (and when I did, I scrubbed it right off), and we had all the windows open, with a fan going. Aaron did most of the staining. The wood was so blond, it took several coats. This is how thin it still looked after the first coat. Several coats later, it was looking like a dead match to the legs of the Strandmon. We used a matte poly finish. I love this poly. And it has a soft touch. I don’t know how to explain it, but it is magical. Buy it and try it. After they were dry, it was just a matter of attaching the runners to the chair. We put the runners in place, and drilled a skinny little pilot hole to make sure the wood didn’t crack when we put the screws in.
Let’s take a minute to talk about how much Buster loves the chair being upside down. Here’s a montage of Buster in his fort, on several different days. Now that your heart is sufficiently melted, we can get back to the real work. Then we switched out for a bigger drill bit to make a hole (not all the way down! Just slightly below the surface) the same size of the screw head to counter sink the screw. Then we sanded the bottoms of the feet, and coated the holes in the runners with wood glue. After we put the runners in place, with the wood glue, we use spax screws and secured the runners. We filled the holes with black wood putty. And now, it’s ready to rock. And let me tell you, it rocks like you wouldn’t believe. It’s probably as good as Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. Or when Adele came out of the womb singing her feelings. You sit in this chair, and you just have a good feeling about life. There is no real “skill level” required for this project.