Hacking

I'm late to the game, but I'd seen a lot of these "Ikea Hacks" floating around Pinterest and the Blogosphere so I decided to try my hand at a simple redesign of one of their unfinished pieces in the Tarva collection. You simply buy an Ikea piece and customize it until it does not resemble something from Ikea. Easy enough, right?

In a perfect world I would tell you how incredibly easy this redesign was, but alas, we do not live in a perfect world and you should know that I was nearly defeated by this seemingly simple piece. It took me FOUR hours to assemble. FOUR! Not my proudest four hours. Not to mention its still not 100% solid, but it will do very nicely as my new side table.

I'd like to introduce you to, Mitchell. Sentimentally named for a couple of people who believe and invest in my dreams. Cue the warm fuzzies.

I've really been loving stained pieces over painted lately. I wanted to lean into that and channel my inner Restoration Hardware lover with this custom mix stain. Simply apply Minwax "Provincial" first then immediately follow that up with Rustoleum's "Weathered Gray" and wipe. You want just the faintest suggestion of gray to achieve this look so wipe quickly!

I'm in LOVE with these plates I found at Home Goods and the metallic polka dotted teapot gifted by The Gov.

To give the illusion of salvaged wood I used a hammer and other random objects focusing mainly on the edges and corners. Be warned! This wood is not particularly resilient to repeated hard blows so go easy on her. One of my drawers ended up with a huge split down the middle.

To finish off the look, I chose to use castors in lieu of the legs which came in the box and picked out some fabulous Boho Teal Knobs with the help of my Facebook Followers.

Playing in the Background:

• Taylor Swift's Red and 1989 .... she's my jam!