Ikea Trip

I have been talking about IKEA for a week now and know it must sound like it will never end, but it will...at least I think so. HEHE!
In any case, I did want to share some pictures from my IKEA trip last weekend because there were so many great things there that my friend and I found as we shopped.

I love taking pictures of different places I've been and that includes huge warehouses like IKEA! HA!

 

 

 

 

So I fell in LOVE with this gray wing-back chair and the Christmas tree behind it (pictured above). I didn't purchase the chair nor the Christmas tree, but I did take a few seconds to snap a picture of them for ideas in the future.

Have you noticed that gray seems to be more in now than ever?! I kind of thought it was just a phase in the design world, but it seems to be taking over and going strong as a neutral color. I must admit, I was skeptical at first about the color, but I find myself purchasing gray fabric and paints for our home now.  :)

 

 

 

And why didn't I see this bookshelf online before I went to IKEA? I don't know why, but I thought that $30 was a great deal for bookshelves like the one pictured above.

 I plan on building a similar one for my daughter's upstairs in our loft and am hoping I can get all of the wood for under $30. We shall see!!

 

 

 

I just snapped a photo of these bookshelves for more inspiration for when I build one! They are Lack shelves and came at a reasonable price.

 

 

 

And I really loved this table and the way it was set so I had to take 3 pictures of it. :)

 

 

 

GORGEOUS!!!!

I really like the simple white plates with the glassware. It's so clean and elegant!!

 

 

 

I really, really wanted to find this gray table runner for our dining table (there I go again talking about the color gray- it just works with so much!) 

Since I couldn't find it in the store, I figure I could always make one similar to this out of fabric from JoAnn's or something. But it sure is gorgeous!!

 

 

Have you made a trip to IKEA recently?

 

Enjoy your Saturday and thanks for stopping by!



Shoe Storage...Continued

 

Happy Friday everyone and as promised, I have the shoe storage project completed and ready to show you.

 

But first, I really want to thank Katherine from KatherinesCorner.com for allowing me to co-host with her yesterday on her blog. And thank you to my new followers for taking the time to read my posts and comment on them. It really means a lot to have new readers who enjoy my blog and I have enjoyed reading a few of your blogs as well. There are so many creative minds out there and it is nice to be able to get new ideas each week!

 

 

Sorry, I felt the need to make the above statements bigger than my normal font size because I am really excited to have new followers.

 

Okay...so on to today's DIY project.

 

It all started with a trip to IKEA with a friend of mine last weekend and I ended up purchasing a few items. Two of which happened to be IKEA's Bissa shoe cabinet (which they are discontinuing so I was able to buy a new one as well as their floor model for a great deal!!!!)

Score!!

 

It ended up being quite the adventure because we were told by two salespeople that I couldn't get a discount on the floor model....but I was persistent and asked one more person in their "As-Is" department and he gave me the discount no questions asked. :)

It always pays to go with your gut about something and to not be afraid to ask a sales associate a question like that....anyways, for both of the IKEA cabinets, the total came in just under $50.00 and these cabinets hold a total of 20-22 shoes per!!! Can you believe it?! I was stoked!

 

Okay, so here are a few pictures of what I did to jazz up our shoe cabinets a little bit so they fit with who we are stylistically.

 

 

This is what the original product looked like after my hubby assembled one and we brought them both outside.

They came in the color "birch" which isn't our taste.

 

 

So I took some primer and paint and got to work with the first cabinet.

It took a few coats to get them the color I wanted but it worked out.

 

 

 

After they dried, my hubby brought them inside and set them side-by-side so we could see how it would look by our coat rack.

 

 

 

I had the bronze handles (shown as the first handle) on hand from a thrift store desk we bought but we weren't sold on its detail.

So I took my little helper with me to Home Depot and purchased the nickel-stained handles for under $2.00 a piece. I can always go back and paint them if needed but for now, I think I like the look it adds to the shoe cabinet.

 

 

 

I measured (or eye-balled) where I was thinking the handles would be placed and decided on placing them up higher on the doors rather than having them smack dab in the middle of the door opening.

 

 

 

Then I really did measure out the distance I wanted the handles to be placed. I measured 2 1/2" down from the top and 7 1/2" over from each side.

This was the tedious part, but it was worth it to get it right.

 

 

 

I stepped back after the first one was done to snap a photo and was loving how it was turning out!

 

 

 

And there they are!!! The finished products side-by-side!  :)

There is still a few more tweaks to make to this space, but it is coming along nicely.

 

 

 

And here you can see just how many shoes these cabinets hold. It's quite a lot and we have plenty of room for guests shoes on the bottom.  :)

 

Not bad for $50.00!!

 

 

How do you store your shoes??

 

Linking up to:

http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/ 

http://thriftydecorchick.com/

 

Thanks for stopping by!



Thursday Favorite Things....DIY Coat Rack

Happy Thursday everyone!

 

I am reposting one of my newer DIY projects on the blog today because I am co-hosting with Katherine from http://katherinescorner.com/ today.  :)
 

Well, if you have been reading the past week, you know that I have been talking about IKEA. I have purchased some amazing things and will show them later in the week. ;) But for today, I have another DIY project that I completed last week.
 This DIY project took me about 2-3 hours total to complete and I felt that was a pretty good time to complete something I hadn't tried before
.

For a few months, my husband and I have been talking about needing a storage solution for coats and hats near the entryway of our house. After looking up many ideas online, I decided to tackle my very first "building" DIY project and am so happy I did. Why?

Well, it saved us a TON of money and you will see why later on in this post.
 

 

So here is what we started with....a blank canvas/wall. We figured this wall was the perfect place to build a coat rack and so began my DIY project.

 

 

I went to Home Depot with my baby girl (a.k.a.-my little helper) and bought some wood that I had cut down to size by the guys at Home Depot. And let me tell you....this wood was cheapy cheap...and I mean the price NOT the quality. I think all of the wood cost me about $7 something!

 

And if you can have the people at Home Depot cut the wood for you, it's very helpful. The guy I had was very good with measurement and did a great job listening to what I needed.

 

 

The dimensions I needed were two 5' boards, two 30" boards, and one 52" board for the middle of my coat rack.

(Which you can see I measured wrong at the store and needed to use my caulking skills to fix the gaps).

 

I accidentally did part of my math wrong at Home Depot and should have ended up with two 31" boards, but I got 30" instead and had to make due.

 

 

I purchased some caulk and primer and got to work finishing up this project.

I bought a gallon of primer/paint since I knew I would use this for other projects as well.

 

 

It was also useful to use a few nails to keep the boards attached to the wall and the nails made it so the coat wall would be a little more sturdy.

 

 

After the boards were up and the caulk dried, I painted on one coat of primer and one coat of white paint.

 

I still think I am going to go over the boards and the wall with another coat of white paint at some point, but I wanted to get this project done because I was way too excited to see the final result!!

 

 

I purchased these beauties (the wall hooks) at Home Depot for about $3.00 each and needed 3 of them. I figured that wasn't a bad price to pay for bronzed hardware that looks spiffy.

 

 

And here is my finished product!!!!

 

 

We love it oh so much!!!!

:)

 

 

So what do you think??

Do you love it?!

 

I love the fact that our coat hooks can hold multiple things besides coats. Seriously, we use them for our diaper bag, gloves, etc.

Plus, this project cost me about $25.00 to complete...or maybe even less actually.

Love that!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and I want to thank Katherine and her blog for allowing me to co-host this week! Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to share some of my projects with others. :)



 

Thursdays Favorite Things Hop is where you can link your favorite post or write a post about your favorite things and share with old and new followers!
Here are the rules, yes there are rules. But just a few:
You must be a follower of Katherines Corner preferably through Email, it's on her right sidebar ( or she has facebook, google plus and twitter too)

If you’re a new follower, please let her know how you follow. She will follow you back.
Please follow my blog too!
No adult content blogs.
Blogs only please.

 

 

 Visit and Follow as many other blogs in the list as you can. Please leave comments when you visit, let them know that we sent you. Nobody expects you to visit all of them ( although that would be awesome) Just click and go. Remember to leave a comment :-)

Now hop on and share your favorites. If you’d like to post this blog hop on your page please just grab the linky code. Or if you would like to be a co-host please contact Katherine

*participants who link up will be sent weekly reminders of this wonderful hop*

Please grab the hop button to share with others, you can copy and paste the image with a link to KatherinesCorner.com OR grab the code from Katherines Corner it's on her right sidebar.
It’s always nice to have the hop button on your post. But it IS NOT mandatory, although a link back to Katherines blog is always appreciated.

 

Here is the linky

KatherinesCorner

Facebook

Twitter