My Ikea Lack tables… Wacky-fied.

I love the Lack series from Ikea.  From coffee tables at $29 or $45 , to $13 dollar end tables, they are minimalist and just a downright open canvas to me. 

My particular foray into this week long obsession began with my coffee table, which had two bullet hole looking cracks that kind of started as a bubble that then got chipped of… anyways, it didn’t look good.  I researched on the internet about sanding a Lack table, and read mixed reviews – but I decided that I would go for it, and figure it out later if it didn’t work.

You got to see the completed coffee table last week… here it is in the living room -

Then, something possessed me to take on the completely unblemished end tables… I mean, they are 13 bucks, right?  If I screw them up, they become craft tables, and I can go buy more.

I made about 20 sketches, and colored them in like I was a 3 year old… showed them to the family, let them vote on 2 winners, and what started as this

 

turned into these,

and finally landed here:

 

  This picture shows one half of the table unstriped… those black stripes make such a huge difference!

My husband is currently hiding the rest of the furniture.  *grin*

All joking aside – he loves them, now my Mother on the other hand….  hehe.

PS.  Yes, I sanded them.  I used a Black and Decker mouse sander with medium weight paper.  They were fine.  Some of the finish came off in places, so I was careful not to go over that too much, but after several coats of paint, then polyurethane, they are smooth as glass.

Yikes!

Wow, sorry to seem to be neglecting my blog, especially since I just started blogging, (haha, which really takes away some of the stress and guilt, since no one really reads it yet) but it appears that I have hit a painting spurt…. where all I want to do is paint. 

I haven’t even had time to take pictures, but I will get to it very soon.  I finished the coffee table, and am fighting where I want to put it, so furniture arranging 101 has been coming into play.  (Also another reason for no pictures, since I don’t really like how it is arranged!)

While those struggles continue… I have taken on the two matching Ikea Lack End tables…. and this time I sketched out 10 drawings, and let the family decide.

Wonder if they wished there had been more (less weird) choices?  :D

Stay tuned….

More Cakey Inspiration

As I said earlier, I look to cake designers for whimsical inspiration.  While I was searching the internet the other day for some of Duff's best pictures, I came across more stripey/polka dotty/patterned goodness.

All wrapped up in a Pink Cake Box.

I mean, how can you not look at these and want to rush to grab the paint and brushes?!?  I am terrified of fondant, so I must paint the fun instead.

My favorite part of this is the contrast of patterns.  I was raised in a definitive “matchy-matchy” generation, and all this rule breaking just sets my heart to pounding!

I have only been brave enough to do furniture and terra cotta flower pots with this type of scheme… but I don’t know… Maybe someday, I will figure something else to decorate like this.  It just makes me happy.

If you are in New Jersey, and have the availibility to get one of these cakes – wow, I’m jealous – make sure to visit The Pink Cake Box, HERE.

My Wacky Sofa Table

Sorry I have missed a few days – the hubby got really sick and we have spent the last 3 days bouncing back and forth to different doctors and specialists… but he is on the mend finally, and I can get back to playing!  :)

More unfinished wood, begging me to paint it.  Found this one at the Canton Trade Days in Canton, Texas… about 45 minutes east of Dallas.

I think it cost me about $30 or $35 bucks… it was made a bit better than some of the flimsier Sofa tables I had seen out there.

And yes, it’s in my hall right now, because I’m playing with my furniture arranging, and the sofa is right in the walking pathway to the kitchen, so there’s no room for it behind the sofa – where it usually is.  But that’s ok, it lets me show you how kind of weird it is.

 

Yes, this caused another of my Mom’s sighs…. one of those “(sigh) Oh.  How…. colorful”.

With its current position in the hall, it has been decorated with Christmas items, then Valentines items… but sometimes if I hit one of my “minimalist” days, it has nothing on it… I like looking at the fake aging of the blue paint on top….  but then, Wacky12 comes home and..

it turns into a Trombone stand.  Yay.

When its behind the couch, its a bit hidden, so you cant see the Robins Egg legs or the cream colored body… but that blue top shines through no matter what.  And I love it!

Now if I could only get Mr. Wacky interested in creating unfinished furniture with all of his woodworking tools, I would have it made!  (Literally, AND figuratively!)

Giving Stripes Some Love

I don’t want to seem unfair, talking about the polka dots and not giving equal time to stripes…. because I love these symmetrical, organized patterns all the same.  :D

Stripes can invoke feelings at an instant, just with a specific width, pattern, or color combination.

Think Circus stripes, Nautical stripes, Jailhouse stripes (ok, I won’t go there)… stripes can be very generic, or very inspiring. 

 

You can even get stripes on your iPod, or your…. bathtub?!?!  Yep.  Your bathtub.

 

And striped couches….

I even have one of those of my own

(Hi Daddy!)

And if you own any Ikea furniture like I do, you can find lots of striped slipcovers (as well as many solids and patterns) at Bemz.

Now for the nitty gritty on painting stripes….

 

• Generally, the wider the stripes - the more casual the look. Narrower stripes have a more formal appearance.
• Use a chalk line, a laser level, painters tape, and/or 12 members of your family to make the stripes straight.  Whatever you are most comfortable with will make the straightest lines.  I prefer a chalk line and a yard stick (for smaller projects).
• With chalk line, use blue because I have heard red and yellow are permanent.
• For walls – use Vertical stripes to make a room appear taller, and Horizontal stripes to make the room appear more spacious.
• How I get sharp edges on my stripes -
  • Paint base color
  • Tape off areas to be striped
  • Before using the stripe color, take a craft brush and paint the BASE color down the tape line on the INSIDE of the stripe. (where you are about to paint the stripe color)  This seals the tape for the stripe color to come, and if anything bleeds through, it will be that first coat of BASE color you put down, and wont show.
  • Paint the stripe color, and remove tape as soon as possible.  Letting it dry for any amount of time will cause the stripe to chip.

Found HERE

Found HERE.

Found HERE. 

Found HERE.

If it’s striped, I like it.

Update on the Ikea Table

Ok, so this is taking me longer than I thought, mainly because Valentines fell in the middle of it, and I keep having to put it in the living room to see how I like it, then drag it back to the garage for fine tuning.

That’s where it is today – fine tuning.

To refresh your memory, I started with this:

Got inspired by this: 

And am now at this:

Now, mind you… I had fully intended on filling the entire space like the inspiration table… but Wacky12 walked in one day and said “Mom, I think you should leave it like that, its… interesting that way”.  Wow, who thought a 12 year old boy would CARE?!?  So, I quit painting for the day, and just kept looking at it as I passed by.  Started liking it… then Hubby said he liked it…. then, and don’t fall off the chair when you read this…. My Mom came over and said she LIKED it.

Woah. 

So now, I am leaving it with just those squares painted, and am about to paint the ledge around it…. Denim blue.  (I know, sounds crazy, but that green and the denim blue are the two main colors in my living room.  It will work… I think.)

The legs will stay green.  Well, I think they will.

Oh, and I haven’t put back the bottom shelf yet…. I haven’t even painted it yet.  Still deciding on what i want to do with it.  Will probably play it safe and paint it green.  Although, right now, I’m liking how OPEN the table leaves the sitting area.  With the shelf in, its a lot more closed off.  Will see how that plays out.

So far, its matching all of my other wacky living room stuff quite nicely, and looks like it belongs in there.  Yay!

Painting Little Squares

It all started with the picture of the Ikea Lack Side table from the previous post.  The creator used free paint chip samples cut to perfect squares, then decoupaged them to the table.  Very easy.

I never do easy.  For some reason, something deep inside me wants to make things HARDER… for the enjoyment?  I don’t know.  It’s like driving a stick shift – I love it.  It would be so much easier to sit and idle on a steep hill in an automatic, but I love to drive, and love to drive a stick even more.

So I decided to paint the little squares.  I probably have over 100 little bottles of acrylic craft paint, and I thought it would be fun.  And it was…. is.

Sorry for the crappy pictures – bad lighting in the garage, where I’m working.

Will have more pictures later today, as I get this project completed.

Here’s my estimates:  Time to make small end table with paint chips – 1 day.

Time to prime white coffee table, measure out perfect grid, paint little squares, then change mind about color underneath, and repaint around all the little squares: 3 days.  Man, I’m either an idiot, or I use painting to escape real problems.  Haha, I think I hit that nail on the head!

See you later today – hopefully in the living room!