Ikea Hack Media Console Part II

Well I said my next post would be about some art for my living room but I haven't gotten around to hanging it on the wall yet because it is a large piece of art and my husband and I have been under the weather.  So instead I am back with Part II of my media console project.  Part I involved creating a top with a herringbone pattern out of paint stir sticks.

The next step in the process was to add a back to the shelving unit.  The shelving unit is open but since it was going to be up against a wall I really wanted a back to hide cords and such.  I purchased 4 pieces of foam core board and taped them together with white duct tape. 

I then cut out holes for the cords of our PS3, Wii, modem, and router.  That large cut out at the bottom is for the cord of the serge protector.  If you look in the above picture you will see a door on one of the compartments.  That was how I decided to hide the serge protector but I wanted the back open so that it would be easy to plug everything in.

Next, I attached some paintable textured wallpaper to one side of the foam core with spray adhesive. The wallpaper is left over from this furniture makeover in our bedroom.

Next I painted the wallpaper with my favorite Martha Stewart Vintage Gold paint which I have used in numerous projects on this blog.  I spaced on taking a picture of this step because I was so eager to attach the back after the paint dried.  I attached the back with white duct tape.  I figured nobody would be seeing the back and this way if I ever decide to repurpose this piece, the back can be removed without ruining the unit.

Here is a look at the detail of the textured wallpaper behind our modem.

Sorry about the messy cords, I still have some sprucing up to do in that regard.  I have spent the last couple of days finding some storage containers for the console and I have a project in mind to make them a little more colorful.  But enough of that because I am sure you are eager to see the finished product.

I wish it weren't so dark on that side of the living room.  I need to get another floor lamp.  Okay, now for a cost break down:

Ikea Expedit Shelving Unit-$100

Ikea Kallax Door Insert-$15

100 Paint Stir Stick-$5

Liquid Nails-$3

Minwax Provincial Stain: $7

Other items used that I already had on hand: paintable textured wall paper, white duct tape, wood conditioner, wipe-on poly, paintbrushes, miter box and saw, Martha Stewart Vintage Gold paint

So the total cost for me was around $130

The storage boxes were a combination of TJ Maxx and Michaels purchases.  Well I think I need to take a nap now.  This cold is really bringing my energy level down.  I'll leave you with one last picture though:)

Ikea Hack Media Console Part I

I am so excited to be back today with part one of an Ikea hack.  One of my most popular posts involved my Ikea hack of some Expedit shelving units that I made into a window seat for my porch. You can check that post out here.

We were in Minneapolis a few weekends ago and decided to stop at the Twin Cities area Ikea to pick up some door inserts for the window seat unit (more on that in a future post).  While we were there we decided it was also time to upgrade our media console and when we saw this Expedit unit we knew that it would be perfect.  

The best part about Ikea furniture is that it can be easily changed to make it unique thus the term Ikea hack.  When I was pinning ideas for my nightstands I fell in love with this image.

Source

I decided not to do this on my nightstands because at the time the idea of sawing wood intimidated me but I wanted to give it a try for this media console project.  The best part about this project is that the wood that is used is from paint stir sticks!

I started by taking a trip to my favorite hardware store, Scheels Home and Hardware.  Now you could take multiple trips to the store and try to score the paint sticks for free but I felt weird about that so I asked how much it would cost to purchase a large quantity of them. The guy at the paint desk was very friendly and he called someone right away to get my question answered. They charged me 5 cents a piece so I got 100 for $5.38 with tax.

Then I marked off 4 inch pieces on each of the sticks.

I then used the miter box and saw to cut them to size.  This step was a little tedious but I just blasted some tunes in the garage and it made it seem to go much faster.

Next I glued the sticks onto the Ikea shelving unit using Liquid Nails.  I laid them out in my pattern first and did some measuring to make sure I started the design in the center of the unit.  I also used a grease pencil to mark where I wanted those first pieces.

Later I laid down some pieces of painters tape to make sure that I kept the design straight and centered.

Then I started working on the end and side pieces which involved a lot of 45 degree cuts with the miter box and saw.  I actually marked each of the pieces individually with a pencil so that I would know exactly where to cut.  I also numbered the pieces so that I could cut them all at once in the garage and then know where to put them when I came back in.  

I ended up with a lot of gaps because I wasn't the most precise sawer so my next step was to take some wood putty to fill in the gaps.  I have had a lot of practice repairing holes in plaster walls so this was a piece of cake since applying the wood putty is the basically the same process.  

My last steps were to sand, apply wood conditioner, apply stain and then a couple of coats of wipe-on poly to seal it.  The stain that I used was Minwax Provincial.

I love the rustic look of it.  It looks awesome with my beachy blue walls.  Part two of the hack involves putting a backing on the shelving unit so check back next week for that post.  I will also include a cost break down for the entire project with that post.  I believe that I still have one more post for you this week on an art project to the living room so you don't even have to wait until next week to read more!

Some Updates and Some Art

I know, I know, it has been a while since I've posted. That doesn't mean that I haven't been busy with projects though! I am currently in the middle of two big projects for the living room. One of them will probably involve a two part post as it has many steps to it. You can look forward to that next week. Today I just have a few updates for you plus a little art project.

First of all, you may or may not have noticed a new tab on the blog. I have added a project gallery page so that you can browse the projects that I have completed. They are organized into different categories so be sure to check it out.

Secondly, I shared this lovely picture of our roof a while back.

After talking to insurance and then taking some bids from a few roofing companies we were able to get a new roof.  The roofers came one weekend at the end of September and finished it completely in the weekend.  It looks so nice and it is a relief to have it done before winter.

My last thing today is a little music themed art project.  I had my first student teacher for the first seven weeks of school this year.  I wanted to make something special to give her so after spending some time on Pinterest I decided to make a little art piece with the words of one of the songs from "The Sound of Music." I will take any excuse to play with my ever growing collection of fonts.  I made the piece in the Pixelmator software.

I used clipart for the images with exception of the little name tag which uses shapes from the software and the arrow.  I used the magic wand tool to get rid of the white backgrounds of the clipart. 

I bought a frame at hobby lobby and made a mat out of some textured art mounting board also from Hobby Lobby.  I brought the mat and some fun sharpies to school and had all the students and faculty sign it.  

I really like how it turned out and it was fun to give it to her.  My students were also really excited to see how it turned out so I made sure to give it to her early in the day so that all the students could see it when they came to music.  

And you can bet that I printed off another one for myself and am looking forward to framing it and finding a place for it in either my classroom or at home.  Please check back later this week for a part one post on an ikea hack for my living room.