Oh another wonderful ikea hack.
So a little refresher.
My rules for a tremendous DIY.
Practical once finished.
Last for more than 5 minutes.
Be reasonable but not necessarily dirt cheap (although that is a bonus)
Not look DIY'ed (this may be my most important)
As a home decor lover and eclectic decorator I am always thinking up new ideas and sometimes my creativity gets the best of me. The worst part is sometimes my idea is something I know can be bought but do I really need to drop that amount of money to accomplish said idea, or worse I go crazy hunting down the idea to find out it actually doesn't exist.
When we were getting ready to change the new shelving area around at the shop I had an idea for an 8 foot long console style table. Those go for a lot of money.
That's a no.
We also thought, hmm maybe we could build it.
That was a no too.
Time fairies haven't granted my wish to add a few hours to the day.
I started hunting through the good old ikea website and came across these console tables in the Rekarne line. Well first I came across the Expedit units on Pinterest which lead to me hunting down the console tables.
This is what these tables look like in original form and to be quite honest, they are pretty great even like this. Solid wood, unfinished treatment. They would be lovely in a bright rustic space but alas my vision.
I knew I wanted them to be white and loved how the concrete turned out in my shop bathroom so thought I would try my hand at that.
I painted the legs and bases all prior to building so that there wouldn't be any paint buildup or missed spots.
I used a skim coat concrete mix from Home Depot and mixed in small batches. On these tables I did 2 and a half coats of of concrete with a heavy sanding with my orbital sander in between from medium to fine grit.
If I was using these in my home and not rushing I would likely have done 4 coats of concrete with a much more meticulous sanding but at the same time I was happy with the rougher look of the tops.
After a lot of drying in between coats I also applied a stone sealer from Home Depot to keep stains at a minimum.
In the end we ended up with what I think to be rustic modern tables that are light in tone but still keep that bit of industrial vibe.
This kind of makeover works great in the shop but would be awesome even as a skinny island or doing this to the end tables/coffee table in a living room.
Well that's it for my DIY today.
Have a great day everyone on this first day of fall
Meg
To see my other ikea island hack click here
