Retiring to Ikea Hack

This was a big undertaking for me and a learning experience as the first time I painted a large piece of furniture- and I loved it! It was also the first time I stenciled and I loved the look…. but after several years… this beauty had put in her time and our needs had changed:( I hated to tell her, but it was time to go!
I needed STORAGE! and more specifically… HIDDEN STORAGE! I was tired of seeing all the little toys Everywhere- I wanted to have a place to hide it- and the boys weren’t feeling my trash idea.

This is probably one of the longest planned out projects I have ever done.  I knew that I would not get the go ahead from my Chief Financial Officer (aka The Hubs) for anything too costly but I also knew that I wanted this to look nice and last a long time.

I had a pretty specific picture in my mind of a wall of “built ins” in the same way the old entertainment center was- but with more closed off storage beneath.  I searched Craigslist for forever- I toyed around with using unfinished cabinets from Home Depot- and with using Billy Bookcases from Ikea- but none of these options were quite right- for both cost and space planning.

So the search continued and finally one day I just went into Ikea and just walked the walk.  And those of you who have been there know exactly what I mean.  I walked through it all- taking pictures, looking at measurements, stopping to stretch, looking at every single option… I think someone even handed me a small cup of water while I was nearing the end.

And then I saw them and a little light bulb went on… and it grew into a full fledged idea and home I went (once I found the exit) to start measuring and planning.

The Burgsjo is the line of furniture I finally settled on.  It is still fairly new at Ikea but I couldn’t not be happier! I bought two of the tall bookshelves and two short and then two sets of solid doors and two sets of glass doors.

After assembly (which was not as painful as I had imagined) I waited to install the top parts of the two taller bookshelves because I wanted to do a faux butcher block top to connect all the parts.
I searched around Home Depot and finally settled on a prefabricated pine butcher block that came unfinished.  I needed two of them for the lengths I wanted and had them cut to my measurements.  Then it was off to sand a little and stain in Dark Walnut.  They came out beautifully and I couldn’t wait to get it all done and up!  You can see the wood I used here at Home Depot.
But don’t forget… I’m a Mom:) so, a week later, when I finally had more time to work on it, I attached the wood tops and then the bookshelves with L brackets to them and I did about five different happy dances!

She was done and ready for some major staging… which always takes me forever and I will keep messing with for the next year…

I still want to add some thicker molding around the top book shelves to beef it up-  but for now I am in heaven with all of the storage and also with the over all look.

I will share how I organized the lower storage and such soon! But here she is in all of her hidden storage beauty!