Transcription
The trick to a good IKEA hack actually has nothing to do with IKEA. The prep and the finishing details are what's really going to set it apart.
Always remove your baseboards. I was trying to save these and of course I broke them. So, whatever, I had to buy new baseboards. I don't know why crown molding feels scarier to cut into, but I was able to save it. So, hopefully we could reuse it at the end.
Now, with any built-in you're going to have some obstacles. I had to cut around this outlet. Check out my last video for details about how that happened. Now, these things are actually pretty heavy and you do not want these falling on you. So, you do want to secure them to the wall.
"What?"
"I have 8-ft ceilings and thankfully the IKEA extender fit perfectly."
"one that I've dropped."
Now, what I should have done is installed bookcases 1, 3, and 5 to the walls and then installed bookcases 2 and 4 just to the ones beside it, but I kind of did it out of order and you'll see my problem in a second. Yes, there is a gap between these bookcases, but it's okay. I for some reason left bookcase number 5 until the end, but then the window trim was in the way and I was so close, but no, I had to go backwards and get number 4 out of the way while my daughter was telling me a traumatic story about what happened to her that day.
"I lost my tooth."
"It just like fell out of your mouth?"
"Mhm. And you And you got to naturally let it out."
"Yeah, and it did. It just was taking its own sweet time."
"We cut this on the laser printer. It's going to be amazing."
Now, normally I am anti liquid nails, but you do need some to hold these arches in place. But, little touches like this is what takes your IKEA hacks from boring to amazing. Now, there is a gap. Don't worry, we're going to cover it all. There was also a gap on the bottom shelf where I was trying to add the new baseboards I had to buy, but I just put a little filler piece in it and then I put the baseboards, but of course my floors are not even. So, I'm going to have to also put quarter round on the bottom to hide it.
Then it was finally time for some more details which took this from IKEA bookshelves on a wall to an actual built-in. I really wanted to color drench this room which meant spraying which meant taping. But, first I have to put the crown molding back up. Yes, it would have been easier to ask for help because this was 13 ft long, but oh well.
Now, your trim does not have to be perfect. This is definitely a do your best and caulk the rest kind of situation. And then I suited up like a weird bank robber to prime and paint. I tried a fancy new sprayer and let me tell you it was a piece of crap. And I did all the right things, the straining, the diluting. Nope, it was terrible. I switched back to my $59 paint sprayer and it's amazing.
There's a lot of convo about what kind of sheen if you're color drenching a room. I did everything in satin, including the ceiling which yes, doesn't have an overhead light. That's a project for another day.
Now, a couple more finishing touches and voila, the office/library of my dreams. Now, next step is probably adding some French doors so I can hide from my kiddos.