DIY Doors for IKEA Expedit Cubby Shelf

I have this wonderful IKEA Expedit Shelf Unit, which is fabulous for storage, but a bit of an eyesore with all of my junk on it.

I love the look of the Knipsa baskets, but there are 20 cubbys. That would really add up! And there are some things that I need stored here that just won't work in a basket. I decided to create a pattern by adding doors to every other cubby and use baskets in between.

First, I cut 10 doors. I often peruse the "as is" section at IKEA to pick up super cheap shelves to use on other projects. A while ago I stocked up on some square shelves that were $0.50 each! They were a little larger than the openings on the shelf and I wanted the doors to be inset in the cubby squares, so I cut the bottoms and left hand sides on the table saw so they were 13" x 13".

To attach them to the shelf, I used these:
CONCEALED EURO CABINET HINGES FULL HALF INSET OVERLAY FACE FRAME FRAMELESS   
They were $1 a piece on eBay as opposed to the $6.50 they are at Lowes!



The only problem with buying them on eBay is they don't come with any instructions to help you measure for attachment. This info can easily be googled, though :)
 

 

These hinges required me to drill holes in the door which showed through on the front a little, but I decided to cover the marks with an overlay design. I started by marking 1/2" from the edge.

Then I used some 1/4" poplar craft wood that's 1 1/2" wide. I was originally going to use giant paint sticks, but my store was out of them. I just kept marking, cutting, and using the wood width as a guide till I got a design I liked.

Then I sanded the edges and primed and painted the pieces.

I decided to use some mylar (affiliate link) in the background to create a "mirror" look. I had some leftover from a nightstand that I re-fabed. (You can read about that here.)

At this point I needed one more coat of paint, but since I was nailing the pieces on, I decided I would first attach the pieces to the door, fill the nail holes, and then add another coat.

Nail holes.

I filled the holes with some white spackling, sanded, and painted!

I decided to add these oval mason jar wooden labels (affiliate link) to the baskets. I spray painted them white and added some vinyl words. I used long brads to fasten them to the baskets.

It really cleans up the look of the room. 

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How to Reimagine a Waiting Room Chair

I got two of these chairs from the Restore a few years ago. 

I painted and recovered one of them.

I liked it better, but it was still giving off a "waiting room" vibe. It was also extremely difficult to strip down, so I didn't bother doing the other one right away and I just set them aside for a bit.

Fast forward a few years and I fell in love with this Meloni Armchair from Home Decorator's.

As I was looking at the structure of it, I wondered if I could add on some wood and upholstery and use my waiting room chairs as the bones for something similar.

I sanded, primed, and painted the bottom part of the legs. I also stripped off the fabric, mostly cutting it off since it would be covered with the new fabric.

Another problem with these chairs is there is no bottom support, just some stretchy material. They didn't feel sturdy at all. So, I took a scrap 1x12 and drilled it in the bottom. It feels nice and strong sitting on it now!

Next, I started beefing up the bottom. I had a bunch of scraps 1x4s left over from my Bonus Room beams, so I used those, but any width would have done the job.

For the front and back, I drilled the boards in using a Kreg Jig.

I drew a line of chalk to help me even up where my side boards would go.

Then I drilled boards into the sides all the way up. I used a jig saw to match the curve of the chair.

One side done.

Two sides done.

 I also wanted to create an inner arm piece. So, I temporarily removed the two boards on each side

and marked where to cut the inside pieces.

Once they were cut, I drilled them into the chair from the front and back of the arms to make sure they fit. Then I took them out again to begin upholstering.

I used a layer of batting under my fabric. And started with the seat.

Then I moved up the back

and over the top.

Then I took the inside arm pieces and stapled my batting and fabric on the bottom and side (the part the touches the back of the chair), but left the top and other side open to staple to the arm once it's in place.

Put in place.

Then I pulled the fabric and stapled it in place.

I cut a little hole in the fabric where the screws needed to go.

Once I got both of the inside arms done, I could drill the side pieces of wood back into place.

Then I could upholster the sides.

Now I could add some leather strips with nail head to cover my staples. I know this is going to sound weird, but I got this pleather dress on clearance for a few bucks at Target and decided to cut it up and use it for the arms.

I decided to use a strip of nail head trim (affiliate link) from Amazon. There's a hole to nail a tack in every fourth one. It took one roll per side.

I cut some batting the width of the arm. Then I cut the pleather one inch wider, so I could have 1/2" to fold over on each side. I  just pinned them in place.

I marked with chalk where to staple on front so the nail head trim would cover the staples.

Then I stapled them in place, removing the pins as I went.

The nail head went in easily on the wood that I added, but the original wood was extremely hard. I had to drill some pilot holes as I went along. Since the fabric was in place, I had to pulse the drill (much like a blender)--two short pulses counterclockwise, two short pulses clockwise as I pushed in a little. This kept the fabric from getting caught and ripped in the drill bit.

 
Back view

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Two Chair Bench

I ran across these two chairs at a thrift store for $5 each. I thought they would make a great bench.

I cut off the chairs just in front of the back legs and then sanded what would be the sides of my bench.

I found a few benches similarly made on Pinterest and everyone seemed to be in agreement that it worked better to create the frame for the seat directly on the chairs instead of creating a frame first and then drilling it to the sides. So, I marked and cut as I went. 

#1 - I cut and drilled 1x3s to both of the sides
#2 - I cut and drilled 1x3s to the front and back (I made it as wide as it would be if the two chairs were together.)
#3 - I put a support beam in the middle drilling it in the front and back of the frame
#4 -I cut out a rectangle the size of the bench out of 1/2" plywood and set aside for after I was done painting
#5 - I attached these corner braces that were on the original chairs

After all that, the bench felt extremely sturdy, so I didn't feel a need to put supports on the lower legs too.  I painted the frame with two coats of primer and two coats of paint. I had used flat paint, so I sealed it with polyacrylic (it's water based and doesn't yellow the way polyurethane does).
 
I put some egg carton mattress foam on the seat. Then I covered it in batting and fabric and nailed it in place. The seat fit snugly in between the sides and needed a mallet to gently tap it in place.

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