Ikea | bossy color blog

Girl’s bedroom makeover: the dramatic conclusion

January 10, 2011 9 Comments

When we first moved into this house, our twin daughters were 6 months old.

Floor being refinished

(They’re fraternal, not identical, but they go through stages of looking very, very similar. Age 6 months was one of those times; try as I might, I have no idea who this kid is.)

Wallpapered bedroom We decided to keep the girls in the same room as long as we could – heck, they shared a CRIB for several months when they were first born, so sharing a room was a no-brainer.

We decided – after much deliberation, actually – that we’d give them the largest bedroom, which the previous owners had used as the master bedroom. The wallpaper was quite sweet; little blue-green flowers on a white background.

But you know that leaving well enough alone isn’t my strong suit.

Shutters

So we painted that room yellow and blue. You’ve seen pictures of that, but I don’t believe I’ve ever been bold enough (stupid enough?) to share these particular pictures, from when there were cribs in the room:

Yellow and blue kids' room

Shutters in yellow bedroom

The cribs were on your left as you entered the room. (Holy cow – the MESS!)

Then they got older, graduated to beds…

Then we were sucked in by the vortex that is the color pink – you remember that makeover, with Benjamin Moore’s 2089-60 Peach Kiss:

Girls' pink bedroom

Cubitec in pink room

AND THEN Ruthie wanted her own room. You remember that, too, I bet.

Light blue bedroom

Well, poor Georgie had to wait a while until the pink bedroom became her room. I think her patience paid off.

Pink bedroom with bunk bed

The order of things was a little backward, but that’s how life is sometimes, right?

1. Wall color/paint. We KNOW that ideally, that comes last

2. Window treatments. Roman Shades require so little fabric – usually about 2-1/2 yards – so splurging on fancy material is an option. This fabric was NOT a splurge, though: $7/yard on Fabric Row in Philadelphia.

3. Ikea Hemnes dresser. I’ve always loved this dresser, but some colors – gray, blue, red – are now made of SOLID PINE, not that horrible but often unavoidable MDF / particleboard.

4. Bedding. Cotton coverlets from The Company Store, 1 pink, 1 orange – it’s the Veranda Matelasse, which I LOVE. We have it in white on our bed in the summer.

5. Bunk bed color. The bed itself is from Ikea, and we used unopened Farrow & Ball paint from our LR fireplace (a loooonnnng time ago) to personalize it. It’s too expensive to waste!

Despite the pillow, the top bunk is Ruthie’s when we have guests and she’s kicked out of her bedroom. It was part of the “ok, ok, you can have your own rooms but…” agreement.

View from top bunk

Thankfully, the client is very happy with the way things turned out.

Green bunk bed

Annie Elliott, aka bossy color, is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She’s been doing more remote consultations as of late, so if you’re in Florida, Washington state, or Australia, help is just a phone call away.

Filed Under: Bedroom, Before and after, Benjamin Moore, Ikea, Kids Tagged With: bedroom, bedroom makeover, before and after, Benjamin Moore, bunk bed, children's room, Ikea, kid's room, kids bedroom, pink bedroom, twins

Ikea’s Expedit shelving: the Cubitec alternative

December 2, 2010 13 Comments

I’m a fan of Design Within Reach’s Cubitec shelving, as you know. I’ve used it in my daughter’s bedroom…

Orange Cubitec in pink room

…twice, in fact…

Orange Cubitec in blue room

…and I’ve recommended it for clients’ offices, family rooms, and TV rooms.

Cubitec in red room

1 kit of Cubitec But here’s the thing. It’s not dirt cheap. Not if you want more than six boxes, which is what constitutes one kit.

One Cubitec kit is $245 or $265, depending on the depth. So double or triple that if you want significant shelving space.

Enter Ikea’s Expedit. It’s enormous. And it’s $199 for aaalllll those little boxes.

Ikea Expedit shelving

(You can go a little smaller – and even less expensive – but I’m trying to make a point here.)

Clients recently used the white Expedit in their daughter’s bedroom,

Ikea Expedit in yellow room

And a bossy basic client knocked my socks off with the Expedit in her living room

Ikea's Expedit in living room

and children’s bedroom.

Ikea Expedit light wood

One of the reasons the Expedit looks so amazing in her house is that the shelves are EXTREMELY TIDY. My client wisely knows that with open shelving, everything’s on display, all the time. So it better look nice.

Look. I still think Cubitec is decent value – it’s certainly less expensive than wooden bookcases or built-ins – and has lots to recommend it. But if you’re looking for a SUPER inexpensive, stylish alternative, Ikea’s Expedit may be the way to go.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Filed Under: Bookshelves, bossy color's house, Kids, Living room, Storage Tagged With: bookcase, bookshelves, Cubitec, Ikea, Ikea Expedit, storage

3 kitchen "shortcuts" to avoid

July 29, 2010 16 Comments

Yesterday I engaged in a full-immersion cabinetry experience at a showroom in Virginia.

It can be a little overwhelming, even to a seasoned pro such as bossy color . So we understand the impulse to throw our magazine clippings in the air, turn on our heels, and run, screaming, “There must be a better way! There must be a shortcut!”

Well, Gentle Readers, there are little things you can do instead of renovating, as you know, but once you decide to go for it, there are no shortcuts.

Here are 3 so-called “shortcuts” and reasons to avoid them.

Refacing the cabinets. Unless your cabinets are less than, say, 5 years old, paying money to reface them is a waste. The shelves will still be gunky, the drawers sticky, and the overall height too short. If you can’t afford to replace them with Ikea, sand and re-paint them – or at least replace the hardware.

Replacing the countertop – and ONLY the countertop. First of all, if there’s a tile backsplash, replacing the countertop is impossible. You can’t rip it out without causing some damage to the tile AND to the cabinets below it. Second, a shiny new countertop on top of tired-looking cabinets will make the whole kitchen look shabby.

Replacing the backsplash tile – and ONLY the backsplash tile. The same principle as above applies: it is impossible to remove backsplash tile without damaging the counter below it. (Kelly of Arte Styling told me about Making Arrangements‘ find: “tile tattoos.” Could be an option if your tile doesn’t already have a pattern on it.)

Are there any shortcuts YOU’ve been tempted to try – or worse, actually tried but failed miserably? Tell bossy color about it. We’re here for you.

Pictures of the grey, brown, green, and blue and white kitchens are from the marvelous xJavierx’s Flickr photostream. Still the best place I know for inspiration.

Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to The Seattle Times and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.

Filed Under: Cabinetry, Kitchens Tagged With: Arte Styling, backsplash, cabinets, countertop, hardware, Ikea, kitchen, kitchen renovation, refacing cabinets, renovation, replacing countertop, shortcuts, tile

Bossy color’s living room, Part 12: The coffee table

June 22, 2010 19 Comments

There must be something in the air, because everyone in the greater DC area seems to be redecorating. I’ve been swamped. Sorry for not getting back to you sooner.

Despite the swamped-ness, slowly, slowly, I’m making progress on my own living room. I alluded to a new to-do list last time; #1 was “Paint fireplace.”

Check.

#2 was “Figure out coffee table situation.”

Check!

Here’s our old coffee table (and old sofa, old chairs, old rug, old lamp…)

It’s CB2′s Peekaboo coffee table. I bought it RIGHT when CB2 was born. (When was that? I can’t remember.) It’s a great table, actually, but it’s always been too small for this space. It looks great in our family room. I’ll show it to you, if I ever tidy up.

So I’ve been keeping a list of possible coffee table ideas. I say “ideas,” because I wasn’t prepared to spend upwards of $1k on a coffee table. Not at the moment, anyway.

I love this brass faux bamboo table from Mecox Gardens through 1st Dibs:

And the Jonathan coffee table, from Vastu – so elegant:

I like this one is from Vanguard Furniture:

And this Annie Selke coffee table, also available through Vanguard:

See the similarities? I seem to be drawn to iron framed glass or marble coffee tables.

Of course, I’d forgotten that I HAD an iron and glass coffee table a million years ago. I salvaged it from a DC store called “Ruff ‘n Ready” and painstakingly painted it black and gold, got glass for it…I loved that darn coffee table. But we let it go a few years ago, which of course I totally regret now.

Anyway.

I was sending my assistant on an Ikea run for various clients. So the night before, I was thumbing through the Ikea catalog in bed to see if there was anything *I* needed.

Lo and behold, look what jumped off the page:

The Klingsbo coffee table. It wasn’t gold, but it what it WAS was 70 bucks. At that price, I could spring for a few cans of Rustoleum. My brother was still visiting; I couldn’t let all that manpower (Uncle-power) go to waste.