Six ways IKEA has crept into our home

We were determined to avoid going all IKEA crazy in our new house, and we have been more or less successful. But tight budgets, practical necessity and the discovery of ‘Ikea Hacking’ have caused some mission creep – so here are few examples of where Ikea has crept in:

Hermes Chest of Drawers

If you have a specific piece of IKEA furniture in mind and you are on a tight budget, it is worth having a snoop on gumtree and ebay, especially if you plan on modifying it – the phenomenon known as IKEA hacking. This is what we did with these Hermes Drawers for our nursery. We found a black/brown set on gumtree for £40 (RRP £140), took them apart, gave them a gentle sand, primed with two coats of Zinsser 123 (highly recommend this paint), and finished in Craig & Rose Pale Mortlake Cream.

Bekvam Spice Racks

We found this idea on Pinterest. A cheap, quick and good-looking solution to children’s book storage. Four Bekvam Spice Racks (£3 each), secured to the bedroom wall at toddler height. These show off the illustrated book-covers and allow our little one to browse and select his nightly stories.

Grundtal Rail and S-hooks

I daresay this Grundtal Rail and S-hooks combo is one of Ikea’s best sellers, a fantastic space-saver. I am fully converted to open rail storage systems of this type. They look great in just about any kitchen. For some further examples check out this blog post from Remodelista: Ultimate Budget Storage: 10 Kitchens with Ikea’s Grundtal Rail System

Lolly Makers

An all-time classic that should be found in any self-respecting kitchen. Ikea now sell silicone versions in the shape of Callippos, but I prefer to go old school. Here they are modelled by my son, taking an impressive double-handed approach and sucking all the flavour before kindly offering me the remaining icy brick.

GRUNDTAL Knife Rack 

Yes another highlight from the IKEA Grundtal Range. We screwed this to the underside of our kitchen cupboard – keeping our knifes neatly out of site and utilising an otherwise dead space.

Small Picture Frames

I include this with caution, as I think it is well worth spending a bit of money on custom frames for your favourite photos or pieces of art. However, we wanted to quickly create a gallery on our nursery wall with a view to changing the photos on a regular basis, and for that purpose these cheap white frames from IKEA were just the job.