It's a cover-up

Top ten IKEA hacks

With the latest IKEA catalogue pushed through my front door, I was reminded of how very clever this Swedish giant is. They have solutions for small spaces, for small budgets, for small people and they always inspire. But it's hard to mass produce and still keep individual taste in focus. Enter IKEA hacks. Here are our top ten favourites, in no particular order. You may see a recurring theme with them, hinting at just why they would be faves chez Bemz:

This one ticks so many boxes: upcycled, stylish, personalised, durable, inexpensive. Alex of the US transformed a plasticky Emmabo deck chair into the modern take on the traditional Adirondack. Kudos.

Personalise a Gyllene lamp (original from IKEA, below left), with your own image as Damian of London did (below right). Artistic and practical. Personal and beautiful. Cute kids too!

Marianne of the Netherlands transformed run-of-the-mill into country cottage chic when she re-did this Bonde cabinet. All she needed to create a completely unique piece was a little elbow grease, chicken wire and good old gingham. Like!

That's how it started out...

And this is the end result. What a transformation!

A close up to really appreciate it.

Felicia of the US took a perfectly normal Hemnes bed frame and really upped the wow factor by adding a seagrass blind to the headboard and voila! A vintage bed frame that looks like no other.

This one doesn't really fit into our personalisation theme like the other examples do, as it is more of a classic hack (in the sense of taking something intended for one thing and making it work for something else) but I couldn't resist! What lucky lady wouldn't want her very own shoe room? Philip built this shoe room for his fiancee Cat out of Billy bookshelves. *Swoon*

Anna in Sweden must have made her little boy Filip very happy with this hack. Nice floors too!

Or how about a budget lamp that is totally on-trend? Sounds too good to be true? Well clever Charles dreamed up this little number out of a Lack table leg! (Just ignore that bare electrical socket please!)

The final product for this hack is meant to be dress boys (those things you hang your clothes on!) which is a clever solution for those living in close quarters, but I immediately thought of art when I saw it. It's like your own little installation! I loved that: contemporary art out of a couple of painted Bertil chairs from IKEA. And investing in art for your home is a big trend for interiors in 2011.

Lydia of Germany transformed a plain Egeby rug into a unique, filigree inspired focal point using paint, paintbrush, a stencil and her own creativity!

And last but by all means not least - although we may not be terribly objective - is this one. A Henriksdal bar stool turned into a moving and grooving designer chair thanks to some casters and a new slipcover in Marimekko's Unikko - Black (from Bemz, natch!).

All ideas and photos are originally on one of our fave sites: Ikea Hacker. The links will take you to the original hack, along with detailed instructions on how you too can transform your IKEA drab into personal fab! 

Design-It-Yourself: Childhood mementos

I recently came across this little number and had to share. This takes personalisation to a whole new level! And ticks all the on-trend boxes: upcycling, vintage, retro, modern, humourous...to name a few.

The creative minds behind Evil Robot Designs have come up with a way to preserve those childhood memories by turning toys into functional and beautiful lamps. With their high gloss finish and clear, clean colours, this mish mash of unrelated and unmatching colourful plastic items are transformed into an effortless, stunning and contemporary piece; a piece that tells a story.

Give your childhood the time and respect it deserves - and your home a unique conversation piece! You can either give your old toys (or your child's) to Evil Robot Designs and get a bespoke, humourous yet contemporary lamp or turn your hand at making one yourself. Why not?

Design-It-Yourself: Ikea Frosta stool

The whole premise behind the Bemz business is personalisation and here at It's a Cover Up our ambition is to provide tips and inspiration on how you can bring your personal touch, taste, design into your home.

This one comes directly from Apartment Therapy's interior tips genius Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan who demonstrates several ways you can personalise the budget Frosta stool from Ikea into a side table, a nightstand or simply your own version of a stool - and, it's a video! Doesn't get much easier than that. 

How To Hack an Ikea Frosta Stool from maxwell gillingham-ryan on Vimeo.

For more tips and ideas like this one, check out our Design-It-Yourself series.

Design-It-Yourself: Painted furniture

This one I picked up from Apartment Therapy - there something wholly intriguing about before-and-after shots, I find. You can't help but be impressed with the transformation here: What a lick of paint and a little creativity can do! This one is more for ideas and inspiration - click on the links under the pictures if you want to see how they did it. Have a look through then get your DIY hats on and get personalising those flea market finds.

Iris transforms a nondescript IKEA credenza to a statement 70s inspired designer piece.

Beverley's kitchen island goes from drab to fab.

It is amazing how beautiful this laminate bookshelf looks after painting it white on the outside, lovely contrasting green on the inside and adding some crown mouldings. Get all the details from the creative mind behind this one, Centsational Girl.

This occasional table that hadn't aged well not only looks new again but brings the hall bag up-to-date. Love the wallpaper too.

This paint job takes this dresser from mid-century to this century.

These retro pine chairs have a lovely shape but the varnish was chipping. Once painted their character is completely changed - there's so much you could do with chairs too!

This magazine rack fits right into that country cottage look once painted.

Lindsey picked this kitchen cart up for 25 cents! It was looking pretty worn but by simply painting the shelves it looks brand new - and beautiful too.

This dresser was a roadside find! By painting it a daring vibrant yellow it's been turned into a ray of sunshine.

Another one from Centsational Girl: this dresser is transformed with paint and a polish. A little secret picked up here to ensure you don't have brush stroke marks in the paint? She added paint extender which means the paint takes longer to dry allowing the brush stroked to fade away. Brilliant!

I think I like Iris's credenza and Centsational Girl's bookshelf the best. Which is your favourite? Do you have a Design-It-Yourself make over you're proud of? Send us a shot at blog [at] bemz [dot] com. We'd love to see it.

Design-It-Yourself: Wardrobe

I came across this Design-It-Yourself idea in Elle Decoration's June 2011 issue and had to share it. I couldn't believe that this started with this simple Ikea wardrobe! This is right up our alley: personalisation at its most luxurious perhaps. 

They started with a Konsmo wardrobe from Ikea, like the one above.

And added a real statement wallpaper.

The wallpaper needs to be cut to size into two panels to fit the doors, similar to the instructions recently given for the chest-of-drawers. The beauty of the Ikea furniture is that it comes flat packed (ok - it's not really the beauty of it - but highly helpful in this instance!).

You'll need to ensure you cut the panels to size and line up two sides of a picture as in this example so that when it'd on the doors the effect is one of a whole picture. As they come flat packed, you can just lie to wardrobe doors right down on the paper. Attach the wallpaper according to the manufacturer's instructions. You can lacquer over it for extra protection using a glossy or matt finish, depending on the look you are after and voila!

In this example they used a very exclusive De Gournay wallpaper (two more from them under the converted wardrobe photo), but I've included a few more examples of Chinoiserie style wallpaper, some more affordable than others!

One thing is for sure, with this idea, you'll never walk into someone's home and see the same wardrobe as yours staring back at you.

Design-It-Yourself: Ten crafty ideas to Modern Vintage your home

Inspired by our recent review of Katherine Sorrell's The Vintage Modern Home, I took these ten craftty ideas for things to make yourself at home to continue our focus on vintage modern design and style but add an ounce of personalisation to it:

Knit or crochet squares in different colors. You can use leftover yarn or unravelled old sweaters. Stitch them together to make a throw. (An afghan - like my old aunties used to make! I'd love one now but sadly none of said aunties are with us anymore).

Photo c/o Vintage Ramblings

Use broken crockery or tiles to create a mosaic splashback for a basin. I have a friend who used the base of old bottles (not broken obviously!) to create a glass feature in her garden.

Turn an old tablecloth or pair of curtains into a smart roman blind.

Update a tired pair of plain curtains by stitching on a narrow border of contrasting fabric.

Potato-print (yeah, just like when we were kids) a design with fabric paint on to plain cotton and make it into dining-chair seat pads.

Cut out a large stencil and print the design on to lining paper for a lovely home-made alternative to wallpaper.

Jazz up a plain lampshade by gluing ribbon or ric rac braid around the edge.

Crockery c/o Esther Coombs

Personalize white crockery with ceramic paints.

Give new life to a drab plastic or timber chair by decorating it with cut-out paper (maps, sheet music, magazine pages, wrapping paper, etc.) and sealing with a layer or two of clear varnish.

Cut any pretty leftover fabrics into squares for patchwork or triangles for bunting.

Credit: The Vintage Modern Home

Design-It-Yourself: Place setting à la Josephine

Another guest post! This one comes from the lovely Maura of the UK. Maura is one of our Facebook fans and she uploaded the picture below onto our Facebook page. Needless to say, we were impressed and I thought: This is something our readers will love! 

Ask and you shall receive: read on as Maura walks us though this Design-It-Yourself project. Thanks Maura! (Oh yeah - and check out another idea, right at the bottom, that she made from a swatch of Herbarium - Deep Navy Blue by Stig Lindberg from the Bemz Designer Collection. Isn't she creative?)

After filling in an online questionnaire, the good people at Bemz were kind enough to send me a tote bag made from one of their prints: Josephine by the Swedish designer Göta Trägårdh (1904-1984), one of the founders of the Beckmans design school in 1939 & known for her "pencil line look".

I make my own bags, so I used the beautiful fabric to make a placemat, coaster & napkin ring set for two. If you have any Bemz fabric scraps left over from your last project, this would be an ideal way to use them up. If you are buying new, then 30cm of 150cm wide fabric will be plenty.

You will also need:
- Felt in a toning colour – about 30cm if bought from a roll, or 3 x 30cm squares
- Fusible web (e.g. Bondaweb, Steam-a-Seam 2 or MistyFuse)
- Bias tape, 4cm wide, cut from a Fat Quarter of quilting cotton (50cm x 55cm). If you are buying bias tape, you will need about 4m.
- Toning thread.

Just to let you know, the placemats are the easiest to make, the coasters are a little fiddly, and the napkin rings are maddening, so bear this in mind when you plan your sewing.

Placemats:
For the placemat template, I drew round a large plate with tailor’s chalk. Cut out 2 circles in Bemz fabric, leaving a margin of about 1cm round. Cut out 2 more from the felt.

Following the instructions for your brand of fusible web, bond the fusible web to the felt, protecting your iron with a sheet of baking parchment. Remove the backing paper from the fusible web (now attached to the felt) & place (fusible side down) onto the back of the Bemz fabric circle. Press again with your iron (from the felt side, as the heat will penetrate more easily). Allow to cool. Cut out your circles neatly.

For the bias binding, I cut all I needed from a Fat Quarter of fabric (that’s a piece about 50cm x 55cm). Cut the 4cm strips at a 45 degree angle to the selvedge, as this allows the fabric to stretch around curves. Join the strips with a diagonal seam, as it is less bulky (overlap 2 strips at right angles and sew as shown – trim, then press the seam open).

Begin sewing on the front of the placemat, and with a small fold on the end of the bias tape. Sew with a 1cm seam, curling the bias tape around the circle as you go, and taking care not to stretch it. Keep sewing until the tape overlaps at the beginning again. Trim the end.

Ease the tape over the edge of the circle, fold the overlapping fabric in half and pin to the felt on the underside of the mat. Work carefully where the ends of the tape meet, folding to make a neat finish. Sew by hand to the felt. Press with plenty of steam: this will help the mat to lie flat.

Coasters:
Follow the placemat instructions, cut 2 coasters using a CD as the circle template and make them up in the same way.

Napkin rings:
Cut a rectangle of Bemz fabric 9cm x 17cm, and the same again in felt. Bond the felt to the Bemz fabric as for the placemats. Cut this into two pieces 4.5cm x 17cm. The example in the photos is smaller, as it was all I had left to use as a demonstration piece.

Using a strip of bias binding about 7cm long, sew to the Bemz fabric on one of the short ends, taking a smaller seam – about 0.5cm. Fold the tape to the back and back on itself again, trapping the other end of the ring – the binding will form roughly an “s” shape in cross-section. Sew by hand through all the layers, attaching the binding to the felt on both sides of the length of tape.

Sew bias binding to both raw edges of the ring. Turning the ring inside out may help it to fit under your machine, otherwise, sew by hand.

Here's the finished product again: all that from one tote bag? Impressive!

And here is the pin cushion Maura made from a simple swatch. Now this is a very clever woman! Thanks again Maura, for sharing your time and creativity and your idea. Find out more about Maura's own creations on her blog, Sky Parlour Designs or pick up something made by Maura here.

If you have a great Design-It-Yourself idea that you would like to share, send it along to me at blog [at] bemz [dot] com. 

 

Design-It-Yourself: Upcycled vase thanks to Luzia Pimpinella

Yea! Today's blogpost comes from Germany's very own blogger extraordinaire, and the creative mind behind the much-loved Luzia Pimpinella. Nic, the-woman-behind-the-blog, is über creative and has a wonderful eye for detail. She always includes breathtaking photos - the kinds I wish I could take, and captures the essence of that vintage, nostalgic, 50s-inspired look many of us embrace. Needless to say, we were sehr, sehr flattered she agreed to write a post for us.

For this Design-It-Yourself project, Nic takes us from plastic yogurt drink pots to beautiful spring vase. Thank you Luzia Pimpinella for sharing your creativity and ideas with us! Take it away Nic:

Take the empty plastic bottles and a glue-gun and glue them together in a bunch.

Like this one for example.

Measure off the outline of your bunch of bottles and add 2-3 cm for some overlapping of the "fabric belt" ... determine the width as well.

Cut some fabric straps for the outside and the lining according to these measures. Look for some matching embellishments like ribbons and/or lace. You will also need a pretty button and a piece of elastic cord for the closure.

Sew up the outer fabric straps, fix the embellishments with stylefix if you like.

Then sew the ribbons to it.

Sew up outer fabric and lining right to right side. Fix a loop of elastic cord between the fabric layers of one short side.... Leave a hole to turn-over on the other side.

Minimize the seam allowances and turn over the fabric.

Iron the fabric strap carefully and stitch a seam close to the edge... Close the hole to turn-over with this step.

Then go to the flower shop and come back with some SPRING at last! :) Have fun!

Like what you see? Visit Luzia Pimpinella here (she writes in German and English - impressive, eh?). And if you're wondering where she found those gorgeous ribbons, well she has a shop too!

Dank so sehr, sehr viel Nic!

Design-It-Yourself: Chest of drawers... Again

I did a Design-It-Yourself: Chest of drawers almost a year ago but when I came across this little number I thought it was too pretty not to share. Plus, who doesn't have an old piece of furniture looking for a facelift? If you don't, pick one up at a flea market! This idea can be applied to any piece of furniture really.

This comes to us via Swedish newspaper UNT. As you can see they chose a very colorful and striking wallpaper - and you can too! This is your chance to use that wallpaper that you love but aren't ready to use in an entire room. Go with favorite colors and shapes, play with shades and even mix several colors. A feature I really liked about this example was the luxurious detail of giving the inside of the drawers their very own dramatic tone.

For this project you will need:
- sandpaper, tape measure, pencil, scissors, screwdriver
- putty/caulking
- primer, paint of choice and lacquer
- wallpaper paste and wallpaper of choice
- something to protect the floor
- a chest of drawers, of course

Here's how to do it:
Remove all fittings from the chest of drawers and roughen the surfaces to be painted with sandpaper to enable to paint to stick. Fill any imperfections or damage with putty. Once it has dried, sand it again for a smooth surface. Prime all surfaces to be painted not forgetting the insides of the drawers. Once dry, paint the sides of the chest as the rest will be papered. Then the insides of the drawers: choose a happy color, something matching yet contrasting the paper to create a bit of intrigue. Once the paint has dried apply a second coat.

Time to wallpaper: measure and mark with a pencil the pieces required to cover the drawers and sides of the bureau cutting them two or three millimeters smaller than the actual sizes to give it a stylish edge. Also keep in mind the pattern of the wallpaper, that any shapes are lined up on the drawers. Cut out the pieces of wallpaper, and brush the paste on the front of each drawer, one at a time.

Once all the drawers are papered lacquer them two to three times to protect the paper and finish off the look. And voila! A new set of drawers.

More Design-It-Yourself ideas.

Design-It-Yourself: Block print rug

Here's a great Design-It-Yourself idea passed onto me by Bemz CEO and founder Lesley Pennington. Another from fave blog Apartment Therapy: how to design a block print rug using a welcome mat. So clever. And virtually free...

This idea takes an old stained rug from this (above left) to this (right). Impressive, no? Here's how to do it:

You will need:
- area rug
- paint
- paint tray
- paint roller
- rubber mat with nice filigree pattern (above)
- an extra pair of hands 

Steps:
Stretch you area rug of choice taut on a flat surface and weigh down corners so there are no bunches.
Pour paint of choice into a paint tray and insert roller ensuring you don't get too much paint on it. Bare minimum in fact is best. The washed out, antique effect above was achieved by diluting the paint with some water.

Roll paint evenly on the flat side of your cleaned mat.

Place mat, paint side down on the corner of your rug. This is where you may want to call on an extra pair of hands as the mat can be heavy and a bit awkward. To create the uneven, faded look of the rug pictured, press with uneven pressure to allow for different concentrations of color. 

Line up edges of the mat perfectly with the stamped area and repeat steps until the whole rug is covered.
Wash the paint off your mat and replace onto stoop.

And voila! Homemade rug. (Good job upping the wow factor by including a beautiful model in the shot!)

Credit and photos: Apartment Therapy