It's a cover-up

Design-It-Yourself: Karlstad sofa goes box-chic

At Bemz, we're all about personalisation and transforming your Ikea drab into personalised fab. That's one of the reasons why we love the Ikea Hackers website. In fact, this Karlstad sofa revamp, recently featured there, is so smart and stylish that we simply had to share it with you.

A plain old Karlstad sofa from Ikea, scratched to bits by the owner's cats, was transformed into this edgy, super-modern take on the Box Sofa by Autobahn. This Design-It-Yourself idea ticks so many boxes: upcycled, personalised, inexpensive, contemporary and cat-proof! It's easy to do - no expert carpentry skills required - and I'm sure you'll agree, the results are stunning.

To achieve this look, all you need is some birch plywood, walnut stain, and wood edging, then gather up your saw, some glue, nails and a bit of elbow grease. For a more detailed list of instructions, visit the original post by Susannah.

Make a wooden box that fits snugly around your Karlstad sofa. Stain in walnut and finish the edges with 1/2 inch wood edging.

Up the wow-factor like Susannah did, by replacing telltale standard Ikea legs with new ones and a subtle yet stunning contemporary finishing detail: painting the underside in a bright contrasting colour such as red or orange.

The only thing missing now to complete this transformation from mass-produced to one-of-a-kind designer is a chic new cover from Bemz.

See a similar transformation with a Karlstad chaise longue or other low cost Ikea-gone-designer solutions from Bemz for armchairs and sofas.

Credit: Ikea Hackers

Design-It-Yourself: Side table

Having been invited to Pinterest (check us out!) not so long ago, my travels through cyberspace seem to be reaching far farther and wider than ever before. Over said travels, I came across a lovely blog called 508 Restoration and Design. I have pinned as well as shared some of their creations on Facebook and everything has been very well received. It's run by a creative couple out of Virginia and this is one of their creations.

They used up tiny bits of left over paper for the drawer and combined it with a lovely cottage blue paint. The interior shelves were painted cream and finished it off with a wax treatment which, and I quote, "ended up giv­ing it a lot of weird stripes, vari­a­tions and texture…and I like it". So do we!

And of course the knob makes it! 

What a tremendous transformation - and all that with scraps of paper, paste, paint and wax. Throw in some elbow grease and a whole lot of creativity and voila! Although the Design-It-Yourself series is really all about personalising things yourself, sometimes it's easier to just buy them - and this baby is for sale, if that's what you want to do.

Anyone else notice the typically Swedish Dalahäst on the wall and the trasmatta under the table? Some seriously sweet Scandi charm going on over there in Virginia! Like.

Books to Inspire: Make Hey While the Sun Shines

What does the expression make hey while the sun shines mean anyway? Originally its meaning was literal: farmers should cut and gather their hay while conditions were optimal. Nowadays, it is used in a more figurative context: to make the most of the time when the conditions are right. Unwinding on holiday by knocking up a new bicycle saddle cover perhaps? 

Make Hey While the Sun Shines by Pip Lincolne walks you step-by-step through 20 crafty projects with instructions and illustrations to guide you. The crafts start off with making an individual family flag (like!) and then range from painting ceramics to making party bunting to a patchwork pillow and finally a deer quilt. Pip allows for newbies to experienced crafters alike to benefit from her book.

Make Hey While the Sun Shines isn't only about crafting though. Pip also includes some pull-out recipes and even a playlist! That's the kind of individualisation we love.

If you like what you see, check out more from Pip on her blog, Meet me at Mikes.

Books to Inspire: Design*Sponge at Home

This book comes straight from the creator of fave blog Design*Sponge, Grace Bonney. With a foreword by design genius Jonathan Adler and the main focus on DIY:ing, what's not to love?

Design*Sponge at Home gets to the heart of what we at Bemz, love most: how to transform something everyday into something personal and unique. Grace features 50 DIY projects, 50 before-and-afters and over 65 home tours. What I really like about it, being full of ideas but not so gifted in the creativity department, is that there is some serious hand holding in this book. Grace walks you through the projects and provides some of the really basic skills needed for getting stuck in on the DIY journey. It's a veritable bible of personalisation.

All that, and beautiful photos to boot. What's not to love?

Two years in the making, Design*Sponge at Home was released in September and was followed up by a book tour. But why take my word for it? Check out the book trailer below!

You can also read an interview with Grace and see more beautiful photos chez Inhabitat. Design*Sponge at Home is available to buy here.

Photos c/o Inhabitat and Amazon

Design-It-Yourself: Wall Art

I came across this idea on Apartment Therapy and had to share. It is so easy and virtually free, and the results are impressive. In fact, it reminded me a little bit of crafty projects I've taken on with my children to complete school projects. Seriously - check out the list of materials needed!

This one comes via House of Fifty and literally calls for a Ribba frame from IKEA and a sheet of marbled paper, or any beautifully patterned paper in fact.

Would you believe that a piece of funky and contemporary wall art like this can be created by gluing tissue paper to a canvas frame using Modge Podge? It's true. Visit In My Own Style for helpful step-by-step photos and details. The wall art was beautifully finished with a matching ribbon pinned to the edges.

Compartment Life came up with this one using... wait for it... toilet paper and paper towel rolls! I'm not kidding! It obviously took quite a few but what impressive results! Visit the link for all the details. This one was a tad more challenging, if you scoffed at the ease of the previous two.

Again, a little more challenging but not impossible, this one comes via Design*Sponge. Brenna basically traced the outline of a beautiful illustration from a botanical calendar and cut it out of heavier weight paper and used kraft paper under to soften the silhouetted blooms. Stunning!

This clever, and very on-trend chevron wall art, was created using shoe box lids. Spunky Junky spray painted the lot in a glossy white, used tape to outline the chevron pattern and then finished the boxes off in the colours you see above. Clever!

If you like this idea and want to give designing your own wall art a go, check out this other post by guest blogger Sue, who made wall art out of Bemz fabrics. 

Credit and photos: as indicated above

Design-It-Yourself: Personalising cushion covers

This comes to us straight from our French PR rep Virginie who recently got together with french site A Little Market to make personalised cushion covers at the Creation et Savoir Faire exhibition:

Bemz and A Little Market have combined their talents and creativity at Creations et Savoir Faire 2011 recently in Paris. A group of very artistic and imaginative ladies customized a selection of cushion covers from Bemz using unique accessories and a variety of techniques.

A Little Market aims to bring together creative talent looking to share their work with buyers in search of original and unique items.

Here are some pictures taken during the creative process. The end result? Bemz covers with a festive flair - ideal with Christmas on the horizon! We hope they inspire.

Cushion cover in Gustavian Flowers Dusty Rose personalised by Mirey, pop art jewelry designer. Mirey used her famous Louise beads to customise her cushions.

This cushion cover in Unbleached Belgian Linen Blend from Bemz was customised using beautiful retro vintage 
crochet flowers from Violette's tiny delights shop.

This Woven Whimsy Cloud Grey cushion cover was customised by Kom 1 using an iron-on transfer.

Textile flowers created by Bycox, designer of leather bags and fun soft toys, were used to adorn this cushion cover in Dusty Rose Hounds Tooth.

This Raffia Jet Black cushion cover in textured cotton was personalised using custom stenciled with "seamstress girlfriends," textile designer, queen of kits and all things cuddly.

Have you customised a cushon cover? Share your creativity! Send me a photo at blog[at]bemz.com.

Design-It-Yourself: Christmas gifts

I heard it said somewhere that the best gifts are either made or found and it has always stuck with me. Gift-giving is not about how much it cost but rather about how much effort and thought has gone into the process and that is exactly why Design-It-Yourself gifts are perfect! Not to mention the fact that they often are easier on the wallet...

Here are a variety of ideas from other blogs. Follow the link if you like what you see and want to give it a go.

This is great for someone who follows trends in interior design. Mounts are spot on trend and these ones are animal friendly too!

Do you know someone who is handy with the knitting needles?

These simple white ceramic pieces were transformed with a simply yet lovely botanical pattern.

A wood cutting board is ideal for foodies.

This is a great way of introducing a bit of retro style into the plethora of today's list of modern gadgets: it is a vintage book cover for an e-reader or tablet. Clever. 

And here's a really personal gift - a piece of art made specifically for the intended recipient: their astrological sign! this one comes from a blog dedicated to personalisation, P.S. I made this... Like!

These are only a few of the ideas floating around out there, the ones I liked the best. Check out the whole list at Design*Sponge for more ideas. Let us know how yours turned out! Mail us on blog[at]bemz.com or upload it to our Facebook page. 

Credit: Design*Sponge

Design-It-yourself: Billy bookcase goes gable topped

I came across this Design-It-Yourself idea in the Ikea Live magazine delivered through my door. In this house tour, home owners Isabella and Martin transformed the simple and ubiquitous Billy bookcase into a fun and colourful gable topped city in their daughter Ella's room.

After writing this up I came across the same room on Ohdeedoh, a great blog from the Apartment Therapy family focused on children and families. There, the owners gave these instructions on how to make these gable topped Billy bookcases:

They were built from IKEA Billy shelves (40x200cm and 60x200cm sizes). For the doors we had the hardware store cut MDF panels in the correct width. In our case it was 6 pieces at 40cm wide and 230cm high. For the roof tops, the shape was designed in free-hand with a pen. My husband Martin then cut with a jigsaw. For the color palette, we brought one of Ella's dresses to the hardware store and they matched the colors. The doors were painted twice using a roller. For the windows, I made a template of cardboard which I then used to cut decorative plastic in white and black. After we adhered the windows, the doors were then hung by hinges. This was a bit tricky to get right, but Martin and his dad decided it relatively painless. Only a few grey hairs later. ; )

By the way - that light shade on the ceiling is a converted fruit bowl. Clever! 

And if that weren't enough, they then went on and refurbished Isabella's old doll's house to mirror the interior of their own home.

Kudos Isabella! 

If you like this idea and would like to see more, then check out this link.

Design-It-Yourself: Ikea Rast dresser Part III (!)

I never realised just how popular the IKEA Rast dresser is for DIYing but then again, it makes sense doesn't it? It is an unfinished, budget option pine dresser that is pretty nondescript. It's really just screaming out Make me your own!. And many have, even IKEA themselves!

Here are a last few transformations I came across recently that offer a few more ideas and inspiration.

Although this one was not touted as an IKEA hack, I suspect it is. Even if it is not, I think our previous Design-It-Yourself: Chest of drawers post will provide you with the necessary details to recreate something along these lines. In fact, I suspect those flowers are stickers so all you are really looking at is a couple of coats of white paint, new flashy handles and the stickers of your choice! Lovely result though no?

Photos c/o O'verlays

These other options are all decorated using fretwork panels. A simple enough solution with a wide variety of possibilities!

And if you want to take the easy route, check out O'verlays - a company that sells fretwork panels in a number of patterns and styles, cut to fit a list of popular IKEA pieces including the Rast dresser.

Wow! A whole business concept built around personalising IKEA products? How ingenious ;) 

Design-It-Yourself: IKEA Ung Drill Mirror

Do you sometimes have an idea in your head and can't quite find the right product within your budget? That's where the Design-It-Yourself series comes in! We are all about personalisation at Bemz and we often post Design-It-Yourself ideas we have come across in fave blogs or magazines but this is one I did myself. Here are your requisite before-and-after shots.

I needed a budget mirror and was looking for something ornate. I stopped in at our trusty old friend, IKEA and liked the style of the Ugn Drill mirror but didn't want it to be black. I was aiming for a more rustic, worn look so decided to do it myself.

Materials needed:
Mirror
White wax candle
Spray paint in colour of choice (I used Heirloom white)
Fine sandpaper

The brilliant thing about this mirror is that it has been framed in the same way as the IKEA picture frames work so could easily be removed while painting the frame. That saved me the taping and protecting of the mirror!

Here's what to do:

Rub a white wax candle over the mirror. The areas to focus on are those that would naturally wear away with time like edges and corners. The point of the wax it to be able to easily remove the paint from these areas with a little sanding to give it that worn look.

Next, lay your mirror on some kind of drop sheet - the box the Ung Drill mirror came in worked perfectly, and in a well ventilated area, and spray on the colour.

Allow to dry then spray on a second coat. Make sure you really get into all the grooves and crevices! However, the beauty of this worn look means that if you happen to leave some areas only lightly coloured it will only add to the charm of this piece.

Now gently sand over areas that stick out, edges and corners, as well as the oval part of the frame itself, to allow the original black colour to show through and give it that worn look.

And voila! Your very own rustic worn mirror! Have you ever DIYed something that you are proud of? Send us a picture to blog [at] bemz [dot] com - we'd love to see it! And you might just get the chance to guest blog right here on It's a Cover Up!

If the rustic worn look isn't what you are after but you like the look of the mirror, I've also seen it turned uber cool with electric colours like fuchsia, blue and orange. So many options in fact, that I may even have to do a blogpost on this one!