Ikea Hack Extraordinaire

The BEFORE.  This bedroom is blah. The ceiling light fixture, the feature – or should I say non existent feature wall, the tired side tables and lights.  Blase’ at best.

I really, really love the wallpapers that look a bit like colour is bleeding on the wall, sometimes with the colour dark and intense washing out to barely there.  Like these from Pinterest :

     

They run from about $50.00 up per roll, and the average wall needing 4 rolls… or a total mural for $350.00. Who can afford that?  Well obviously somebody, but not me!  I thought, I have enough experience in decorative painting that surely, I of all people could fake it and be sufficiently please with the results, but get this effect wrong, and there is a lot of work ahead trying to correct it.  Besides, I wanted a challenge, something I hadn’t done before.

On an unplanned foray into Ikea one day, I happened past the fabric section, which even though I am far from a seamstress, I still love looking through for inspirations.  And there it was.  A new fabric.  With the watercolour ombre look I love.  An idea was born.

How fantastic is this fabric??  It speaks to my creative side, oh and my wallet.  Big time.  The delightful sales associate from Ikea was super helpful with my trying to figure out how much I needed, how it should run and overall making me feel like I actually had a great idea, not like I am ridiculous.  Thank you lovely associate. Three panels running vertically cost me $50.00 total with the cut out fabric from where the windows are, left over to maybe cover a large pillow for another room.  Can’t keep it in the bedroom.  Too matchy-matchy for me.

Next comes the figuring on the best way to execute the project.  I did not want to glue it, though it would be great to know it’s secure to the wall, I visualized a big mess knowing me and future removal would be daunting and possibly wall damaging.  And besides, what if I hated it up?  It would ruin the fabric for anything else.  Drapes were a possible runner up project, should the feature wall fail.  But it didn’t fail.  But lets walk through the steps for those who want to know how and those who will venture into my world and actually try it (Oh how I hope you are out there).

I decided to tack the fabric to the border of the wall and window edge with plain old gold dollar store thumbtacks.  Should I have been disappointed with the outcome there are only small holes that paint would probably fill in but of course could quickly swipe with putty.  There were to be three panels total.  I started from the centre since this is the most visible panel.  I figured out the math,

incorrectly, I might add, but in this situation, it wasn’t too important to get it bang on.  (Thankfully)

I folded an edge along the top of the fabric just along that little natural hem on the fabric already there.  It was a little tricky holding the fabric in place while keeping the hem folded and tacking it in place, but it got easier as I went along and more fabric got tacked.  Picture Lucy and Ethel, minus Ethel.

Already, from one panel being tacked, I was getting excited.  I tacked it tightly at the bottom, just above the baseboard, pulling gently to be sure the fabric was taut and smooth.  I left the sides for the time being since I was going to tack along the joining of each panel.

And here is a view with the second panel.  I tacked the two where they joined, being sure both edges met, leaving one flat and the other folded and overlapping the other so it would not end up being too bulky but you don’t see the hem.

Once the left panel was in place, I cut out the fabric where the window is, leaving enough edge to fold under to make a smooth finished edge all around the window, cutting in diagonally the corners and folding them under like a gift.  I was able to tack along the top and bottom with some help from my trusty little hammer where I got some resistance.  I could not however, tack along the edge of the window’s sides, the metal frame under the drywall would not allow it to happen.  So the next best thing turned out to be another favourite tool, my glue gun.  Yes, I did.  Although I started out by tacking vertically along the edge of the panels where they joined, I didn’t like the way it looked in the end so I removed the tacks and glue-gunned the fabric instead.  It may have seeped under the fabric to the wall a little here and there, but there wouldn’t be much to deal with on the day of removal I don’t think.  To elevate the project just a little more, I randomly sprayed my favourite Rustoleum gold metallic here and there to add that bit of bling, and then I could still claim my “Painted That” part of my name.

Here is the finished feature wall, in all it’s glory.  I am loving it.  It’s different, it was super easy, it’s inexpensive, and it will be easy to change when the time comes.  It’s not for everyone, but when do I worry about that?  The good thing is you can adapt this to any fabric you love.  Then it’s all you.

A few side projects to help elevate the look of this room are the purchase of new ceiling fixture from Ikea and side lamps from Homesense.

  

And a couple of fun projects :

The before bedside table in all-over yellow, painted white with the yellow left inside, gold paint on the knobs, and…

dollar store peel and stick on top.  Works for me!

And to finish it off, and old piece of art gets revamped.

Basically, lyrics from a Beatles song, stuck to the old art with stick-on letters, painted over with white wall paint, letters peeled off , touch up where that didn’t go well like here, and there you go.  Recycled and room appropriate.  Slumber.  Ah yes.

 

And if you followed me on Instagram too, my apologies, but I have stopped my account.  It  messed with my emotions and I paid far too much attention to it.  I didn’t like how it had become more important to me than it should have.  So, Sayonara Insta.  It was fun for a time, until it wasn’t.

 

 

 

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