I’m working with a client that wants to take some of her mis-matched furnishings and make them look cohesive. Immediately I knew to change the hardware and paint or change the legs to begin the unification process, but we needed to do more. What could we do with the doors? Thankfully, I found this post by Aniko at Place of My Taste and discovered how to recover the fronts of the doors using discarded pallet wood. We’ll probably end up using Stikwood for our project so the end result is consistent, but I’ll definitely check out what our local Chicago pallet fabricator has in the discard pile before making that decision.

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Two big projects in one week is not very normal around here but I could not help it. I was itching to show you what we have created with the hub last weekend. I shared a post on some GIANT DIY WALL ART on this past Tuesday and today I will show you a fantastic DIY reclaimed wood buffet-IKEA HACK.

I may say that this is one of my favorite projects of ALL TIMES. Seriously.

Our dining room had a few different design looks already but this by far,  is the BEST…In my opinion.

Well, to tell you the truth, I probably  thought that for each design at the time when it was new that it is the best because that’s what we all think after tackling a new project, right?

Here are some of the previous looks of this room.

We purchased this long , huge dining table at IKEA almost 7 years ago. It fits our dining room perfectly  and we love its beautiful color. The chairs were also purchased at the same time. The best part of these chairs that the covers are removable and washable. Some of my friends were asking if I was crazy to get white chairs? I told them, NO- I actually was smart as they can be washed and bleached anytime:-). They are almost 7 years old and there is NO stain on them. Everytime I wash them they look totally new! Bingo!

Anyways. Few years ago we wanted to add to this room and we bought a white shelving unit at IKEA.

**Update: Many of you asked what is the name of the wall cabinet that we hacked so here ya go:

BESTA WALL CABINET WITH DOORS

It has 4 cabinets and 4 doors. I got 2 white and 2 turquoise doors. I mostly used the white doors though.

Couple weeks ago I saw a very inspirational image while I was browsing West Elm.com. I FALL in love with this piece at sight! And in that moment I knew that I HAVE to create this from my IKEA shelving unit. I love West Elm design but it is not for my budget. This West Elm buffet is $1200. Yeah, it is so pretty but I think I got a very similar look not spending that amount of money:-)

 

Here is what I had in the dining room (after taking all Christmas decor down) 2 weeks ago.

 

I went to a local business place where they make pallets and asked them if they perhaps have some wood pieces that they don’t need anymore. I gave them my best smile and got a bunch of wood panels:-)

The ones they had for me were in OK shape but  they had deep cuts (see below) on about 3/4th of the panel. We were able to use one end of the panel.

We measured our doors and cut the panels to size. Each door had 4 and a half panels attached to them.

Out of the 4 door 2 were turquoise so first I spray painted the edges of those doors before we attached the panels on them.

We used small trigger clamps to hold the wood panels to the door and screwed 6 wood screws to each panel from the back of the door.

After all panels were on, I stained them carefully with a sponge. I used MINWAX Golden Oak 210 B finish. It is a lighter finials but turned out gorgeous on the panels.

Loving this natural and rustic look.

As a finishing step I painted the door with a thin lacquer coat. That  protects the wood from stains and dirt.

Here is a better look of how the door s look inside with the screws. The door got heavier of course and I was afraid that it won’t hold when we screw the doors back in place, but we had no problem.

I can not believe the difference, guys!! Such a dramatic change!

High end look on a low cost!

Can’t get better than that♥

 

COST OF THE MAKEOVER:

3 GIANT WALL FRAMES-ART: $30

WOOD FOR DOORS: FREE ( I like that:-))

STAIN: $3.99

LACQUER: $13

Can you beat that? Really! As you see, one of these Reclaimed wood buffets are over a $1000 at West Elm.

DO IT YOURSELF!!! 

 

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This is a gorgeous DIY makeover and I can’t wait to try it out. Let me know what you think in the comments.

xo Jennifer