Our 1st Ikea Hack! (Does this Count?)

For those who aren't familiar, Ikea Hacker is a website dedicated to sharing people's attempts at re-purposing or improving upon products sold at Ikea. Some of the ideas are impressive projects that obviously took a lot of work. Our first attempt at an Ikea hack is so modest that I'm not sure if it counts, but we are thrilled with the end result. Check it out:

Before: An unfinished Svala table and chairs, which we assembled.

This tea party is so uncivilized. C'mon, Monkey, let's blow this pop stand.

After: Painted with Freshaire brand No VOC paint and adorned with a snazzy vinyl decal ordered from Singlestonestudios's Etsy store.

Care to join us for a spot of tea?


Will you take sugar with that? (Note: this is huge, actually. Her normal manner of "serving" is pouring the pretend tea directly on to her guest.)


What, did you think I painted that myself?! Ha!


The table also worked great for our Valentine's Snacky Town Dinner, complete with movie fort made of pillows. (We watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona and liked it.)

So, there you have it! My goal with this project was to end up with something cute for Georgia and her playmates that doesn't just SCREAM kiddie-kiddie-kiddie when sitting next to our actual dining room table. It's sometimes hard to strike the right balance in condo living between wanting to cater to children's taste while at the same time recognizing that there is no real distinction between the kid areas and the adult areas in our home, (considering that we don't want to feel like we're swimming in a sea of brightly colored plastic crap).

I mentioned the brand of paint only because I was curious about trying "No VOC" paint, since it's supposed to be better for the environment and better for you (your lungs, etc.). We were truly amazed with the complete lack of any paint fumes coming from this stuff. We painted indoors, in our bedroom, and there was zero lingering smell. Crazy cool in comparison to the fumes from other paint jobs we have tackled. (Hmmm...maybe I should not have been painting Georgia's nursery while 8 1/2 months pregnant after all?) The downside was that it's a little pricier than regular paint, and they only sell it (at our Home Depot, anyway) in the gallon size. That's right, we bought a whole gallon of paint for this one tiny table and chairs. So, if anyone reading this (who lives nearby) likes our idea enough to steal it, or happens to have a wall to cover with "Sacred Soil", you're more than welcome to the remnants, (i.e., the other 98% of the can that we didn't use).

Cut to the chase - who needs cups anyway? Happy tea parties, everyone!