Hey Ivar! My IKEA Hack
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Do you remember that I wrote in a previous blog post that there is always a corner in the apartment that you are not happy with? In my case it was a wall, more precisely the left wall of my current living room. And that is actually fatal, because that is the first wall that you look at as soon as you enter my apartment. But you read that right: I was not happy with it, but that is now a thing of the past! It is now one of my absolute favorite corners! How did it come about? Very easy: with a little paint and a DIY with a piece of furniture from IKEA. But before I go into too much detail, I will simply answer the questions that I received from my followers on Instagram about the wall!
What color is that wall? And where did you buy it?
This is the color “Railings” by Farrow&Ball. I bought it in the shop at Gänsemarkt, but you can also order it online.
Did you use Farrow&Ball wall paint to paint Ivar or did you use their wood paint?
Farrow&Ball recommended that I first paint the individual boards with “Dark Tones Interior Wood Primer & Undercoat”. After the boards had dried, I painted them with “Railings No.31 Estate Eggshell”.
How long did it take you to complete the whole operation?
Don't ask, it felt like it took forever and I swore a lot a few times. But that was mainly because the paint has to soak in really well and so there was usually a day's break between each coat. On top of that, the paint naturally smelled a lot and it was best to paint in a garage or outside. I did it on my balcony, which wasn't ideal due to the small size, but at least it was better than in the apartment. Even when the dressers were finished painting, they still smelled for days afterwards.
How often did you have to paint everything?
I applied the base coat once and the paint three times in total to make sure it was really uniform. But to be honest: I only painted the inside boards twice because it wasn't that important to me, since you hardly ever see them anyway. I got by with 750ml of both the base coat and the paint.
Addendum: We did things a little differently with our Ivars in the Himmelloft and first sanded the Ivar, then primed it, then painted the first layer, sanded it again and painted it again. This makes the surface much "softer" and gives it a more uniform look.
Where can I get the dresser?
This is the IVAR model from Ikea. I have the dimensions 80x30x83cm for 59.00€.
It looks really great, but when are you going to admit that the crooked cabinets are driving you crazy and hang them on the wall?
Haha, caught! While I was assembling the cupboards, I was on the phone with a colleague. So we can say that it's really easy to assemble! But then you put the chests of drawers next to each other and you notice that everything is crooked and uneven, which I honestly didn't notice when I was assembling them (maybe I shouldn't have been on the phone ;)). At first I didn't want to drill into the wall and as a temporary solution I bought table legs from the hardware store for €1.29 each. However, as soon as you opened the doors, the entire cupboard tipped forward due to its own weight. So please don't try that option!
I then had a visit from a friend who said he couldn't bear to look at the mess, especially after I had put so much work into it, so he put Ivar up on the wall. Luckily, it looks so much better that way!
How did you attach Ivar to the wall? Is there a special hanging device for it?
I'm sure Ikea has a hanging device, but I didn't use it. As I said, luckily a friend helped me. First we screwed the two individual chests of drawers together. This means: the inner walls, which stand next to each other, were connected with short screws to make one large chest of drawers. Then we attached one bracket to each corner in the top corners of each cupboard. To determine the right height for the chest of drawers without having to hold the chest of drawers yourself the whole time, we put books underneath. Then all we had to do was mark where the holes for the brackets were and we could put the chest of drawers to one side for a while. Then all we had to do was drill and then attach the chest of drawers! This means: we drilled 4 holes per chest of drawers and used 8 dowels and 8 screws in total.
How beautiful is that?
Yes, I like it a lot too! And looking back, I would say that the time spent was definitely worth it!
Addendum: How do you minimize the distance between the doors in Ivar?
I wish I could give you a suitable answer here. However, it always involved a lot of cursing and constantly adjusting the screws. Eventually, it just somehow worked. But unfortunately, I don't have the "one and only" trick for you.
