A Golden Ikea Hack

It started with an inexpensive Ikea coffee table.  Enter multiple cans of gold spray paint, a piece of corrugated tin, and a thin piece of plywood.  Intrigued?  Read on for the full story.

You may remember our old coffee table.  It had a mid-century modern look and I loved the storage that it provided (both ends had drawers that pulled out and there was open storage in the middle).

However, it was a bit small for the living room in this house and I didn't like the wood veneer look with our new furniture.  I searched for MONTHS online for a suitable replacement.  I purchased this coffee table and then realized it was a big mistake for two reasons.  First - the scale was wrong.  It was also too small.  I checked the measurements before placing the order and thought it would be fine, but I'm such a visual person that it took seeing it in the space for me to realize that it wasn't going to work.  Second (and this should have been obvious to me) - acrylic was the wrong choice of material.  I had space that needed to be filled between the sofa and the fireplace.  I thought I could push the poufs halfway underneath the acrylic coffee table to help visually fill the space but the poufs were too tall to fit underneath it.  The fact that it was too short also posed another problem.  The dog was actually tall enough to snatch things off the top of the table!  (One benefit to owning a chihuahua is that you don't have to put things very high off the ground and they are out of his reach.)  So...the acrylic coffee table was returned.

My second attempt was the Ikea Vittsjo nesting table set.  The tables are so versatile and the Vittsjo line has been made over by many a blogger (check out some gorgeous hacks here, here, here, and lots of ideas here).  The price was definitely right and after seeing Kristin's makeover I was sold.  Their size and scale is perfect for our living room and our long "grown-up" couch.  

Cooter had to approve the new addition

I knew I wanted to spray the frames gold so I picked up some Rustoleum metallic gold spray paint and got to work.  Sometime during the second can of spray paint, the tip of my index finger went numb.  So on my trip to Home Depot for more spray paint I picked up one of these bad boys (why did it take me so long to buy one???) and got back to work.

It took me some time to figure out what I wanted to do with the lower shelf.  I couldn't imagine painting it a solid color other than gold.  I also didn't think the faux marble look would work with our decor.  I considered a rustic looking wooden shelf, but my mind couldn't make it mesh with the gold.  Eventually, I came up with the idea of using corrugated tin.  

The tin itself is not strong enough to support much weight and I knew that I wanted a functional shelf.  So, I added a piece of 1/4" plywood to the bottom to add stability and secured it with screws.

After spray painting the corrugated tin, I simply placed it on top of the plywood.

I still need to find a few more accessories and style it, but I am loving the gold.  I was definitely not a gold type of girl a year ago, but the trend has won me over.  If you're not convinced, I encourage you to check out this space, this space, and this space styled with golden accessories, this amazing gold bar cart, and this entryway with gold frames.  So much beautiful gilded eye candy.  

I was pretty content with the corrugated tin shelf until I stumbled across this.  And now I'm wondering if I should take off the tin, remove the plywood, and leave the bottom open.  Hmmmmm......I'll let you know if I make any changes.

We've also recently added some artwork above our bed, built and installed a floating fireplace mantel, and had two DIY failures.  I plan to share all four stories with you soon so stay tuned!