she adds, "basically, we didn't want to buy furniture since the green way is not to consume more. staining the furniture was not an option since ikea uses laminate. i came up with the idea after looking at my parent's pantry. they used contact paper to line the shelves. i knew they made contact paper in a walnut finish which was the effect we wanted (we both adore walnut finishes).
the contact paper has a low stick backing and we just applied it to the surface. it's a two man job and while one of us held it in place, the other would use a dry marker eraser to smooth out the bubbles as we went. we had to use a very sharp blade to cut around edges and corners. in one of the photos you can see the original finish with the contact paper coming up and over the edge. we didn't do the insides since no one will see it anyways.it is a great way to give ikea furniture a face lift without doing a lot of damage, mess or hard work!
i also included some 'before' pictures.
before the makeover. the room, not the boyfriend.
wow! the before pics really make it clear how much you achieved.
ReplyDeletewell done.
I'm sorry to have to say this, but it looked better before you put the tacky contact paper on it. Now it looks like even cheaper stuff you can buy at Wal Mart.
ReplyDeletenice one!
ReplyDeletecontact paper is amazing!!
at first, my parent didn't let me paint the trim in my room white (it was dark stained wood and it made the room look so old fashioned), so i took white contact paper and covered all of the window trim in it, creasing it into the cracks and then cutting off the excess with an xacto knife.
and it came out beautifully! up close you could tell it was that, but from a few feet away it looked like perfectly smooth white trim.
in the end, my parents decided they liked how it looked in white anyhow, and they let me actually paint the trim. (i couldve gotten away with the contact paper, but the paint would last a little longer)
Room has a nice look and feel now. How about adding a little more color, and some privacy, to those frosty doors by picking out a nice fabric design to tack inside? You can also use nice wrapping paper. It would be cheaper than fabric, and then you could change it up more often - seasonal, mood, etc.
ReplyDeleteThere´s nothing worse than fake wood.. perhaps fake food.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was much poorer and lived in apartments with horrible laminate countertops I would cover it with contact paper.
ReplyDelete