IKEA Upcycle Part 1

Hello everyone! Happy Sunday and Happy Mother's Day (in the US at least) to all the mothers out there!

Today I wanted to share a quick introduction to a project that I am going to be embarking on over the next few weeks. I have a simple IKEA cabinet that I plan to DIY and upcycle into something nice!

So here is the cabinet in question. This is what is looked like a few weeks ago:

I got this cabinet from my parents and put it in my craft room/office for a while. It is just a white particle board cabinet and I added the peel and stick wallpaper and gold knobs to the front of the doors. Recently I rearranged the room this piece was in and there was not a good spot for it anymore. I removed the knobs and peeled off the wallpaper, thinking I would be left with a nice clean slate, but that was not quite the case. I should have used heat when removing the wallpaper because just pulling it off actually ripped off the top layer of the particle board as well.

The cabinet also has a leg that's a bit wonky and caving in as well as some stains on the top.

Originally my husband and I were just going to bring the piece to the dump, but the longer I stared at it the more I felt that I could make it into something cute. It also felt wrong to dispose of something that, although it has a few flaws, is still a fairly sturdy piece of furniture.

So I got to googling and found a few inspiration pictures. The general vibe I will be going for is a decorative wood feature of some sort on the doors while leaving the base of the piece white. These are some cabinets I found online that fit the general idea I'm going for.

I'm personally a little more drawn to the West Elm one on the right as I'm intrigued by the fluted wood look. I follow several DIY Youtubers who have used a product called pole wrap to achieve the fluted look in an easier way. It is essentially wood or MDF on a backing that is intended to be wrapped around a pole in a house to make it more aesthetic but could also be applied as a flat piece. I have never used this product before so I think I would like to give it a try. I would certainly not need 96 inches of it as shown in the picture though!

I would also like to deviate from my inspiration pictures a little bit as well and add some color to the handles and feet as opposed to a wood or metal look. These are some feet and handles I found on Etsy that are speaking to me. They might not be exactly what I end up going for, but this is the direction I would like to take I think.

That's all I have today but I wanted to show you guys the beginning mood board stages of this project I'm excited to start! I'm not sure if I will need one or two more parts for this project, but there will certainly be more to come. Let me know what you think about my plans for the cabinet in the comments below!

 - Rebecca

​P.S. Today's photo on the homepage is from Pexels user Alexander Isreb:
www.pexels.com/photo/ikea-building-1797405/