When we sold our house and moved into the apartment (where we’ll be until our new house is built) we used it as an opportunity to scale way back on furniture, decor, clothing, pretty much everything. First of all, we were moving to a smaller space and wouldn’t have as much room for stuff. Second, the less we had to move and/or store, the better. Anything that we didn’t truly love or already have a place in mind for, got donated, given away or sold.
There were a few new things that we wanted to buy for the apartment. One was a new media cabinet for the living room. We had a wall that was the perfect placement for a storage/media cabinet but there was a window that we needed to work around. We could either go with a cabinet that stopped just short of the window or find one that was low enough to go under it. We felt like it would probably end up unused space and a missed opportunity for storage if we went with a narrower cabinet so we opted to find one that was low enough to go under the window. Easier said than done. Finding a cabinet that was low enough to go under the window and long enough to fill the space (10 feet long!), turned out to be a very expensive unicorn. Then I remembered Nick Lewis’ youtube video on upgrading Ikea furniture and thought that it might be the perfect solution. Here’s what we ended up with…
Eva Doors- Norse Interiors – Washable Rug – Record Player – Lamp (sold out)- similar here and here – Planter
We are thrilled with how this cabinet turned out! We feel like we really got the most bang for our buck going this route versus trying to buy a correctly scaled, ready-made piece of furniture which would likely have been several thousand dollars.
Here’s the cost breakdown:
Besta Tv Cabinet- $100
Besta Storage Cabinet- $50
Besta Shelves (5)- $10 each
Ikea Door Hinges (5 Packs)- $15 per pack
Eva Custom Doors- $500
Ilse Brass Support Leg (2)- $25 each
Sara Brass Legs (6)- $30 each
Agnes Brass Cabinet Pulls (5)- $9 each
Total- $1050
Now, I wouldn’t necessarily say that this was a cheap solution, but compared to the cost of a ready made or even custom made 10 foot long piece of furniture, we felt like it was definitely a less expensive option. Plus we got to customize it in a way that we wouldn’t have gotten to if we had bought a ready made piece. We chose the exact doors, legs and pulls that we wanted.
Norse Interiors offers door, leg and door pull options to customize the Besta, Malm and Sektion lines from Ikea. The combinations are endless!
Until next time…
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