Ikea To The Rescue
Posted by Rebecca, July 17th, 2013
A while back, I posted about wanting to add some book storage to the playroom. I mentioned possibly building some ledges since it seemed fairly simple. Well, after a trip to Ikea a few months ago, we realized that we could use their picture ledges for a cheap and fast solution. Since my goal in life these days is to keep it simple, we decided to buy them.
First, let’s talk about Easton’s love of Ikea. If you follow me on Instagram (@lilhousecould), you are already aware.
(ps- I made my Instagram private since it’s more of my personal pictures than blog pictures, but as long as you look like a genuine person, I’ll accept!)
We went (again) over the 4th of July weekend, so the store was empty. Since he’s currently a full out toddler, he had enough of the stroller at the end and just wanted to run. A giant, empty warehouse was the perfect place for all of his energy.
We picked up 3 of the Ribba ledges in white, in the longer length (45 1/4″). We hung them while we were together one weekend during a nap.
We used the stripes as spacing and decided to hang a shelf every stripe and a half to make sure Easton has space for taller books as he gets older. The stripes are 12 inches wide so the shelves are 18 inches apart from the actual flat part the books sit on.
As Mike put it, it’s such a great use of space. Easton has a lot of books (he still has some in the family room and his bookcase full in his room) and this saved us precious space in his toy storage. Plus the colorful books “make it look like real playroom” according to Mike.
When Easton woke up from his nap, he ran over to his new book wall right away. Baby bookworm.
I am thankful that we did not put that lower shelf any lower or we would have a child standing on it. I originally thought of adding a 4th shelf lower for him, but it definitely would have become a ladder/climbing wall. Just to be safe, each screw that is not in a stud is drilled into a drywall anchor that holds 50lbs. Thankfully, Easton is only 24lbs 🙂
His only objection was to where I placed his chair, he prefers it like this…
One day I’ll have to take a picture of him rearranging the furniture in our family room. I’m talking full out chairs and ottomans moving across the room. He says he just has an eye for these things….
After the shelves were up, we decided to head back to Ikea (this was the 4th of July weekend trip) to look at tables for the playroom. I’ve been eyeing up sales at Pottery Barn Kids and Land of Nod, but their tables were all still ridiculously expensive. The playroom is small, so I didn’t want anything big, but something that Easton can use now and as he gets older. More and more, we’d been building blocks on the lid to his drum set, on the carpet, so I knew it was time…
We went with the Sundvik children’s table in white. It’s solid wood, which was something I really wanted and it is the perfect size.
We picked up 2 of the matching chairs to go with it, but for now they are still in their boxes. Easton wouldn’t be able to reach the table sitting and would definitely use them to Spider Man himself up on the windows..or the book ledges… or my head. In a couple of months they will be perfect and I might even paint them a bright color, we’ll see.
For now, the table is perfect for Easton to stand at.
He has a nice little section of the room furnished now. There’s still a lot I want to do in here and I know it will be never ending as his needs/skills are constantly evolving.
I’ve been trying to bust out some arts and crafts, but he’s more fascinated by how the crayons fit into the little Crayola palm grip things we have. He has been a master stamper though, even if it means there are stamps on the new table. We’ll be testing the durability of that Ikea paint with the multiple wipe downs. He uses the table for his blocks and stacking toys mostly, but also as a place to put his sippy cup.
Wonder where he learned that one?
Love the little book ledges! That’s a super cute idea!
And Easton is such an adorable baby! I can’t believe how big he’s getting!
I love how the book ledges turned out!
Love the book shelves – they turned out awesome and are so practical!
Ikea is the best! I agree with Cori, the book ledges look great =)
Those book ledges are so great… I want some now. 😉 I also hear a rumor we’re getting an IKEA in my neck of the woods and I’m dyyyyying!!!
That room is SO CUTE! It will grow so well with him too. Ikea has saved me more times than I can mention! LOL
OT, on your poured/stamped patio concrete – I just love it, and want to do the same thing, and have found a contractor to do it. (although I was shocked at the price *cough*) Anyway, hubs wants to do it, but in a lighter color (and I want it darker to match my eaves). He says it will be too hot on barefeet. IS your hot?
We were warned about that as well, so we didn’t go as dark as our inspiration. Our backyard actually gets a shade for most of the day, so when we reseal we may go darker.
Just out of curiosity, could you do a post detailing your honeymoon to Hawaii?
We are in the process of saving our money (I like to look at it as: We have enough for one RT plane ticket – OR our place to stay for the entire week! 🙂 ) and I’m curious as to which island, what to do, what to skip etc!
Currently I’m thinking 2 days in Oahu and then Maui.
Hi Cinny!
We only stayed in Maui but stayed in 3 different places there. We went from a luxury resort in Wailea for 3 days, then another resort in Lahaina for 3 days then we rented a 1 bedroom house im Hana for the remainder. The house saved us a ton of money, but then we also had to cook for ourselves and travel to the beach. At that point though, we had a while to relax already and we were ready to get out and explore a bit.
Maui is unbelievable and it was my favorite vacation so far. Many people go to Hana as a day trip but there is so much tucked away there that we were busy for the 4 days we were there. But also, the few high end resort days were fabulous when we were so exhausted from the wedding and just wanted to relax. I fell asleep before the plane even took off because I was so tired after the wedding, so definitely something to think about! I could have never done the hiking and stuff we did on the second portion of our trip right away!
The downside is that everything there is ridiculously expensive. We loved it and said we’d save to go back for our 5 year anniversary, but that’s next year and we don’t even know if we could manage 10 years! We don’t have a single regret about our trip though!
When we got kids things really change, even our house may change a little bit lol! I also got things from IKEA when my 2 boys needs to have a playroom. I love your rug!
I always love to see how people decorate with items from IKEA! So cute and a job well done!
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You seem very practical with a good husband willing to do the work. Shelves turned out wonderful. I heard there was going to be a new IKEA built somewhere around Oklahoma City, but nothing yet. I have visited their site and amazingly enough, they don’t ship much of anything. Guess I’ll drive to Dallas with a big truck……hehe. Enjoy your new family life…your son is gorgeous!
Diane
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I love shopping at Ikea, they have a wide range of products, and the prices are acceptable. When it comes to easy cleaning of the furniture, I found out that there is no such thing, especially when you have a small child. They like to paint on everything.
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Nice ideas from IKEA!
You can always rely on IKEA for a good home furniture. I can assure you. Cheers.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Parrish’s rescue was delayed by several hours after the squad got turned around in the pillow section and couldn’t find their way out,” he added.
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We used the stripes as spacing and decided to hang a shelf every stripe and a half to make sure Easton has space for taller books as he gets older. The stripes are 12 inches wide so the shelves are 18 inches apart from the actual flat part the books sit on.
in the longer length (45 1/4?). We hung them while we were together one weekend during a nap.
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