Ikea – All Grown Up

Once the poster child for disposable furniture, the quintessential college dorm set, the mainstay of every newlywed/newlygraduated/virgin apartment owner everywhere, has grown up.

Gone are the days when Ikea was known simply as a flatpack nightmare. Sure, they still have undecipherable instructions and quite typically Boot Camp instructors have included assembling bookcases and dressers as part of their routines, but Ikea is slowly, surely seeping into high end decorative interiors.  And I don’t just mean my own.

You’re beginning to see it everywhere.  From the pages of Elle Decor to the multitude of photos on Apartment Therapy.  Designers everywhere are playing on the quirk and taking advantage of Ikea’s budget friendly, modernist designs to round out there own super cool interiors.  I’ll admit, I’ve done it too.  I have a grouping of LACK sidetables in my living room as a substitute for a giant coffee table.  It works and know one is the wiser that I spent 50 bucks without dumpster diving or being exposed to the potential dangers that is known as Craigslist. CL isn’t that bad but for story we’re taking dramatic license….

Don’t believe me?  Still think that Ikea should be left to the college dorm?  Take a peek at these examples and see if they change your mind….. And tell me, Would you use Ikea flatpack to round out your client’s designs?

Images via [1] [Author] [3] [4] [5]

D.Coop was not compensated for this post.  Though I do have a number of blisters and bruises from the Ikea Allen Wrench.

Weekend Warrior – PANYL is Bringing Sexy Back

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

So here’s the deal, I’m certain the last thing you’re thinking of today is “what can I do around the house?”.  For me, it comes down to “what can I do around the house while still holding my margarita”.

Yeah, I’m a drunk like that.

Side note, Steve and I nicknamed our neighbors The Highballers because the first two years we lived in our house, we never saw them outside of their house without a highball in their hand.  And I thought I stayed inebriated.

ANYWAY…. back to that thought.  I’m a big fan of IKEA.  I use their frames like they’re going out of style (they won’t).  And their Expedit bookcases are God sends.  My last office looked like an IKEA catalog shoot I had so many of them piled around.  I actually went so far as to modify a few of them to suit my needs (two of them back to back are the perfect depth for sets of construction documents).

Needless to say, if you’re like me, you’ve got one or fourteen of them hanging around your house.  They’re probably white. Or wood tone.  That’s great fine and dandy but sometimes you just need a little pop.  Like when I painted the office black (and proceeded to use an IKEA dining table and an Expedit on wheels to furnish said office).  Enter stage right a little IKEA hacker company called PANYL.

Reader’s Digest version – PANYL helps make your otherwise bland IKEA something straight out of a Dwell Magazine shoot.  Pre-cut vinyl wraps for a number of IKEA’s most popular pieces in a multitude of colors (did I forget to mention wood tones?!).  I can’t attest to its ease of installation but according to their website, it’s as simple as a few minutes with a squeegee.  Geico is jealous because PANYL makes their super simple car quotes look like complex exercises in thermal dynamics.

So yeah, it looks like something you might be able to accomplish while holding your margarita.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

You can find PANYL’s products here.

D.Coop was not compensated for this post.  The evidence is that my Expedit bookcases are STILL white.

Images via PANYL.