Ikea Mix'n' Match Studio

Materials: Expedit, Effektiv, Tag Handles, Galant, Grundtal

Description: My husband and I just relocated to Denver. I needed to make an office space out of half of our living room without it being an eye sore. I do alot of sewing so I needed something to hold all my craft supplies. I got two Expedit bookcases, 1x5 cubes, to put on either side of my Galant desk. My husband mounted them to the walls. Then he mounted two 1x8 boards of wood to the top of the bookcases with three brackets in the center to support the weight. We had to use the two boards so it would fit the depth of the bookcases.

We attached three Effektiv cabinets to the top of the boards and mounted them to the walls so they wouldn't shift around. To add more lighting my husband mounted the Ikea integrated lighting, Grundtal, to the top.

Since the doors in the birch color to the Effektiv cabinets were double the price of the white I opted to buy the white instead. I covered doors in some designer quilt fabrics. I used spray adhesive to glue the fabric down then stapled it to the backside. My husband then attached the Tag handles to the doors. I used an eyelet tool to cut a hole out of the fabric where the handle was going so when my husband drilled it didn't tear up the material.

Fabric has a tendency to bunch up when being drilled into. The other issue we ran into was the laminate puffed up where the drilling happened. After my husband drilled the holes I used a mallet to press the laminate back down under the fabric so it would lay flat. We attached the doors as per Ikea's instructions. I'm very happy with how it turned out. Now I have a great looking office.

See more of the mix and match office.

~ Kyle Leandra Kolkovich, Denver, CO