Ikea Besta Hack 2.0 - Besta TV Stand

When we rearranged our living room to capitalize on the lake view, we gave up our Besta wall unit.  We had very carefully chosen the modular Besta pieces to fit the townhouse exactly but when we moved to the lakehouse, it worked well here too!  I loved the glass panels behind the TV because they looked like beach glass, and the tower of Besta cabinets (we splurged on glass shelves and doors) showcased my turquoise McCoy pottery collection beautifully.

I was a little sad to see it go.

One day our hulking TV will get mounted above our (magically renovated) fireplace but, for now, we put baby in the corner.  A TV in the corner of the living room is not as weird as I thought!  Really, I barely notice it because the charcoal grey painted fireplace really disguises it.  I have been dreaming about finding a TV cabinet that hides the television and, with the magic of a remote, lifts and reveals the TV only when we're ready to binge watch Orange is the New Black. 

In the meantime, we re-purposed one piece of our old Besta wall unit - with a couple of alterations! Above is how it was looking after the game of musical chairs in the living room.  I think you know where this is going...

Supplies:

• Stubbarp Ikea adjustable Besta legs
• Varathane premium wood stain - weathered grey
• Watco spray lacquer
• Rubber gloves
• 220 grit sandpaper
• 1/2" oak veneer plywood
• Oak pre-glued veneer edge banding
• Construction adhesive

First, I swapped out the legs for a newer version.  When we first bought the cabinets, there weren't many options for adjustable legs, but we picked an okay silver set.  Now, however, Ikea sells a greyed out "walnut".  Here's a look at them (they're actually solid oak with a "walnut effect" and grey stain).



Next, we needed to address the holes on the top and side of the Besta cabinet, left over from when the other pieces were assembled together.  As you can see above, we decided to do exactly what we did to our DIY Ikea Fauxdenza Hack - slap on some plywood! 

We couldn't find the same Carribean Pine I chose for the credenza top, so we bought some oak instead.  I really wanted walnut veneer (like what we used for our DIY Walnut Storage Bins) but a 1/2" thick walnut veneered plywood was really expensive.  I want to say around $150?  That's too good for an Ikea TV stand!  We chose the least expensive option (without dropping down to the construction-grade plywood you find at home building place, like Home Depot): basic oak.  But I spent a good 40 minutes picking out the sheet with the best grain, and I'm really happy with my choice! 

For the floating credenza, I had a grey stain custom-mixed at a local paint shop.  I've had folks ask me about the color, but I have no way to help readers replicate it, so for this project I decided to try a ready-made grey stain.  I turned to my friends at Rust-Oleum, who sent me Varathane Premium Wood Stain in weathered grey, which is a really nice grey.

With stain, you can really control the intensity.  One coat of weathered grey still looks warm with beige undertones (like my credenza), but after two and three coats, it becomes a lot cooler and richer.  It's a beautiful shade of grey, with blue undertones.  On my stir stick, you can just how different one coat vs. seven coats looks:

Of course stain will look different on different species of wood, but on my oak veneer plywood, it looks SO similar to the sample on the can (pictured on red oak).

After the stain was dry, I applied four coats of Watco Spray Lacquer - which is SO easy to use!  I lightly sanded between coats two and three.  Other than that, I just sprayed it on lightly in a well ventilated area - no brushing, no streaks.  It even smells good.  This might be my new favorite product.

 
Installation went exactly like the credenza hack: after cutting, edge banding and staining the plywood, we applied construction adhesive to the Besta unit, applying the sides first and then the top.  I held the panels in place while Hubby affixed some screws from the inside to help grab the panels while the adhesive dried.  A few clamps helped keep things flat and - voila! 

A freshened up Ikea Besta hack for our corner TV:

It's a subtle change, but it makes the Ikea Besta unit look a little more finished - plus it hides those screw holes, allowing us to re-purpose this piece and save some $$$ while we drain our bank accounts on sailing stuff. 

There was only one snag with this project (which makes me SO happy we didn't splurge on the walnut):  because we have yet to buy a table saw, we often make do with a skill saw and a straight edge but, for projects like this, we either use someone else's table saw or get the guys at Windsor Plywood to cut it for us (that's where we buy a lot of our supplies).  They cut the Ikea credenza perfectly, but we were less than impressed this time.  A dull blade created some tear out and it wasn't until we'd applied the construction adhesive (at midnight) and were about to affix the top that we noticed the top was cut too long.  Oops.  We double checked the measurements and we didn't make the mistake, but it IS our fault for not dry-fitting first.  We were over confident - and over tired - but we decided to keep going.  We would have had to scrape off the construction adhesive, drive to Hubby's Dad, trim the tiniest bit off, re-glue the edge band and touch up the stain.  Did I mention it was midnight?  We were kind of in a "just get it done" mood and, you know what?  It is barely noticeable.  If this was a permanent, love-it-forever kind of furniture, I would have taken the time to make it right.  But eventually (sooner, rather than later, I hope) we're going to replace this for something nicer and, hopefully, jettison the corner cabinet altogether one day.  This little mistake isn't really noticeable and I'm just happy the big ugly holes are covered up. 

But there's a lesson in there: always double check and dry fit first!

P.S. I had to share this last photo!  I was listening to music on the TV while I was working and I snapped this photo just as Coleman Hell was on - he's originally from my city.  So thrilled to see people from Thunder Bay making it big!

Rearranging the Living Room with Our Modern White Leather Sectional

The sectional sofa we ordered back in March was delivered and the living room looks completely different now!   I rambled on in this post about how we wanted to start capitalizing on our view of Lake Superior.  The furniture placement wasn't thought out for the space because we just moved everything from the townhouse living room and plonked it down.  The sofa faced away from the window and although the setup was nice for watching movies with the fireplace roaring, it wasn't inviting for just sitting around, chatting or reading - and you couldn't see the lake very well from the living room.  One day we'll renovate the fireplace and put the television above it (maybe hidden behind art?), but for now we disassembled our old Besta unit, bought prettier "greyed walnut" Ikea legs, and shoved it in the corner to make room for the combined 20 feet of lounge space our new, modern leather sectional offers.

Ta Da!

Even though we added way more seating, somehow the room feels airier and more spacious to me because the windows are now largely unobstructed.  As well, instead of a hodgepodge of furniture (the velvet chair, the mint chair, three teak tables, mismatched sofa and dark ottoman, wall unit, plant stand), we have a more streamlined furniture arrangement: big cream sofa with matching ottoman, accent chair, pair of end tables with matching lamps, and the TV stand.  It's simpler!  We had to move the teal velvet chair to my office, but I kept the Mingo chair and positioned it with one of the teak tables beside the television.  Once again, I'm blocking windows with furniture, but you can still easily see the lake around the delicate frame of the mint chair and it just feels a little more balanced.  With just a naked row of windows, the living room felt lopsided, but my biggest motivator is that I have literally nowhere else to put my favorite chair in this small home.  It has to live there - or someone else's living room (cue the sad trombone). 

Two of our three teak side tables stayed, as did my beloved blue Lotte lamps (I bought a pair of Canadian-made linen pillow covers that are an exact match!).  I'm not convinced that I like the scale of the teak table with the Mingo, so we might be swapping it out, but I don't want to build/buy anything until this layout has gelled a little.  Besides, I'm too busy loading up the sofa with an abundance of throw pillows, wheeeeeeeeee.

Look at how insanely long this sofa is...

Living Room Before and Afters:

Here's a reminder of the living room when we bought the lakehouse:

Here's a comparison of our old arrangement with how the room looks now:

Before

Now

Before

Now

Before

Now

Choosing the colour for our sofa was tricky.  I considered many different leather samples, including a beautiful caramel (not pictured), a metallic silver (so expensive), a really worn, bitter chocolate (too rustic), a forest green (what was I thinking?), and a blindingly bright white (not pictured).

In the end, I really waffled between a couple of grey leather swatches (one matched the fireplace perfectly, the other was a medium grey) and a creamy white.  I kept thinking grey would be practical, but everyone I polled voted white.  My friend Ashley said it best: "in a lakehouse, with no kids, go with the white - it's perfect".

I'm so thrilled with the light leather.  It's what we'd grown accustomed to with our old sofa (although this sofa is a much lighter/brighter shade) and I think that with a sofa this ginormous, a grey or caramel leather would have looked too heavy.

From the sample though, I couldn't tell how creamy the leather would be and I was shocked when it arrived - certain we'd been sold the wrong colour.  It felt too yellow when it was unwrapped on the deck, with the sun beating down on it.  But once we hung the artwork and added the throw pillows, I immediately appreciated its softness.  A white leather as bright as our walls might have looked too stark and cold, especially with my cool color palette.  The creamy white has a natural feel and plays well with Hubby's Grandpa's paintings (I moved the creamy diptych from my office, although it used to hang in the townhouse living room).

This sofa is manufactured in Canada, which makes me happy.  I love the chunky arms (there was an option for narrower arms, but I think these look more modern).  I sit on the edge when I'm on the phone; it's a peaceful place to perch and take in the view.  The sofa is too comfy for things like that, because I tend to fall asleep, curled up in the corner ("my" spot), within minutes.

We had the choice of "walnut," "espresso," or "chrome" legs and we chose the walnut:

As an added bonus, we finally replaced our disintegrating ottoman!  We bought the matching storage ottoman, and it's every bit as awesome as I hoped.  I've wanted a new ottoman forever and I'm so happy we kept putting it off. 

Unfortunately, we think the sofa was dropped during shipping because the arm by the fireplace is really pushed out and wonky.  We're still waiting to hear back on a replacement/repair, but hopefully that doesn't create a headache.

I lowered the exposure a lot so you could see the view outside the living room window.  Having the sofa against the window was a real shame, because this is the view we were obscuring:

I've been watching the sunset from the sofa every night and it's a beautiful way to end the day.

Once I've done a little more tinkering with the room, I'll share a tour of the whole living/dining/kitchen space. You can see I'm still working, because in some photos the McCoy planter on the hearth is empty, but in others it has my new eucalyptus planted.  I'm sure I'll be fussing with things all week.

In between naps.

I've been asked by many readers to create a page where I list everything in the lakehouse - a "shop the look" kind of idea, but that's so tricky because a lot of what I buy is vintage, on clearance, or custom-made.  I am slowly putting together a list, going room by room, searching for alternatives that closely resemble my best finds.   In the meantime, here are some links for the living room, with similar items if I couldn't track down links for the exact pieces.

GET THE LOOK:

SOURCES:
Triple Bubble Light Fixture with Three Saucer Pendants - Modernica
Teak Dining Table - Vintage (this round West Elm table is similar but this rectangular walnut table from West Elm is more spacious)
Blue Tweed Dining Chairs - HomeSense (the "Sabrina," the "Tufted Hourglass," and the "Savafieh" are similar)
TV Stand - Ikea (Besta Cabinet with Grey Walnut Legs)
Case Study Planter - Modernica
Turquoise Velvet Pillows - Ikea (here's a similar aqua velvet pillow, Made in USA)
Blue Tweed Pillows - Sears
Patterned Throw Pillows - Marimekko
Turquoise Planters - Vintage, McCoy (I'm swooning for this turquoise bullet planter, and this aqua ceramic planter on solid wood legs from West Elm is just as stunning!)
Blue Lamps - Vintage Lotte, still produced today (see here for a really affordable aqua lamp with a similar vibe and here for really cool, coastal modern lamp)
Mint Chair - Vintage (see here for a cute MCM-style mint accent chair and here for a gorgeous turquoise MCM arm chair)
Leather Sofa and Ottoman - Barewood Furniture (local furniture store)
Krenit Bowl - Vintage (see here for modern reproduction in turquoise!)
Modern White Ceiling Fan - Kichler Ferron (can't find it in white anymore, but there is a polished nickel)

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Capitalizing on the Lake View in the Living Room

I have news that I couldn't wait to share with you, but first - a warning:  I'm about to make the lakehouse living room a little less attractive, in the name of actually living in it more enjoyably.

Hubby and I have always tried to find that perfect balance (for us) between form and function when it comes to decorating our home.  We've picked a cushy sofa over a better looking, firmer model (is it just me, or do some of the best looking sofas look hard as rocks?).  We've found ourselves eschewing the modern dining chairs I love, in favor of something incredibly derriere-friendly.  Even our most polarizing choice - open shelving in the kitchen - was made in pursuit of eking out more storage.  Of course, "function" is highly subjective and what feels practical for one family might be an absolute nightmare for another (I always wonder about the inconvenient television placement in design magazines: the homes where no chair in any room actually faces the TV)!

Hubby and I spend a lot of time thinking about how we live in our spaces and what we want from our home.  This slows down our decorating process a lot but we really want to maximize every space.  This small house stumps us sometimes because every room needs to work double or triple duty.

But we have finally committed to some big changes in the living room and they're directed by our new life by the lake.

When we bought the lakehouse, I immediately envisioned the fireplace painted charcoal grey (check!) with the television mounted above it and a mid-century modern sectional facing the new TV/fireplace and the lake.  I wanted to be able to see the fireplace during our TV binge watching sessions (read: winter hibernation), but also be able to sit, chill and just look at the lake.  I pictured us reading and sipping tea, watching the otters skitter across the ice in the winter and using the binoculars to people bird watch in the summer.  I'm making us sound like the laziest people on the planet, but I'm not shamed of loving downtime.  There's something about living lakeside that makes people really chill...

Despite this vision for our new lake life, after the house became ours we moved in all of our old furniture from the townhouse - our secondhand sofa, our splitting at the seams tufted ottoman, our beloved Ikea Besta wall unit, plus my pretties: the minty chair and velvet chair I had recovered - and faced all of the furniture away from the lake, toward the television.  With these pieces, we also moved a mid-century modern sectional I bought (fourth photo down in this post) on impulse the day before we moved.  Although I love it and it fit the plan, we hesitated getting it recovered and so it's been languishing in the garage.  Although Hubby initially like it, he longed for something a little more cushy.

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New Marimekko Living Room Pillows - Plus a FinnStyle Coupon Code for You!

I favor a slow approach to decorating, taking the time to find the perfect pieces and making little changes so a room grows along with me, reflecting my changing style.  I recently made a small change to the living but it's the kind of change that suddenly makes everything "click".  I thought this would be a good time for a quick look back at the living room, to see how it has shaped up in 19 months - and what it looks like now, with the new additions!

Although we sold a lot of things right before we moved to the lakehouse, we kept most of our old furniture for the living room.  Although things were moved around a little, the cream leather sofa, teal velvet chair, minty mingo chair, black organic chair, Ikea wall unit and even our brown ottoman (although that's on the chopping block) all made the move with us. 

When we first set up our furniture, the living room looked a little bland, but it was already more our style because we had painted the walls and trim white and the fireplace a deep charcoal grey.  It looked quite different from when we first viewed the property:

When I spotted some Marimekko Kirsikka fabric on sale, I scooped it up and coerced my Mom into sewing four bold pillows to liven up the neutral sofa:

I liked how the Kirsikka pattern looked with the spherical glass shades of the big chrome lamp we had at the time.  Suddenly the room had more life - pillows made all the difference!

When I stole my Mom's 1960s blue Lotte lamps, I was surprised by how much I liked the blue.  I hadn't planned on adding blue, so the pillows - with their aqua, green, black and white palette - weren't perfect anymore, but I loved them too much to part with them.  Plus, no way was my Mom going to whip up four new ones!  

When I switched around some furniture, moving our black organic chair and replacing it with the mint mingo from the bedroom, the living room started to boast a riot of patterns and colours, but I still liked the pillows.  I especially liked how the swirls of the Kirsikka complemented the swirls of the upholstery on the mingo chair.

Because the same shade of blue from the Lotte lamps pops up in the both the living room and dining room art, I was confident that the new tweed dining chairs I found would suit our open concept living space quite nicely - providing a visual break from my love affair with aqua, without introducing yet another colour. 

With the addition of more blue, though, it was time to introduce a textile that would play nice.  That's right - I finally conceded that the old pillows weren't right:



FinnStyle (one of my favorite shops, long before the days of sponsored posts) recently reached out and offered to help spruce up a room.  I immediately started perusing their inventory of Marimekko pillows and fabric.  Have you checked out their selection?  SO many gorgeous prints and if you shop in store there's a great remnant section too.

I found the perfect fabric right away: Marimekko's Lumimarja, which comes in different colourways, including one with two shades of leafy green and one with nearly the exact same blue as my Lotte lamps and dining chairs (called "white/green" and "grey/blue," respectively).  FinnStyle generously sent me two of each and they're perfect for the living room:




They add just enough colour and interest without competing with any of the bolder elements in the space.  They tie in the blues and greens, as well as the warm teak and walnut wood tones, and complement our cream leather sofa beautifully.  Plus they boast a beautiful, organic print that I think pairs just as well with the Mingo chair as the Kirsikka fabric did.  The rooms feels lighter and airier and I'm so amazed what a difference just swapping out four throw cushions can make!

After mixing throw cushion patterns in the townhouse, I went for a bold set of four identical cushions when we moved to the lakehouse because I liked the graphic quality.  But now I'm inching back toward pattern mixing and the Lumimarja is a great way to subtly achieve that look because the prints are the same scale, but the colours vary - making mixing effortless!

If something at FinnStyle caught your eye, you're in luck!  FinnStyle is offering Dans le Lakehouse readers a 20% discount.  They asked if readers would prefer a giveaway or discount and I figured a discount because then everyone can find something - I hope I chose right!  Click on this link, enter your email address and get your 20% discount right now.  I've been an email subscriber for years and I promise they aren't spammy.  I appreciate getting emails about their flash sales because I have scored some super sweet deals!

Thanks to FinnStyle for providing the Lumimarja pillows for this living room spruce.  I was provided the product, but not paid or prompted to provide a positive review - this is the best kind of collaboration, because you already know that I'm a huge fan! 

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