Ikea Hacking For Ikea Hackers

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Have you heard of Ikea Hacking?

Ikea Hackers are creative folk who take ubiquitous Ikea products and modify them to suit their own particular needs or aesthetic.

Our clients, whose property we featured in our November 2012 Home Of The Month post, have an enormous collection of books. In fact, one of the requirements for their move was to ensure they could accommodate their extensive collection. The house they bought offers all the space they need, but it included zero shelving.

Although our clients were bringing some existing shelving units with them, we offered to help provide our clients with an economical solution that would look customized, create a more cohesive look to the living room, plus improve the property’s resale value.

Welcome to urbaneer.com’s first Ikea Hacking venture!

Using two BESTÅ white storage cabinets purchased for CAN$180 each, urbaneer.com’s carpenter placed them on a level base (there was a slight slope in the floors), topped them with some open MDF shelving, wrapped the envelope in crown molding and baseboard trim and then painted them white to match the Ikea cabinets. We had a white mantel installed to create some visual cohesion, and give the space a more relaxed traditional look. We also accommodated a niche for a flat screen tv that can be turned for easy viewing.

Here are some progress pics:

 

 

Without question we’re unequivocal fans of High / Low style.

In our eyes, you don’t have to go with ‘expensive everything’ to demonstrate your own personal style. In fact, we think the most successful rooms are those which mix it up. Blending the architectural features of your room (in this case the vintage brick fireplace) with found furnishings and custom pieces, mixed with some vintage kitsch and framed art, is all it takes to curate a great one-of-a-kind look.

And who doesn’t love the look of a wall of books? We believe it makes a space look more ‘lived in’ and charming.

 

 

We received a quote of CAN$9000 to do a custom build of these shelves. And I’m sure they would have been perfection. Instead, we achieved this ‘look for less’ for just CAN$2500.

We’re fans of Ikea, but we encourage our clients to exercise some caution when it comes to home renovations.

Why?

Check out this must-read post on how not to jettison a profit opportunity called ‘I SEE YA, IKEA‘!

Want more inspiration? Then check out the brilliant site called Ikea Hackers by clicking HERE!

While some people might consider it unusual for a realtor to undertake a client’s shelving dilemma in their newly purchased home, it’s just one of the FREE perks we include as part of our listing and buying services. Our design guidance includes consultations, style enhancements, access to our reputable trades, and even designer discounts!

Do you need assistance with your real estate needs? With a multi-disciplinary education in design, finance, urban planning, construction and the psychology of housing and home, plus over two decades of practical experience in the sales and marketing of real estate, we’re here to help you secure your next property.  And yes, we’ll even help you design and renovate it.

Are you a Seller? We offer free Style Enhancements to help you achieve top dollar! Click HERE to read about the significant renovation and style enhancement we undertook for a client’s townhome. Click HERE to see how we transformed a bleak terrace into an outdoor ‘room’. The only thing our clients had to do was write the cheque, and we took care of the rest!

It’s one of the reasons we’re in Bosley’s 2012 Top Ten, out of 225 associates.

~ Steven and the urbaneer team

Real Estate
Renovation
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