ling yeung b

One month after our Ikea pilgrimage (I have to admit, we made two trips…), I finally got round to doing the Horchow-Lovelace-coffee-table-inspired VITTSJ├û Ikea hack that I promised I’d do!

I can’t take full credit for coming up with the idea though, as similar hacks have been done many times before. What I’m going to show you is a combination of (what I think are) the best ideas, and how I approached the challenge!

Materials:

• VITTSJ├û nest of tables from Ikea
• 8 packs (16 handles) of 106mm METRIK handles from Ikea
• Gold spray paint (I used one 340g can of Valspar metallic gold spray paint from B&Q)
• 45 x 90cm sheet of self-adhesive marble effect vinyl film (I got mine from eBay)
• Super glue
• Scissors

Step 1: Protect the surface you’re going to spray on and lay out all the parts.

Step 2: Follow the instructions on the can, and spray the parts with 2 coats of paint, making sure all sides are covered. That said, I think slight patchiness, like foxing on mirrors, is actually quite pretty and gives the piece a more vintage feel. The spray paint that I chose has a shimmery antique gold finish, which goes well with my vintage French chandelier, but you can use any finish (or colour for that matter) you want!

Step 3: Whilst the paint is drying, cover one side of the base board with the vinyl. I covered the sides as well so that the edges don’t peel off, plus it makes it look more like real marble! Trim off excess along the bottom edges.

Step 4: When everything is dry, assemble as per Ikea’s manual.

Step 5: Super glue the handles onto each corner of the coffee table. I chose to have the horizontal one on the front, and the vertical one on the back, but that’s entirely up to you.

And that’s it! A few hours’ effort, and you can transform this boring £45, well, £83 including all other materials, coffee table

into this, dare I say, expensive looking beauty!