As I mentioned in my very first post, our living room was black and red before it got reincarnated as the current green/grey paradise. With us plumping for white for the flooring and picture frames, the existing black and red furniture doesn’t exactly match.
We got rid of the giant red light quickly (someone got a very good deal on eBay for that), and the remaining culprits are the Ikea Expedit units in black times two, and the red drawer inserts that go with them (although I’ve just noticed that Ikea don’t seem to do red ones any more). We get away with the sofa as it’s mostly grey.
I’ve ummed and ahed about painting the furniture, even going as far as to paint a splodge of the Boudoir on the back of one of the drawers to see if it would hold. It came off with my fingernail. I’ve consulted a colleague at work (hello again, Michelle!), who’s advised me that to paint this kind of finish, for either the drawers or the units, would involve sanding, priming, painting, repainting, and then an adhesive spray for dessert.
The beauty of Ikea is that it’s so cheap, you can just go and get some more. The current shelving would fit in our room, or spare rooms, or could just go on eBay, but I’m really reluctant to hand over another £124 for the two units, plus £52 for two sets of drawers, cheap as they are. Having said that, it would probably cost me more than that in time and money on all the priming and spraying equipment. There’s the additional worry that if we went all white, it could look plasticky and cheap. Or like heaven.
Decisions, decisions. Anyway, despite my innate aversion to wicker, I do like these little Branas baskets that Ikea do (surprise, surprise), and would definitely find space for them somewhere.
Recommendations are welcomed. Although this isn’t a pressing issue, it is something I could be doing while Barry’s tearing walls down/plastering them up again, and I’d quite like my own corner to be proud of. Speaking of plastering, here’s the latest picture of the “bathroom”. And the radiator’s been ordered. Sweet warmth is on its way!
In other news, K -8 days. No pressure.
I have those ikea units in white, if you want to have a look just shout. I’d also happily buy the black ones if you decide to get rid of them, the cubes are the perfect size for my scrapbooking supplies!
Thanks Jules. I have seen them in Ikea, I’m just wavering! We may find a use for the units in other rooms (they might look quite good in our bedroom), but I’ll definitely let you know if we sell them. What do you think – paint or rebuy?
I think those units would be quite hard to paint – it would be a lot of effort for what might not be a fantastic result – I’d rebuy if it was me…
You might be right. I’m not sure anything from Ikea is worth going to that effort (may as well just replace it), but I have seen an entire blog dedicated to redoing Ikea furniture – http://www.ikeahackers.net/ Check it out, people have some crazy ideas!
We wouldn’t be doing anything with the units yet anyway – it’s a few months off!