furniture Archives - KREATING HOMES

February 6, 2019 3 Comments

This post includes affiliate links. For the full disclosure policy click here.

Ok, lets talk RV furniture. And lets get real… the furniture that is considered standard in most RVs is generally pretty bland. And beige. Aaaaand bland…. Did I mention bland? Ok, you guys get the point. Seeing this first hand in our fifth wheel we knew the majority of the furniture would be scrapped. And while it would have been convenient to just find new pieces that fit our style and our space straight off the shelf that was basically nonexistent. Enter the DIY RV table for our fifth wheel!

The Original

In case anyone forgot how “charming” the original dining set was, lets go down memory lane…

Ok, maybe there was a slight hint of sarcasm there! Sitting in these chairs felt like a 3 bears episode. I was fairly comfortable but Q(standing over 6′ tall) felt like he was at a child’s table. Besides the size, neither of us could stand the style and colors in the set which made tossing the whole thing a no brainer.

If you follow me on Instagram you may remember the day we stumbled upon a West Elm outlet pop up store… seriously one of the most exciting discoveries ever! It also couldn’t have been a more perfect time because it was shortly after we purchased the fifth wheel and we were still in the planning phases.

As we walked through the store I only had a loose idea of what I wanted to do with our space. That said, I knew I needed to bring home certain items the second I saw them! Sometimes when you know you just know! And I knew the second I laid eyes on the Mango Wood Dining Table that it was coming home with us.

Obviously the table was way too big for the fifth wheel. Buuuuut when I saw that beautiful slab of wood I just saw a pile of DIY possibilities! Plus, at the crazy outlet price we were able to snatch 2 tables for a fraction of what a single piece of mango wood would cost anywhere else. I spent the next few nights sketching out plans and cuts to get the very most out of every inch of this top.

Repurposing and Customizing

A few days and online orders later and we got to work. We scrapped the metal base and very carefully cut the tops. Between the 2 tops we got 1 table, 1 desk(more on that in another post), wall shelves, and a few other small projects. I stuck with a simple square shape just big enough for 2 of these Eames style chairs. We also hit the edges with a bit of sandpaper just to smooth out anything kicked up by the saw.

Now lets talk about legs. I wanted something to coordinate with some of the other hardware in the space so I kept my search in the matte black finishes. I also needed the legs to be easy to mount, sturdy, and fairly light weight. These hairpin legs checked ALL those boxes! We pre-drilled holes to keep the tops from splitting and screwed the legs directly into the bottom of the table.

After attaching the legs and testing the table on the new floors we needed just one more accessory. Hairpin leg protector feet! The new floors are amazing but we didn’t want to chance any scrapes or scratches. These feet keep everything solidly in place without direct contact from the metal. If you’re using hairpin legs for any kind of DIY project I would highly recommend these! They’re lightweight, simple to pop on, and come in a ton of colors in case you want to get crazy with your design.

Its been several months and several trips and I can confidently say this was the perfect choice for us! I love that we were able to repurpose the table top because it was an absolute steal but I really love the style it brings to our tiny space.

The Upgrade

So, have you repurposed or customized any pieces in your RV? Have any plans to in the future? You know I’d love to hear all about it in the comments!

Ikea Nightstand Hack

This post includes affiliate links. For the full disclosure policy click here.

I know people have probably been hacking Ikea goods for as long as the place has been churning out affordable furniture. I also know Im totally late to the hacking party! While I’ve bought plenty of Ikea furniture over the years its never been with the intention to hack from the get go. That is, until this move. Until this Ikea ‘As-Is’ section. Until this Ikea nightstand hack.

The Raw Goods

If you’ve been reading my posts for a while you will remember our latest Ikea haul that maxed out our Prius’ packing capabilities(above). Hidden in that pile of discounted goods were two beat up MALM nightstands priced at a whopping $27. We may have knack for finding crazy as-is deals(what can I say?!). These guys are still reasonably priced new but seeing the pair marked down so much with what I considered strictly cosmetic issues I threw them on our cart as quickly as possible.

The Paint

After rolling around a few color schemes for our new bedroom space I decided on a Navy, Rosegold, Beachwood combo. With that in mind I skimmed the chalk paint color selection and grabbed a jar in the color Nautical. The label initially looked pretty close to the shade I was going. Unfortunately, after I swatched it I realized it was way too light. Straight out of the jar this is closer to a royal blue. So I grabbed a container of Rich black and started mixing. After 2 coats of paint, 1 coat of Wax, and 20 minutes of elbow grease buffing these looked ~~good as~~ better than new!

DIY note: if you’re mixing a custom color its really helpful to weigh as you go. I use our digital kitchen scale and and write down the “recipe” as I mix. This way I can create multiple batches while covering larger areas and duplicate the shade exactly as needed. The final color came out to about 3 parts blue and 1 part black.

The Hardware

I’ve used these simple pulls for other projects in the past and loved them. I knew I wanted to use them again to keep the look pretty clean and modern. Plus, you can grab the multi pack of 10 which is great because I have plans for the other 6 handles (more on that later). I’d been lusting after all the gorgeous rose gold hardware floating around Pinterest for some time but after seeing a couple price tags(who pays this much for handles??) decided I could get the same look with some good ol’ spray paint.

*Update: Amazon has now started making their own version of these pulls for a fraction of the price! I’ve used both and they’re equally well made and versatile for DIY projects.

I started off with the Valspar Rose Gold since it was so highly recommended online. This was great on coverage and it did have a rose-y hue but I like my Rose Gold pushing the line on Copper so I went in search of something else. Now, looking at the Dusty Pink by Krylon you would think this is going to come out straight Pink sans any Gold but NOPE! It came out my dream color mashup of Copper and Rose Gold(que the spray paint angels singing! Ahhhhh!). You can see the difference pretty well below. The right has just one coat of the Valspar and the Left has the additional coat of Krylon:

The Final Hack

I know I’ve been blowing up my social media with a lot of #chalkpaint but I’m still totally in love. Get used to it peeps! Any product that has this kind of coverage and staying power without me having to sand a single square inch is here to STAY! This covered all the scrapes and scratches these floor models had and made it look like part of the wood grain. And again: NO SANDING!

We talked about adding feet/legs(and we may still) but for now we are loving these new-to-us nightstands! So have you intentionally hacked any Ikea goods? Done a nightstand makeover? You know I’d love to hear all about it in the comments!

DIY RV Table