Here’s the latest from DLT‘s latest contributor, Amanda Szot. Pronounced just like “hot,” she’s our favorite local blogger, fashionista, amateur chef and aspiring TV host. Look for Amanda every other Thursday, as she serves up recipes (especially desserts), outfit suggestions, do-it-yourself home and fashion projects and the trials and travails of a wannabe television host and personality.

IKEA is known for inexpensive, contemporary, hard-to-assemble furniture, and who could forget the meatballs, but the big box furniture stores fans have spawned a whole new level of creativity by personalizing and repurposing the inexpensive products. So naturally when I needed a new desk, I stopped by the as-is section and scored a small wood desk for $75 that proved well for function, but not so much in aesthetic. Me, being the DIY queen, always wanting to re-create or enhance something to its fullest, was down to repaint the ugly wood and refurnish the desk into a modern piece with my own personal flare and bring some new life into my room.

For those of you who don’t know what an IKEA hack is, it’s simply buying cheap IKEA products and hacking, personalizing and repurposing the goods into whatever art form your little heart desires. Although my hack was as simple as a paint job, some IKEA hacks are hardcore and transform a simple table into a functional work of art. There’s even a website solely dedicated to hacks, most notably IKEAHackers.net.

Now, spray paint is always the easiest and dummy-free way to go, but I wasn’t impressed with the color selection and chose the route of picking my exact paint color and getting it mixed in a can. The price isn’t much higher, so if you want to really personalize with your favorite color (mine obviously being mint green), this is the way to go. Make sure you use a primer before you paint, and choose a glossy finish like a lacquer spray paint to really give it that extra pizzazz. And remember to take pics of your IKEA hack process and submit them to the website for publication!

Materials:
Desk, spray paint primer, paint, tape, brush, spray paint lacquer

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