Customizing an IKEA Vanity for a Bungalow Bathroom

IKEA items used:

• SILVERÅN vanity

Other materials used:

• Primer and paint
• Tapered legs from Osborne Wood Products
• Liquid Nails construction glue
• Screws
• Threaded furniture glide feet
• Tolson cabinet knobs from Rejuvenation

Here’s how I customized an IKEA vanity, the SILVERÅN, for our newly-remodeled half-bathroom. Because this powder room is in a visible spot on our bungalow’s first floor, I wanted a vanity that looked like a piece of furniture we’d have elsewhere in the house.

I was unable to find an off-the-shelf vanity that fit both my taste and the small space. I got quotes from a variety of places for a simple custom vanity, all of which came in around $1k (for the cabinet only – sink not included). I didn’t want to spend that kind of money on such a small piece and decided to take my chances on an IKEA hack. It’s pretty simple: paint, legs, and hardware.

There are two IKEA SILVERÅN cabinet finishes: white and light brown. The white one is made up of particleboard and plastic. It’s $20 less expensive, but it feels and looks even cheaper. The light brown one is solid pine. I chose this one because it felt sturdier and would be easier to customize. I bought it when IKEA had a 20% off sale on bathroom products, which made it $88. Cheap! And, I reused the existing sink. Free!

Here are the steps to hack an IKEA Vanity:

1. To start, I cut the vanity’s depth down to size to fit our 14″ sink. The 9″ SILVERÅN was too shallow, so I bought the 15″ version and sawed a couple of inches off the side panels. I won’t go into detail on this because it seems unlikely anyone will need to do the same, but just know: it’s possible!

2. Painting the vanity was straightforward: I sanded the wood to rough up the lacquer, then primed and painted. I used Benjamin Moore’s Mopboard Black.

3. I wanted legs that tapered on two sides, and Google led me to Osborne Wood Products. I ordered the 5″ tapered feet. I chose the red oak option because it’s a hard wood and I figured it would stand up better to dings than some of the cheaper options would. The feet were a little chunkier than my mental ideal, so I shaved an inch off both flat sides with my miter saw.

4. I drilled pilot holes into the bottom of the vanity, safely on either side of the cam bolt (but not so wide that there was a risk of the screws coming through the taped side of the leg). Anyone who has assembled IKEA furniture knows this bolt + metal dowel combo is what makes the furniture sturdy, so I didn’t want to mess with that.

5. On the other side of the vanity base, I used a countersink bit in the pilot hole so the screws would be flush with the wood.

6. I used Liquid Nails construction glue and clamps to hold the legs in place. After the glue dried, I drilled in my screws and then painted the legs.

7. I installed adjustable feet in the legs using these threaded furniture glides. The vanity is fully wall-mounted, so the legs are mostly just for show, but they do offer secondary support. I can easily twist the adjustable feet to raise/lower them, which lets me slide the rug under.

8. I added Tolson cabinet knobs from Rejuvenation.

And that’s it! A pretty easy hack for a very pretty vanity.

There are more details of the IKEA vanity on my blog, including photos of the entire bathroom remodel process: projectpalermo.com.

~ by Marti Palermo

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Kroby, the snake lamp

My name is Gille Monte Ruici, I make sculptures, and particularly bots, starting from recycled matter and of waste.

Few months ago I already sent you two hacks. (See them here and here).

Here is a new one, called : KROBY the snake lamp.

To do this I used a KROBY light fixture.

Photo: IKEA.com

Originally, I had the standard model. I wanted to customize the luminaire to match the spirit of the room, where it is now installed.

I kept the structure, which I completed with metal washbasin siphons. These twists thus represent the body of a snake.

At each end, I dressed the lamps with grid lamp shades. Finally I fixed barbecue hooks reminiscent of the mouth of the snake with its venomous hook. The set gives a very airy and unique support!

See the catalogue of Gille’s works or connect with him on facebook.

His robots are also featured in the book Assembled: Transform Everyday Objects Into Robots.

~ by Gille Monte Ruici

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Gille’s IKEA robot lamps

The IKEA KVART lamps were added to these bots as “arms”. See more.

This is a younger version of the KVART bots, with the addition of 2 feet from a Sultan bed, besides KVART lamps. Read more.

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Make a Bike Ledge in three easy steps

This is a bike ledge made out of IKEA MOSSLANDA picture ledges and a few other materials you may already have at home. All done pretty quickly and easily. And the bikes are neatly stowed away, off the floor.

Materials:

• 1 MOSSLANDA Picture ledge, 155 cm white Art nr: 402.917.66
• 1 MOSSLANDA Picture ledge, 55 cm white Art.nr: 902.921.03

Photo: IKEA.com

• 1 Screw eye

• 1 Nylon cable strap

Tools:

• Drill
• Level

Steps to making a bike ledge

Mount the ledges, according to instructions by IKEA.

Use a level to check that your ledges are positioned in a straight line.

Place the screw-eye so the cable strap reaches the top of the seat stay.

(Depending on they type of wall, you may need to use appropriate wall plugs to fasten the screw eye securely to the wall.)

Strap the bike up and you’re done!

~ by Ervin Olsen, Copenhagen 2017

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See more hacks for bikes

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IKEA Low chair: Using the Antilop in the lounge

We hacked the ANTILOP high chair into a low chair. It’s now at a suitable level for feeding and play in the lounge. It takes up less room too.

IKEA item used:

• IKEA Antilop High Chair

Here’s how to make a low chair

Knock out the feet from the legs, cut the bottom of the legs at the desired height, refit the feet.

Stability seems unaffected.

Newspaper as a reference for the new height

I bought another set of legs to shorten so we still have the original ones for use in the kitchen.

~ by Allan Ford

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A very merry Christmas from me (and two mocktail recipes)

Are you in year-end reflection mode? How was 2017 for you?

For me, it was a good, good year. Good, not in a unicorn-and-rainbows kind of way but an expanding, gut-wrenching type of good. Challenging on many levels, but still good.

I’ll be taking Christmas off and will be back on Tuesdays with new hacks. But before I sign off, let me share my 3 highlights from 2017.

#1 I put a book out, with the help of this group of incredible hackers. The process was not all smooth and there were times I wanted to quit. But in retrospect, I’m happy I steeled my belly and pushed through. Through the ups and downs, I learnt to work those determination muscles a fair bit. I developed new stamina for working on a single long-haul project consistently. I’ve always been a project sprinter, but now I know, I can do marathons, figuratively. If you’re interested, you can get the book here.

#2 I launched a new site design for IKEAhackers. The site redesign hit a few road bumps. I wanted to move IKEAhackers to a different hosting company (for cost savings) but the customer support I encountered with these 2 other companies were either non-existent or paltry. Before I signed up they promised the moon but once I inked the proverbial dotted line, things nosedived. After a fair bit of money and time wasted, I gave up the search and decided to stay on with LightningBase. They are a cut above when it comes to WordPress Managed Hosting. Lesson learnt: You do get what you pay for. Chris and the team are attentive, often going above and beyond what is required to provide answers to my way-too-many questions. I’ll be sticking with them for a long, long while.

#3 And one other huge highlight for me — deng, deng, deng — I bought a house! Can I get a woot, woot!? Buying a house has been on my mind for the longest time and I finally acted upon it. I searched for the better part of 2016  and early this year. Then, some time in April I found the One. But I struggled. Boy, did I struggle. I now know I have some serious commitment issues. A lot of internal work had to be done (healed and released) before I could say “Yes” to it.  In July, half-sobbing-laughing, I made it mine. Right now, I’m working on the plans to renovate it and hope to share more about the house in days to come. Can’t wait to start hacking stuff for it.

And that’s my three. Hope you’ll share yours with us too.

Mocktail recipes

All that sounds like it’s time to kick back and celebrate. I’ll end this post with two mocktail recipes from Food’s Ready by IKEA. Let’s toast to a year gone by and say hello a new one. Merry Christmas and cheers!

Spicy Rhubarb Cocktail

• approx 1 cm slice of red chilli
• 40 ml rhubarb syrup (SAFT RABARBER)
• approx. 1 tsp ginger syrup
• ½ lime, juice of (approx. 1 tbsp)
• 150 ml fizzy water
• Ice

Ginger syrup

• 1 ½ tbsp chopped fresh ginger
• 200 ml water
• 100 ml sugar

1. Ginger syrup: Bring the water, ginger and sugar to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. Sieve, pour into a bottle and stand in a cool place. This syrup is great for all kinds of drinks and will keep for several weeks in the fridge.
2.  Crush the chilli with a cocktail muddler in a glass. Pour over the rhubarb syrup, ginger syrup and pressed lime. Fill up with ice. Mix and top up with fizzy water. Makes about 200ml.

Lingonberry cocktail with grapefruit

• 40 ml lingonberry syrup (SAFT LINGON)
• approx. 80 ml freshly pressed grapefruit juice
• 80 ml water
• Ice

1. Mix the lingonberry syrup with the pressed fresh grapefruit in a glass. Add ice and top up with fizzy water.

Both mocktail recipes will turn out better when mixed with a shaker. Garnish and enjoy!

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X’mas ball

Now here’s an idea for the holiday season – an X’mas ball, literally.

Replace the paper flowers on the IKEA MASKROS lamp with Christmas ornaments. Voilà! Instant festive vibe!

~ by Peter Stroo

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Upgrading Brimnes Wardrobe with Drawer Units

One problem with the Brimnes three door wardrobe is the lack of drawers. The unit comes with only three widely separated shelves in the right storage area. The Alex 9 drawer unit fits – after some cuts. Both the Brimnes wardrobe and Alex 9-drawer are $129. There is a shorter Alex unit, but it is 27 1/2″ deep.

Photos: IKEA.com

The Brimnes storage area below the fixed shelf is 14 7/8″ wide, 18 3/4″ deep and 36 3/4″ high (29″ high between the door hardware). Alex is 14 1/8″ wide, 19″ deep and 45 5/8″ high. It is only available in white.

Photo: IKEA.com

Alex can be reduced in size to fit the entire area (unit will be off-center to ensure adequate space for the door hardware on the right) or centered (unit will sit between the door hardware). I centered the Alex unit.

Centered, the final unit will have four large drawers and one one small drawer. Full height will have four large and three small drawers.

How to upgrade Brimnes wardrobe with drawers:

Using a circular saw, cut 1/2″ off the width of the sides, top and bottom (so unit will be inset from the front of the storage area) and, measuring from the bottom, cut the side length to 35″ for full height (or 27″ for centered). To be safe, remove pre-installed slide hardware before cutting side length.

Install the bottom per IKEA instructions.

Screw the top to the sides. This ensures drawers will slide properly.

To center unit so it sits between door hardware, screw two 1/4″ plywood strips (I used 1′ w by 18″ h 1/4″ ply) on the outside (the “good” side) of each side. Space the filler towards the front and the back of the side. Use 1/2″ screws to attach to sides.

To use entire height, screw two pieces of 1/2″ ply (or two 1/4″ pieces together to the right side only. Use 3/4″ screws.

Remove door. Insert unit in wardrobe and screw unit to wardrobe uprights. If centered, use 1 1/4″ screws. If whole height, use 1″ screws on the left wardrobe upright and 1 1/2″ screws on the right upright.

Build and install the drawers per Ikea instructions.

Re-install door.

~ by Stephen C. Pittsburgh, PA

See more hacks on the IKEA BRIMNES range.

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Narrow rolling kitchen cart: Perfect for in-between gaps

I made a narrow rolling kitchen cart to fit along my refrigerator, made from IKEA BEKVÄM spice racks.

I had no other choice but build it since the space was only 11cm wide, and nothing manufactured matched these dimensions.

Materials: (total 60€)

• 4 x BEKVÄM spice racks (16€)
• 4 x copper tube (1m long / 12mm wide inside – 14mm outside) (26€)
• 4 x omni-directional casters (~10€)
• Wood varnish (~6€)
• Wood paste (~8€)
• 16 x less than 15mm wood screws (a board is 15mm thick) (~3€)

Photo: IKEA.com

Tools:

• Screwdriver or screw-gun
• Drill (the screw-gun in drill mode do the job just fine)
• 14mm drill bit
• Sand paper / sander machine
• Glue gun

Steps to build a rolling kitchen cart

1. Do not assemble the BEKVÄM spice rack. Fill up the holes on the sides of the BEKVÄM with wood paste, as we won’t be needing them. I used a big syringe to do it as the holes were small.

2. Drill new holes for the copper tubes. I used a paper template to mark the holes center with precision on the four boards.

3. Apply varnish on the boards and allow them to dry thoroughly. Varnish dries slowly. So be patient.

4. When dry, sand the holes to remove any excess varnish. I used a Dremel but you can use anything suitable you have at hand.

5. Next is to build the bottom board. What you need to do is to add something to stop the tubes from going further when inserted into the holes. I used Meccano metal bits (but anything else like this will do the job). Screw them firmly into the board as they will support all the weight from the upper boards.

6. Add casters to the corners, at the widest possible area.

7. Slot the boards through the copper tubes. Use a level to make sure they are straight, then seal them in place with hot glue. Or something else if you have a better and classier idea!

8. The finishing touch is to form the ledges to prevent stuff from falling off the board. However, we can only add the ledges to one side of the board as the BEKVÄM only comes with one rod each.

9. Sand one long side of the ledge so that the rounded bits become flat, as we’ll need it to stand on the boards. Cut off the end bits as we won’t need them. Glue the ledge to one side of each board.

9. Once it’s done, slot it into place and fill up your narrow rolling kitchen cart.

~ by ryancey

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Hackers Help: Shortening Billy bookcases. Is it possible?

Ikea items used : 106 cm high Ikea Bookshelf (302.638.44)

I have 2 Billy bookshelves. I would like to shorten them, because they are too high. They are initially 106 cm high (41 ¾ “), which is 21 cm (8″) higher than my Ektorp couch. I would like to bring them down to 85 cm (33 1/2”).

Photo: IKEA.com

I am thinking of just sawing the side panels at the top, and drawing new holes for the wooden plugs, as well as the iron “screws”.

An Ikea representative told me that if I touch anything on the item, it won’t be stable anymore, because things are optimized for the specified layout, not for any change.

Thus I wanted to know whether anyone has experience trying this, or if anyone knows whether drawing holes at this point of the panels will be efficient, or whether the panels are hollow at this place.

Any general feedback is welcome.

~ by Victor

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Hi Victor

Shortening BILLY bookcases has definitely been done before.

Take a look at this. See the shorter BILLY next to the “unhacked” one? Exactly what you want, right?

This hacker reduced the top section of the BILLY side panel. And later added a new top to cover the raw edges and complete the transformation.

See how it’s done.

Here is another example. Fentigger cut down a tall 80x200cm BILLY into 3 parts and reassembled them into a horizontal CD rack. Very nicely done, if I may say so.

See more the BILLY CD bookcase.

Shortening Billy bookcases, some quick tips

I believe the entire side panel is made of particleboard (unless they have changed their formula), without hollow honeycomb innards like the KALLAX. So you should be able to make new holes. Use the old cut-off pieces as a template.

Cutting particleboard is tricky and you may land in compressed wood chip splintersville. Always use a new sharp blade on your circular saw. To reduce splinter, you can try masking the cut area with painter’s tape. It’s probably the most common solution offered on the Internet but I’ve had partial success with it. My go-to method is to clamp the cut area tightly between two pieces of scrap wood (like a sandwich) and then cut all 3 pieces together. Usually works.

As for stability issues, it’s really hard to say. If it happens, brace the jiggly bits with brackets.

Good luck and do let us know how your project turns out.

Jules

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Beach House: End Of The Year Tour!

Beach house progress, both big and small, feels like it’s happening so quickly that we hardly have time to keep up with documenting it, but I did walk through the whole house yesterday and make a big ol’ video tour… which basically catches you right up to date! So excuse this post for only having around around a dozen photos (we have thousands on our phones, but they’d take us all day to upload and explain, and nobody got time for that with Christmas being less than a week away).

First let’s start at the front door. We hung a wreath (from Tar-jay) and put some battery powered LED candles with timers in the windows (so they’re auto-pilot even when we’re not there). Hallelujah, the house finally looks lived in! I mean, except for the whole it-has-no-landscaping-and-I-desperately-need-to-sand-and-stain-the-front-door thing. Also I still want to paint those white blocks behind the lanterns to match the house. Someday…

lanterns / wreath / house numbers / doormat / siding: SW Mellow Coral / ceiling: SW Breaktime / trim: SW Pure White

While things are far from finished, things are even farther from where they were this time last year. This photo is from almost exactly a year ago, and looking back is a nice reminder that wrinkly curtains and an unfinished pantry are far smaller problems to work through than THE ENTIRE SIDE OF THE HOUSE BEING TORN OFF. Here’s that whole story if you missed it (yup, we literally had to have 500 square feet removed and rebuild from scratch).

SO YEAH. It’s looking a lot better at the end of 2017 than it did at the end of 2016. And weirdly enough that picture makes me excited to get started on the duplex, because as much as I love having finished walls to decorate and finished floors to arrange furniture on, the process of planning (and dreaming about) all of the potential that’s fills the air during a big demo/rebuilding project is oddly addicting. Can’t wait to share our duplex progress as soon as we have our plans approved and all of our permits pulled!

But back to the pink house, where I’m walking you guys through every room in a little video tour of sorts: If you can’t see this in a reader, click through to view it on our blog or you can view it here on YouTube.

If you can’t watch the video right now, I’d definitely recommend dropping back in and catching it when you can (a video is basically worth a million photos and I pretty much cover every crevice and explain a lot of extra stuff I couldn’t squeeze into this post).

One recent update, after months and months of debate, is that we finally pulled the trigger and painted the railing. The vertical balusters had all already been painted (SW Stone Isle), so it was just that top rail and the post at the end that were “wood.” I’ll explain why that’s in quotes in a second. It’s hard to see in this picture since that front post is getting hit with a ton of light through the open door, but we went with a deeper gray tone (SW Perpetual Gray) that’s about 3 shades darker than the trim, so it accents the post and the top rail without being too crazy and compete-y with the standout stars of the entire house (those stained glass windows).

I know what some of you are thinking. NOOOO! How could you disgrace such old beautiful wood with paint?!?! Well, we love the old wood here. In fact, we stripped doors and floors to restore it! But this railing had been covered in a thick paint-like brown stain that showed zero grain and was sticky, roughed up, and ruined in a bunch of places (covered in paint splatters, spackle globs, and decades of other issues that had built up). After attempting to sand it down, we learned it was a darker redder wood – meaning we’d never be able to stain it to match the lovely heart pine floors. So, we reasoned that a fresh coat of paint applied nice and evenly was a heckuva lot better than its current state. And it really does look glossy and lovely in person, which makes us incredibly relieved.

The good news is that we don’t have any shortage of wood tones in this house. We have original heart pine everywhere (we stripped and clear-sealed all of the original doors that we could, brought the original floors both upstairs and downstairs back to their glory, etc). This house’s middle name could be wood. Pinkie “Wood” House. Wait that sounds bad. Forget the middle name thing.

Down in the living room, we added this cool wall-mounted bookcase, which instantly made us both say “Ahhh! It looks like an actual room people live in!” We also got to hang some cozy white curtains which need DESPERATELY to be steamed and hemmed. They’re Lenda curtains from Ikea– I just cut off the top tabs and make sure to wash them to pre-shrink them before hanging. We also have them in our home office and love how washable and easy they are. Also, my secondhand brass grasshopper (aka: Brasshopper) is a total badass and I love him more each day.

bookcase / blue pillow / curtains / rods / similar brass grasshopper 

Also bought a rug from New England Loom (if you don’t follow them on Instagram you’re missing out because they have so many lovely secondhand rugs to be discovered) and the colors and patterns and antique feeling of the rug is PERFECT for a room that will be assaulted with food and sand and everything else that a rental living room has to deal with, so I have high hopes for it holding up like a champ (seeing as it is decades old already, that really does inspire confidence). That pretty blue pillow is from this Etsy shop (I love all of her pillows) and the pink one is from Target a while back. And you guys know the sofa is the Ikea Karlstad that they no longer make, which is a straight up travesty.

We also updated the light in here to this gleaming beauty from West Elm. The old light was a one-bulb fixture that we hung and immediately said “this room needs way more light.” We love the juxtaposition of this leggier modern light and the old-looking medallion (which is actually from Home Depot – shhh). And the old brick chimney that we discovered behind the wall and exposed is probably my favorite feature in the room, along with the giant windows (this room is 9′ tall, so the windows are easily over 6.5′ feet tall – that’s taller than John!). Don’t mind that TV on the floor. We found something we think will work for in there, just gotta get it out there in our next car load. #AlwaysRoadTrippingWithFurniture

rug source / chandelier / ceiling medallion /curtains / rods

The kitchen came a long way too, with the quartz island going in (it’s Pearl Jasmine by Silestone and we LOVE it so much) and a working sink. Cue the choir of angels! You can hear two ways we saved money on our quartz counters in Podcast Episode #74, which also covers why our original plan to do butcher block there didn’t work out. There are still some things missing though. Mainly, the backsplash that we’ll add after we hang the other missing element: shelves on either side of the stove under the sconces (probably two per side, not sure yet but we’ll keep you posted).

stools / quartz  / butcher block / cabinets / range: secondhand refurbished / trim: SW Stone Isle / walls: SW White Heron

The back door was blue for a hot second, which some of you might have seen on Instagram, but as the room came together more John and I both realized that the same gray as the trim (SW Stone Isle) would let the pink stove do her thing and be the accent in the room that she has always been destined to become. Plus, we have a blue chippy door leading to the mudroom nearby, and one blue door + one pink stove is… enough. You know I didn’t love painting that door twice, so if I did it, it had to be done. Ha!

green vase / wood cutting board / wood stand / hanging rod / hood / kettle / sconces / pink salt & pepper

Upstairs the bedrooms are coming along with some art up on the walls, layered cozy bedding, and even headboards. HUZZAH! Still need to hang all the curtains up there (once we do that the headboard will look exactly as wide as the window because we are tricky tricksters). Stay tuned…

rug / large art / lamp / side table / striped blanket / headboard / fan

This is another view of that front bedroom, which is the largest of the four (the bunk room is teeny tiny and the middle bedroom and back bedroom are just fine but not giant). It also has that exposed brick chimney that we discovered hiding behind the wall, and next to it you’ll see my favorite craigslist find of all time that you might have already “met” on Facebook or Instagram when I shared a quick shot of it this weekend. Yes, I really did find an inlay piece of furniture on Craiglist, and yes, it’s currently selling for $2,000 on Restoration Hardware (I got it for $400!). Insert that screaming cat emoji face here. Seriously, it’s the score of a lifetime, and I’m going to share the whole story, including how I fix up a few missing inlay spots soon. So… stay tuned. Again.

And before we move on, that sconce looks crazy small above the dresser (we just hung it as a placeholder and it’s looking like a placeholder, so we’ll probably get a wider double-sconce for that spot soon). Anyway, on with the tour! Or should I say “roll the next flashback!”

This is that wall a year ago. Same house. Just nekkid a year ago versus clothed now. With walls. You get what I mean.

And now, the back bedroom. Aka: our room whenever we stay there! Although the front room is the largest and has that lovely exposed brick, the back bedroom has its own master bathroom (complete with my big beautiful clawfoot tub) and it has its own stairs that lead up to it, which are surprisingly useful. We originally thought those back stairs would be more of a fun thing for kids and a cool historic detail to preserve, but we weren’t sure we’d actually use them very much but we go up and down them all the time!

rug / fan / leather stools / striped duvet cover / pocked doors: SW Riverway

One of our bigger projects this past weekend was this built-in dresser that we added to the nook behind the pocket doors that you see above. We love gaining some storage and function in that formerly blank area at the top of the back steps, and there’s more than enough room to pull out the drawers and take like five steps back before you’d fall down the steps (you know I’d be the one to bite it all the way down these steps, so we have to make sure these things we’re adding won’t curse me later).

dresser / mirror / wood top / door color: SW Riverway

John would be quick to point out it’s not complete. We ran out of nails for our nail gun, so the trim still needs to be attached, caulked, etc. But basically, a Malm from Ikea fit pretty perfectly in the space, so we made it look even more built-in by removing and reinstalling the molding around it (see below) and adding a few skinny filler pieces to each side (scraps from our kitchen install). We also popped some leftover butcher block counter from downstairs on top to tie into the pine floors and we’re also planning to add some leather pulls to it to tie in the stools at the foot of the bed (you can see them in the shot two photos up). Can’t wait to finish it up and share the final pics!

Next let’s move onto the master bathroom, which is easily my favorite room because I get to soak in that big ol’ tub after hours of DIY and it feels so freaking good every time. Except for the first time. I had sort of a false start in there (more on that in this podcast) but now the tub and I are bros and only happy things happen when I’m in there. And the kids love it too.

marble table / floor tile / accent floor tile / wall hooks / blinds / tub color: SW Riverway

I’m basically salivating while looking at this because we’re back home and our house has two bathrooms that we still have to redo and two tubs that are about 10″ deep (half of my body sticks out like an iceberg) so I’m itching to add a deeper bathtub into my life here at home.

The hall bath is still my boo too, thanks to my favorite vanity ever. The top is tiled with marble and the rounded wood drawers make it look like a furniture piece we converted to be a vanity but it came that way and WE SALUTE IT because goodness knows we have other stuff to keep us busy. Still on the list: making built-in bunk beds, building out the pantry and the mudroom, tiling the backsplash, landscaping, etc, etc. That big round silver mirror is an awesome (and recent!) HomeGoods find (the same one in brass hangs above our mantel at home) so if you’re looking for one in either color, try HomeGoods. Target also has a really similar one that’s slightly smaller and thinner in gold.

vanity / faucet / drum stool  / light fixture / floor tile 

And although we haven’t built the wall to wall bunkbeds in our small-but-mighty kids room yet, we did hang art. And that’s half the battle, right? (Nope, half the battle is being halfway done with the bunkbeds, but let me lie to myself for a second, ok?). That cute colorful painting is from our dear friend Lesli Devito (remember when we house crashed her wayyyy back here) and if you don’t have one of her paintings or prints I highly recommend getting one. The door also got a sign that says Mermaids Welcome and it made my whole life to hang it up (also we took a poll among a bunch of kids and basically everyone is cool with mermaid and pirates, but don’t get me started on how split the group was on dolphins).

marble table / mermaids welcome plaque / art by Lesli DeVito

So there you have it: a tour as of yesterday of the beach house (remember: watch the video! it has approximately 98% more info than some pics and captions can convey). Also, we hope you have a very happy holiday surrounded by the ones you love and delicious food and all the mermaid-related memorabilia that your heart desires. And if you have a tub where your entire body can be submerged, know that I, for one, now know what I’m missing and am deeply deeply jealous.

P.S. To see the entire process of fixing up this beach house (from floor planning and demo to tiling and tiling and tiling and getting the floors redone) here’s a full category of beach house updates for you to flip through.

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