This blog is all about transforming bland storage solutions into stylish and retro furniture. With some clever hacks, must have amazon and IKEA products and a lick of paint, anyone can turn the IKEA FORJOHA into a fabulous staple piece!
I don’t know about anyone else, but my kitchen cupboards always seem to be overflowing no matter how many times I clear them out. It was time to put a stop to the madness and buy a new piece of storage so I no longer worried about all my lovely tableware falling out a cupboard every time I opened the doors (defo not ideal!!). I really wanted to make this storage unit stand out in my kitchen, so here comes an epic upcycle! If you’re a DIY pro, you can build them the FORJOHA yourself, or if you’re like me (can’t think of anything worse) you can hire an IKEA pro to come and help!
As a designer, I love a mood board, so it was essential for me to plan out first what the vibe of my new storage was going to look like. I love looking for inspo on Pinterest, shops I visit, and of course Instagram! My main inspiration was this amazing fabric from the new RIXO flagship store, I love how the colours compliment each other, and knew they’d look super cool and fresh in my kitchen.
Let’s Prep! I have learned from my many IKEA transformations that priming the wood first is ESSENTIAL! It may seem like an annoying added step but trust me, it is so worth it for a flawless finish to your paint, and it is more annoying when it goes wrong if you skipped priming! To make this step less painful, this time I used spray primer, it was sooo easy to coat the areas I wanted to paint and dried super quick! I used masking tape to tape off any areas I wanted to keep the natural wood, you can also use painters tape.
I picked up my paint from my local Homebase and tried to match to my inspiration picture as much as possible. I chose Farrow & Ball ‘Blue Ground’ for the main turquoise blue colour, Craig & Rose ‘Ottilie’ for the dark forest green colour on the drawers, and finally Craig & Rose ‘Troubador’ for the red wheels.
I am all about extending the amount of storage I can get, the IKEA FORJOHA needs to be practical for me as well as chic! So, I picked up some of my favourite storage solutions from Amazon and IKEA, to compliment my new piece of furniture. This Amazon gold rail is EVERYWHERE in my house, alongside some amazon gold hooks, this becomes such a space saver! I have hung the IKEA NEREBY canvas container and IKEA UPPDATERRA cutlery container on the gold rail to store my essential cooking utensils such as my spatulas and measuring spoons.
TAH DAH!! The IKEA FORJOHA transformation is complete! I’m so happy that I finally have a space for all my kitchenware and not have to worry about overflowing cupboards!
Make sure you tag me in your IKEA FORJOHA upcycles and transformations! #yvonneellen