Ikea Hacks Pt 2 – Can you make a £33 bed look good?

Being poor students making that awfully expensive transition from being poor students with no sense of pride towards their home furnishings, to young adults with a bit of style and personality with their decor, we moved into a flat that was minimally furnished. It had two horrible leather sofas, a bookcase, and falling apart chest of drawers. After a few weeks of sleeping on the sofa, student loan day came and we took a trip to Ikea to buy the cheapest bed we could. Which actually resulted in us buying a mattress, slats and a box that actually contained yet more mattress slats and no bed. Being lazy people with no car, it got till the week before christmas when we had people due round and the receipt was nearly run out, that we decided that head back to Ikea and swap the mystery box. Except being christmas and feeding 12 friends, of course we opted to buy a dining table with the refund and slept on the mattress some more. But we’re students, that’s totally okay isn’t it?

Finally, time had passed and I jumped in a cab and went back to Ikea and parted £30 for a new bed (and much more to replace the smashed tableware of said Christmas dinner)

We got it home, and being the man of the house, I took the role of building it. Half an hour later we had a frame that looked somewhat small and unstable. After popping the mattress in and making the bed, it looked nice. We’ve been sleeping(…) in it for a good while now and although it doesn’t quite compare to the likes of a hotel, it’s certainly alright for the money you pay. Still, there was always some room for improvement.

I love solid wood furniture, sometimes it can look real good on it’s own. But mostly I like its versatility. It can be painted and stained to match any trend you like. If the trend changes, simply sand or repaint. It’s totally recyclable, and with some decent tools can easily be remastered into a new shape too. Finally, it’s cheap. There’s enough adverts on Gumtree giving away furniture, that can then be picked up for nothing, painted up, and either look fabulous or be sold on. And the decor industry knows this. Hence they’re making a mint out of selling vintage and decorative handles, to go with upcycled furniture.

So, here’s my effort in poor quality pictures.

And one of the fairy lights in the dark.

As you can see, the finished article looks rather good. And I’m pleased with the simplicity of the room around it. Though I’d love to get rid of the brown carpet, it’s ruining everything! Aside from that I think the bedroom looks alright. The spare room is actually twice as big but as a couple of insomniacs, we decided the bedroom needs to be a dedicated sleep room with as few distractions as possible. Here it looks stylish (save for that bloody carpet!) and yet tranquil enough to sleep in. We made the choice to leave all technology firmly in the living room, and make the bed as comfortable as possible. This also gives me a chance to show off my charity shop bargain buy of the week, which is the patchwork quilt as show on the bed. It’s massive, it’s warm and it holds all the other covers down at night. And it was only £8. Bargain.

Much love xx