Projects Update: Staining a Bookshelf

With the warm weather upon us, I have been given a new impetus to finish painting projects that languished over the winter. My biggest (i.e., messiest project) was to stain an unfinished pine bookshelf to a nice espresso finish, which would match the rest of my furniture. I don't have any before pics, but it was from Ikea, similar to the Ivar shelf they have now. I started the staining project during the fall, but then it was moved inside for the winter and put on hold. This week, I resolved to finish that pesky bookshelf.  Once I finished sealing it with gloss, I affixed a little accent light to the display shelf. 

Looks nice, doesn't it? 

Lessons learned:

1) I will never again underestimate the time it takes to stain a bookshelf. With multiple surfaces to each piece, and multiple coats on each surface, I just calculated that there were 180 separate coats on this project! Add an additional step of waiting 20 minutes to wipe off the excess, and 2-3 hours drying time in between coats to that, and I should have realized how long this would take. Doing pieces in groups only cuts down on the work so much. So the first lesson is to realize that more surfaces = much more work. 

2) The second lesson was that it is much better to paint the piece assembled than disassembled, even if that means it's less thorough. Early on in the project, since the shelf is adjustable, I wanted to paint the legs without having uncovered spots, which meant I disassembled the shelf to paint it. This made it harder and messier since it took up more space to paint. Later on, I realized it was going to be much more achievable to finish if I just put the shelf together. While it is no longer adjustable (without uncovered spots, anyway), at least it is finished, and a finished non-adjustable shelf is much more useful than an unfinished adjustable shelf. 

This being said, will it be crazy if I begin another wood staining project in the near future? 

have Ikea, will shop

Ikea: to some, it's a shangri-la of cheap modern furniture, to others, it's a personal hell of self-assembly. You know you're in that first group when you have memorized the names of most of the pieces in the store, and even attempt to pronounce them in some sort of swedish.

Ever since my first trip to Ikea Woodbridge the summer before I started college, I have managed to acquire, at some point or another, what I estimate to be at least half of the items from their catalogue. Now that I live in the DC area, I have both the College Park and Woodbridge locations within driving distance, and that my friends, is the subject of this week's blog post. En blog om Ikea!

A good friend from college came to visit the other day. We went to Ikea (her suggestion, strangely enough), and we spent a few hours in the store, sitting on everything and rating it from "excellent" to "not terrible" to "terrible."

So, I think, that with my borderline-obsessive knowledge of Expedit bookcases and Malm nightstands, there is really only one thing left to do.

I will offer up my services to the public as a personal Ikea shopper. Hate browsing through the showroom and self serve aisles? Not a problem, I will do it for you. I might even assemble the pieces for you if I'm feeling feisty. Not only can I tell you the price and model of most of the items in the store, but since I have tested many of them personally in my own home, I can make a recommendation on whether you should buy a certain piece or not.

The Mikael desk line? Highly recommended. It's roomy and has plenty of shelving options. The Aneboda bed, on the other hand, is a no-go. It's squeaky and has rough corners. The Komplement shelving devices? Yes. So useful. The Lerberg shelf? Surprisingly versatile, and won't rust if you put it out on your patio. The tylosand sofa? No, it looks OK in the store, but it'll look saggy in a year, and it's harder to re-arrange than it looks. The Dignitet hanging wire for pictures and curtains? That thing should be banned, it's terribly difficult to install and cutting the wire is dangerous.

And as for my friend? She has kindly offered to marry the heir to the Ikea fortune.