Ikea Frame Hack

Fall is here! 

Well, football and school are here but the summer weather is still in full swing. But who cares, I'm going to get the house ready for all those cool nights and warm colored leaves. So first up is changing out our living room decorations to something a bit more "festive" :) 

So I bought this frame from Ikea a couple of weeks ago for a different reason. But then it wasn't the right size so I figured I'd come up with another use for it. It was the perfect size to replace the butterfly collection we had on the mantel before, but the clean white wasn't really meshing with everything else. To fix that I found a piece of scrap wood from the old horse barn on our property, and luckily is was just enough!

Then I measured, and cut the board in to 4 strips. 

Then angled the corners so they fit together "seamlessly".
Then I clamped the strips to the frame and flipped all of it over so we could see the frame. 

And finally I just pre-drilled and screwed the frame to its "new" face! 

So, there it is! My first Ikea hack!! And my first fall themed post for the year :) 

I love the way the old boards look with all of the other decor. And even though my cuts were a bit wonky and the boards didn't line up perfect, I think that just adds to the character of the wood!
This was a 2 hour revamp of our mantel so I can't wait until I really get to sit down with new decorations to give this room that cool autumn feel!

How are you welcoming in this cooler season?

Vintage Suitcase Turned Spice Rack

Man I have been on a role with projects lately! I don't think I have ever cranked out this many so quickly. I guess that is a perk of being a house wife ;) And this may be an odd sounding project to some of you but hey I like it! 

Here is the story behind the suitcase turned spice rack. 

I've been on the hunt for a spice rack since we moved in June. Reed is king of spices and every time he is in a grocery store he has to stock up. That means we have A LOT. In our old house we had a super convenient shelf above the stove. But when we moved here we had nothing, just some odd cabinets and nearly zero counter space. The spices ended up on the counter in a basket. We hated it because not only did it take up precious counter space but it also was so annoying to dig through the basket to find what you needed. 

After searching everywhere for a spice rack I finally just gave up and decided to make one. Reed and I were talking about what materials I needed and then I had an "ah- ha moment"! I didn't need to go make a box I could use the old suitcase and just add shelving.
So first things first we cut the top off the suitcase. I'm not really sure why we did that, now that the piece is hung I wish we had left it so it could be closed when not in use. But live and learn.
Then we measured and cut two scrap pieces of wood, leveled, and screwed them in!

Thennnnn all we did was screw the suitcase in to the awkward cabinet and add the spices :) 

I think it's cool, maybe a little strange to see a suitcase on the cabinet butttttt I like it 100 times better than that basket! 

 

I think I want to paint the shelves so they aren't just raw wood. Maybe even paint the entire suitcase? Reed thinks I should leave it the way it is, but he also just wanted the spice off the counter top :) 

I was sooooo pumped when we first put it up, and slowly I'm beginning to question how I like it. It just doesn't seem finished to me... Any ideas on what I should do to give it that final touch?? Or do you just think it is all the odd spice canisters throwing me off?

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