IKEA HACK - MALM TABLE TO GRASSCLOTH CONSOLE

 As you know I'm not really a DIYer but I get so inspired when I go to Ikea. The low prices, clean lines, and easy to refinish furniture gets me every time!

Have you seen one of their newest furniture pieces, the Malm Occassional Table? This piece has wheels on the bottom so it slides over your bed to be used for reading, breakfast in bed, whatever. But when I saw it I knew it would make the perfect console table for my entry! I had been searching for so long but didn't want to spend a lot of $$ so when I found this I was super excited.

Here is the piece in real life.
(excuse the piece of the box left behind)

I considered leaving the table as is, but this piece isn't the glossy white finish a lot of their pieces are, and I would like it a LOT better if it was the lacquer finish.  I also don't love how the sides have a big seam (see pic below) and the fact that there are plastic caps on the inside of each leg that covers the screws. Other than that, the piece itself is really solid and worth every penny of the $129. (BTW, I didn't install the wheels that come with this piece)

But this table needed something more...

And it just so happened that I had some Thibaut Grasscloth laying around from a project. So I knew just what to do - cover this bad boy with grasscloth wallpaper! Here is what I used...

 WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1. A single roll of grasscloth wallpaper.

2. Something to cut with (I used scissors, but I think an exacto knife or something like that would be really effective and precise) Grasscloth is a little tricky because the grass strips make it more cumbersome to cut clean lines. The scissors worked great for me.

2. 1 can of Spray Adhesive + 2 rolls of Permanent Double-Sided Tape

3. Newspaper (to cut templates)

This DIY was easy, yet really time consuming (a lot of cutting and measuring). I think it took me a total of 4 hours, but some of that time included trial and error and cutting 2 pieces that didn't quite match up right. I am an impatient DIYer and I pay for that mistake :)

I recommend using the spray adhesive AND the double-sided tape because the tape helps the edges stay put and the spray adhesive ensures the middle of the wallpaper sticks to the console. I have to be honest, in some places I just used the tape and in others I just used the spray adhesive and I ended up going back a few days later and putting both on there. It really needs both.

I used newspaper to cut templates of the sheets needed to cover the legs and top. This didn't really work for the top piece since it's so long. The top piece I just cut the straightest line I could down the center of my wallpaper sheet. I had to do some trimming after I applied it, but that's the fun of DIY! 

I then for each sheet of wallpaper lined all the edges of the table (where the sheet would be going) with the double-sided tape, sprayed the adhesive on the back of the wallpaper and pressed it on the table. You need to be quick with this process to make sure the tape and the spray glue doesn't dry out before you adhere it.

And after applying 11 sheets of wallpaper you now have a finished product!

Notice how I laid the grasscloth so the lines were running horizontally on the top and it continued down the side of the console for a clean continuous look. I did a separate strip of wallpaper for the top and the side, and the side of the leg but they look almost like one piece.

I styled the table a couple of different ways. Here I have the big Bladet glass vases from Ikea filled with white rocks from West Elm (wish they were from the beach or something meaningful :) and the sticks are bamboo sticks I bought at World Market years ago.

I had this gold tray from One Kings Lane that works perfectly as a holder of my mail. I have a mail slot in my front door so the mail drops on the floor in my entry and I just pick it up, sort it, and set it in the tray! It's a lot better than setting it on my dining room table :)

Here you can see the inside of the legs. I had the wallpaper running horizontally again, but you could do vertical and I think it would look nice as well.

This is my "I just walked in the front door and set down my hat and scarf" pic. Don't you love staging areas for a photo?! But seriously, I love that picture of my husband and our daughter and while I'm not sure how I want to style this table, I kind of like this photo there.

In this photo I put my West Elm silver branch in the center for a very "branchy" decor look.

Here I took the branches out of the vase and just set them across the table. I think I may need to slowly collect things over time that I want to put on this table. I would love to eventually put a couple of stools underneath and maybe get a rug. This post should probably end as a "to be continued...."
But for now I think I've given you enough "versions" of the same Ikea hack Malm table, so this is it until next time. BTW, in "real life" I have a basket underneath this table filled with shoes! 

I would love to hear which styling you liked best for this table. And as always, if you have an Ikea hack you would like to share - please send it on!

And have a great weekend! I will be hanging with Leo at the theater watching The Great Gatsby with the hubby and some friends (how excited are some of you about this movie!)