DIY IKEA HACK KALLAX TRANSFORMATION | FLUTED SIDEBOARD

hey everyone welcome back to my channel

my name is kristen

and today we're getting started on a

huge ikea hack transformation we are

transforming my old ikea calyx unit

into a beautiful fluted sideboard for

this front entryway

i like how much storage space there is

in it but i really don't like the way it

looks

i'm going after this whole look here if

you were to shop these pieces

they cost thousands of dollars so this

is going to be an affordable way of

getting the look for less

if you were to buy an ikea calyx unit

they are 70

so they're pretty affordable for a big

storage piece but i actually got this

completely free

it was left behind at an old apartment

we had so i just took it with me and

i've been using it in every space ever

since

next i'm going to be doing a full

makeover on this front entryway so after

we tackle the ikea calyx unit

we can transform the entire space but i

know a ton of you guys have the calyx

unit as well and you might be interested

in transforming yours too so let's go

ahead and jump right into it

i'm kristin interior designer and home

decor expert

i'm sharing all of my designer tips and

tricks with you to help

transform your house into the home of

your dreams through diy projects

affordable home decor styling tips

and home organization if i can do it you

can too

let's make our homes look and feel their

best

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so i really want to minimize the

busyness of this unit i want to create

full solid looking doors going all the

way down here so i can have

them open just like a cabinet i found

the easiest way of doing that

was just starting with the ikea calyx

door

this actually comes as like a little

cubby box definitely a lot easier than

buying wood for the outdoor piece

getting hinges fitting that in properly

i knew just going with this box it would

fit in these slots perfectly

this door solved one problem it fits

this way but i wanted

a full-size door so i'm gonna be putting

all the cubby doors in

but actually finishing the outside using

these half round molding pieces so from

the front

these molding pieces are going to kind

of look like a full-sized door

because they're going to lay right over

top of the individual doors and kind of

hide that gap so that's kind of where i

went with this i thought it was going to

be the easiest do-able way of covering

the entire front of this unit and

making it just a lot easier just to

install doors that are kind of

already fit to size

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so i just moved the unit out to the

garage i actually

put it up on just some little weights so

that i can

paint the bottom without hitting the

floor i put a little drop cloth down

just from the dollar store and i'm

getting ready to start

priming so i'm just using this little

roller i'm going to be going around

all of the edges i'm not going to worry

about the inside

i'm just focusing on all the outside

pieces

and the top and the sides if you were

painting ikea furniture

you should definitely use this primer

it's the zinzer bullseye123 primer and

it adheres to pretty much

any surface without sanding so it's

perfect for

all of the ikea furniture that's pretty

shiny and smooth i'm also priming the

door fronts and edges

i'm just lifting them up off the floor

using plastic cups but if you have

risers you can definitely use those

i realized after i didn't really need to

prime and paint the front of the door

since we're

covering them anyways but i did it just

in case there was anything that ever

showed through

this primer only takes 30 minutes to dry

so it's a really quick process

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so for the paint color i'm just going to

be using almond wisp by bear

and i got a sample size these are just

five dollars to pick up

so very affordable i think it should

cover everything i need

it's a nice kind of beigey taupe light

color and i think it's gonna look

really nice all the sample sizes

actually come in a satin finish

which i was looking for anyway so i

think that's going to work out well

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so to make sure i don't have any streaks

or brush marks i'm using

a small foam roller to do all of the

painting that way it goes on very smooth

and looks super even

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okay so i would actually suggest getting

a little bit more paint than i did i'm

gonna have to go

and get a little bit more that was

enough to do

two coats on the top sides fronts

and just one coat on the doors for now

i'm going to start getting the cubby

inserts in so we can get the doors on

and start building from there

so this little calyx door system is

pretty cool

you can just insert this little cubby

and it has the exact spots to put

the screws for the hinges this side just

holds it all

in one thing to note is they actually

say to use this little spacer

that would actually slide this insert

back a bit

and that would make sure that the door

is kind of set into the cube

i want the door to be on the outside so

i can connect the entire

panel without a gap so i'm actually just

going to slide it right to the outside

edge here

and install it there

so this is what the calyx unit looks

like with all eight doors installed

i think it's just a little too many

squares for my liking

so i'm actually going to attach half

round molding pieces

to connect the top door like this

to the bottom door and that way it's

going to fill that gap in between and

give the

look of one long solid door

i picked up 20 of these half round

molding pieces from the hardware store

they originally were about 10 feet long

so i cut them down

to be 27 inches using my miter box

this is such an easy tool to use with a

simple saw

you can cut 90 degree angles 45 degree

angles

without using any power saws if you are

new to using tools you can definitely

use this it's about 15

from the hardware store so it's very

affordable and it makes it a lot easier

to make simple cuts

see how the edges are pretty rough i'm

just gonna use

this 120 grit sanding block just to get

all of the edges really smooth

i'm attaching all of these molding

pieces using my

cordless nail gun

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i ended up using 18 pieces across so if

you get the same molding

you can count on 18 per door it totally

softens everything now that we have all

these rounded edges

once it's painted it's going to look so

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good

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now to give this a very smooth finish

look i'm going to be filling all of

these nail holes using

wood filler you can just put a tiny

amount on

smooth it out with your finger sand it

down and then it's ready for painting

again i'm using the same zinzer primer

to go right over top of the wood

that way i don't have to sand it down

and it will really create a nice surface

to paint over

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so i tried to get most of these seams

really tight together

but some of them are showing bigger gaps

like this so i'm just gonna use some

all-purpose paintable

caulking to really just smooth out that

seam

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all right i got the little cord of paint

from home depot it's the same color

as what we initially painted it but it's

actually in a flat finish the guy

working in the paint section said since

you're doing a top coat you might as

well just do a flat paint

it adheres better and it's actually

cheaper

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now because this is going to be in the

entryway and it's going to be used a lot

i'm using the verithane triple thick

polyurethane to go right over top this

is going to protect the unit from

getting

chipped and marked up i'm putting it on

using

my foam brushes these are just so that

you don't get any brush marks and you

get a nice smooth finish

this stuff is pretty drippy so if you

see little drip marks like that make

sure you smooth them out because they

will dry like that i'm doing about two

coats and this is in a satin finish

so i think if you're doing this you

could definitely just stop here you

don't need to add hardware you don't

really need to add feet but i do want to

elevate it a little bit and bring the

height up so i ordered

these legs off of amazon they came in a

pack of four and i like that they have

that nice

curve to the front of them so it really

kind of softens everything

but the contrast is gonna look really

beautiful

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okay i just realized that the bottom of

this unit isn't really

completely flat this kind of comes out a

little bit more so i can't really attach

the leg right to the edge so maybe

i'll have to just slide it into here and

the legs

won't be right at the end but they're

still going to be like lined up with the

doors

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all right and the last thing we're gonna

do is install the hardware

again this is optional you can pick

whatever style hardware you want

i got these off of amazon they came in a

pack of four

i'm gonna attach these on the third

dowel in

and then the other one here so that we

get a double door effect

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okay all the finishing touches are in

and i can't wait to show you guys what

this looks like

we've totally transformed this ikea

calyx unit

from a plain white boxy very standard

ikea piece

to a custom beautiful sideboard from my

entryway

i am in love with the way it turned out

the color the shape

everything it's totally what i was going

for so let's bring it inside and i'll

show you guys what it looks like in the

entryway now

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so

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let me know down below in the comments

what you guys think of the new and

improved calyx unit

i absolutely love it i love that it

hides all of the shoes

it's something pretty to look at right

when you walk in and i can't wait to

integrate it into the design

of the entryway space so next up we're

gonna be doing an entryway makeover and

it's

really all gonna come to life if you

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love you guys so much and i'll see you

in my next one bye