We love this hack on the most vin ordinaire of Ikea beds by stylist Meta Coleman in her home in Provo, Utah: paint it PLAID. It made us realize that the plain white Ikea Malm Bedframe is really a nice blank palette with many possibilities…

ikea-malm-bed_4

Ikea’s description says that this particle board bed is “printed and embossed acrylic paint”.  All our research advises to prime the surfaces first, but we’d try a patch unprimed….just to see.  (A lot of people have successfully painted Ikea’s MALM, so there’s ample info on the internet.)  This diy diva painted a twin MALM bed a swell shiny gray bed; she gives her technique here.
ikea.com
ikea.com
As for plaiding, here are a few tips:
—Dilute the paint if you want thin, light stripes.
—Decide on the size of your squares and mark off the horizontal lines with a chalk line. Paint on the horizontal lines first. To get the effect of fabric, drag the stiff bristle brush through the wet paint. More info here.

 

A Cup of Jo
A Cup of Jo

But that blank palette bed makes us imagine other designs…

…something Sol LeWitt-ish?

David Buckley Borden
David Buckley Borden

…or something in ball-point pen perhaps?

ballpoint wallpaper by alissia melka-teichroew

ballpoint wallpaper by alissia melka-teichroew

…or perhaps take a cue from Ernst Caramelle’s beautiful walls….

Ernst Caramelle
Ernst Caramelle

via a Cup of Jo

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3 replies on “That Plain Ikea Bed is a Canvas You Can Paint

  1. I don’t use Ikea furniture or furnishings but I love seeing what people do with them. This is particularly inventive. I can see someone copying a Van Gogh on the headboard (his room in Arles, perhaps, or Starry Night?) or even an 18th-century landscape. Those could be so beautiful to sleep under.

  2. I’m so excited to try this, this week! We have an Ikea bed which I loathe, and we’re stuck with it for at least a few more months until I can get the time/resources together to build my own. Spiffing it up a little in the meantime seems such a nice way to personalize it and add some fun to our otherwise very neutral bedroom 🙂

  3. Yeah, it has huge possibilities. Miro-like cut-outs?

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