IKEA HEMNES HACK: TV UNIT MAKEOVER

School has started people. This is exciting. I'm looking forward to getting some projects finished (or started). Right now I'm hanging around the house all day with my 3-year-old we're partying.  

It was an amazing summer, capped by a trip to Mexico with just my husband. It was the first ever trip we've taken without the kids; we'd never even left them for the weekend. Happy 10 years to an amazing man! (and I'm ready to go back)

Really though, let's move on to the current project. 

Toddlers, dvd's, and electronic equipment do not mix. Can I get an AMEN to that!? When we first moved into our house and made the trek to IKEA, we came home with the Hemnes TV Unit. One problem, all the openings on the thing would expose the buttons, gaming systems, etc to sneaky little fingers. The drawers were easy to open and I just knew the dvd's would be spread throughout the house. I was not going to be okay with this. 

Enter these amazing hinges. (Thank you home depot for another good thing - no this is not sponsored, but they should with how much money we spend there!). 

I have no idea what these were called, but they did the job perfectly. 

We cut boards to fit the top three openings of the unit, attached these hinges, removed the knobs from the lower drawers, and we were baby-proofed. 

The hinges "snap" gently closed. When a toddler hand did get smashed, there were never any tears. With the tightness of the hinges, they take a little pulling to open. These are perfect to deter small kids.

You'll notice that the top 3 boards we added did not go to the side edges. It was a perfect mistake. Without any hardware on the fronts, you can slip your fingers in the sides and pull the face down to access.

For the drawers, you can reach under and push out the bottom front edge of the drawer, being able to open it for those dexterous enough to pull off the move.

You'll also notice the small pieces of wood with halved chair pads on them. They look totally cool, I know. When we put the fronts on, the hinges were so awesome that they made the front covers actually tilt inward. We wanted them to stay straight. Adding the wood gave us that and the pads made for a quiet close.



This is the before picture. The all-wood unit came in a white washed color. You could still see the wood grain under it if you were close. Ever since I added the fronts though, it's been two-toned. I've waited 3 years to give it an all-over paint job and new hardware. It was worth the wait because I totally avoided the dvd floor party with a toddler. This was a quick project and I'm glad I was able to rig it to be done right in the living room.

Ummmm...don't mind the TV in the back, it survived along with the mass of tangled cords back there. I really should dust more. But at least the unit looked good and glossy with a coat of paint! And yes the insides of the front covers are still un-painted. I'll have to go back and do that later.

I had no idea how much more I would like this once it was all the same color and freshly painted. I love IKEA's all-wood furniture. It's sturdy and really feels like it's ready to take a beating - necessary in a house with kids.

I looked at so many drawer pulls for this. It's a central part of our living room. I wanted something that didn't look heavy, didn't look too girly, wasn't shabby chic, and didn't include crystal-looking things. I searched online and found a couple things, but once again, on one of our home depot trips I took a quick stop in the drawer pull isle. For the cost, these were perfect. I kinda like the gold/bronze look, but the brushed silver is perfect for our downstairs space. I'm still glad I got them.

As a finished product and an IKEA hack, I'm glad we did it and I'd do all 3 years over again.

Decorating is so much one-piece-at-a-time. Just like kids, well, hopefully like kids. I don't have things figured out. I hope my home is one that other people always feel comfortable coming in and crashing on the couch. I feel like it is, I just hope that it feels like that for you too. Cheers to couch crashing today!