I recently purchased this Ikea Helmer drawer unit to hold my nail polishes and other beauty items.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/pr...872/#/00107874

I will have it next to my vanity in my bedroom. I bought it in the off white color but it really will stand out in my room like a sore thumb, I was thinking of painting it or somehow doing something creative with it to make it less.. ugly.. in the master bedroom.

My room has beige walls with blue/green and white decor.
My vanity is blue/green color (picture of my vanity attached)
My other furniture in the room is darker wood

I saw a couple of ideas on google but not sure what I should do for myself. Any ideas ladies?

http://champagnelifestyles.blogspot....lmer-hack.html

http://www.ikeahackers.net/2011/11/i...hinoserie.html

Thanks guys!

I want to share with you that the IKEA drawer unit you have is the biggest piece of junk made by Ikea-this is my personal opinion. I bought four of them over a year ago thinking they would work out great for misc. storage. Horrible in every way. I put one together and the drawers were very hard to pull out. When you pulled on the drawers the front piece would fall right off. Maybe if you used some industrial strength glue or something builders use-they might stay on. I gave the other three away still new in the boxes to the thrift shop. I have never had a problem with anything from Ikea-I love their stuff and have been buying from them from over 15 years. But this was just a bad deal. Perhaps you will somehow have better luck but I doubt if they could magically improve on their design and construction of this.

Originally Posted by gillianna

I want to share with you that the IKEA drawer unit you have is the biggest piece of junk made by Ikea-this is my personal opinion. I bought four of them over a year ago thinking they would work out great for misc. storage. Horrible in every way. I put one together and the drawers were very hard to pull out. When you pulled on the drawers the front piece would fall right off. Maybe if you used some industrial strength glue or something builders use-they might stay on. I gave the other three away still new in the boxes to the thrift shop. I have never had a problem with anything from Ikea-I love their stuff and have been buying from them from over 15 years. But this was just a bad deal. Perhaps you will somehow have better luck but I doubt if they could magically improve on their design and construction of this.

I have two of these as desk drawers and have had them for over 10 years. They work fine for me. Perhaps you got a defect one?

To Op. I really like the last version. However not sure that one will fit in either. I would probably decorate the outside with flower wallpaper and spray paint the front in two different colors.

Thank you both for your replies, Mediana, That is a great idea to wallpaper the sides and paint the front, that would take away the metal look which im not loving..

i have one of these as well and i love it! i've had it for 2-3 years and never had it fall apart.
i honestly think that gold/white combo in the one link is super hideous. maybe it's just the design they used or my huge dislike of gold lol

i do like the pattern one - that's really cool. i've honestly never thought about trying to change the appearance since it's metal. trying to figure out why they painted it black first and then applied the image over it.
also getting an image printed that large will be pretty costly. maybe you could do a stencil pattern over it instead? maybe a stencil in the same color as your vanity (which is a really pretty color!)

If you spray paint use a paint with a primer or prime it first then paint, you don't want the paint to chip off.

I've spray painted a filing cabinet before (staples - ugly gray into a pleasant subdued blue that matches well with my peacock sofa) and overall i think it turned out great. Note, since spray paint is meant to stay on Metal, I DID NOT need to prime, and I did not opt for any design--I have too much going on in my living room already in terms of patterns.
(1) Many Light coats with dry time in between coats. Being too rushed just means ugly drip marks that are impossible to "undo" completely.
(2) Well ventilated, preferably OUTSIDE, and wear a mask... the particles get every where including lungs! Also make sure to have a drop cloth to protect indoor or outdoor surface.
(3) Hardware... this I think should be a lot easier with IKEA, but my staples cabinet came fully assembled and the handles were impossible to remove. If there are pieces that you do not want painted it is REALLY important to cover them properly. Best to remove if possible.

Overall i thought the project was simple. just a little messy and time consuming.

Good luck!

I think what you can do is print the photo of it and then try to apply the color manually with a sketch. This will give you an idea of what you are exactly looking for. All then you need to do id put it to action.

Ive just got to tell you: Your vanity is beautiful!!! I cant believe how beautiful and put-together it is! You could make a career of interior design (unless you already have one)

Originally Posted by Serina

Ive just got to tell you: Your vanity is beautiful!!! I cant believe how beautiful and put-together it is! You could make a career of interior design (unless you already have one)

Ha! I wish!!! This is the photo from the website the vanity is sold from.. It looks nothing like this in my house, I assure you

Originally Posted by Cheryl

Ha! I wish!!! This is the photo from the website the vanity is sold from.. It looks nothing like this in my house, I assure you

Oh, LOL. Well I can see why you baught it

I like this idea...

http://www.ikeahackers.net/2012/01/handsome-hemnes.html

with the paintable textured wallpaper on a couple of panels to soften it up.
also, I would look into changing out the hardware into something with a more cottage vibe.

good luck, that vanity is quite nice, BTW. love the color.

omg. holly wow. is the pic if the green vanity your room?? so beautiful.

I love the idea cobaltblue posted.

You could cover it with fabric using spray adhesive: http://www.ehow.com/how_5779425_cover-pail-fabric.html
This is for a pail, but same method. Me, I'd just spray it with adhesive and stick to the thing.

oh and check this out: http://champagnelifestyles.blogspot....lmer-hack.html