The simple IKEA Laiva bookcase is highly affordable and a common furniture piece in many condo apartments - but did you know this shelf is an ideal skeleton for a pending IKEA hack? After falling in love with a $695 antique baker's rack on Joliette, I looked at my IKEA Laiva bookcase and decided to recreate my own vintage farmhouse-ready piece to fit my grandmillennial aesthetic.

It all started when…

I was browsing Instagram one day when I came across a shelf I absolutely fell in love with: an antique baker’s rack from Joliette, a Toronto vintage furniture shop.

As someone with a very committed grandmillennial vintage farmhouse-style aesthetic, I started envisioning the beautifully distressed piece in my own space.

However, there was one big problem: my dream shelf was a whopping $695.

Now, I’m sure there are people that could pay the premium on such a wondrous antique piece. However, my wallet and I do not exist in this realm. Heartbroken, but determined, I put my DIY thinking hat on.

I quickly looked at the Laiva shelf in my room and thought, “I bet I can turn you into this shelf…” and then I got started:

Supplies needed

• One IKEA Laiva shelf
  If possible, please purchase this shelf secondhand to support a circular economy. You will be painting over this shelf anyway so save yourself the extra bucks here!

• One 6¼ foot wood stake: cut into eight 9¼ inch pieces

• One bottle of seafoam ultra-matte chalk paint

• Four antique brass handles (purchased from a local thrift store)
  Ideally look for handles that are light and slim

• One large flat brush

• One bottle of Gorilla Glue

• One sponge with a scouring side

Instructions

Step 1: Paint your shelf

If you’re starting with a brand new Laiva shelf or a Laiva shelf that’s already deconstructed, congrats!

My Laiva shelf was very aggressively built so its bolts have worn out so it wouldn’t survive being deconstructed and reconstructed again. This, unfortunately, meant that I had to paint an already constructed shelf.

But in the case that you have a deconstructed shelf, start by painting all of your wood panels.

With painting, I would recommend doing two coats, waiting two hours between coats. I would also paint only in one direction to help create realistic “wood grain” strokes.

The best part of this step is letting yourself paint imperfectly! Because the bookcase is meant to look rustic and distressed, streaky and patchy paint spots actually help create the farmhouse aesthetic.

After painting your wood panels to your desired coverage, assemble your bookcase using package instructions. Be sure to paint over your screws after assembly.

Step 2: Distress your wood

Grab your sponge and with the scouring end, scrub it against your painted shelf. To truly nail in the rustic farmhouse look, focus on scrubbing the edges and sides of your bookcase to give it a distressed feel.

Remember to only scrub in sporadic areas of your shelf! This is because authentically worn furniture never consistently wears on all sides perfectly.

Step 3: Add your accents

Although the Laiva shelf can stand without assistance from wooden support beams, we want to create the illusion that it doesn’t. I know this is counterintuitive but we want to make it look as if the shelf is actually a baker’s rack and its shelves can be pulled out (though you and I both know it doesn’t)!

To create this illusion, gorilla glue your eight wooden stakes to the bottom of your shelf panels.

Next, gorilla glue your antique handles onto the middle of your shelf panel. If you picked handles that are light and slim, these should glue on easily!

For extra support, feel free to add a piece of masking tape to hold up your wooden stakes and antique handles until the glue dries.

Voila! We have just IKEA hacked a Laiva bookcase into a stylish vintage farmhouse baker’s rack in three easy steps!

As an absolute beginner to furniture restoration, I was very impressed by how this IKEA hack turned out and how much it resembles a shelf that you can find at an Anthropologie.

Including the shelf and materials, it only cost me around $60 to build this shelf! This was a far cry from $695 - phew!

I hope you enjoy building your own vintage baker’s rack!

About home & interiors

home & interiors is a category on Sam’s Edit where Sammi shares her inspiration for interior design, decor pieces that she loves, and everything to do with making a space a home. Sam’s Edit believes the most charming spaces are lived in and tell a story through a sum of its parts. home & interiors explores the little things that make a place magical.