Ralph Lauren Home: Part Deux

One of the other Ralph Lauren Home rooms in the ladies mansion was devoted to a more modern, masculine and metropolitan design aesthetic.  That is the reason why I chose to post the photos separately.  It reminds me of Ralph's own Manhattan apartment and his car collection with very sleek lines and shiny surfaces.  It also makes me wish I had a room big enough for the chic Cube Bed.   Obviously, this complete look isn't for everyone but there is no reason why you couldn't add a few of these pieces into your current decor.  Enjoy!

Photos by Heather Clawson for Habitually Chic

Tiling a Lack Side Table

Materials: Lack Side Table, Tile, Adhesive, Grout, Trowel, Float

Description: I found a simple, and inexpensive, way to spice up the $7.99 Lack Side Table. Once you gather all the necessary tools, follow these easy steps!

Step 1: Clean off the surface, and make sure it is completely dry.

Step 2: Measure out your tile. Since my table surface was a little smaller than the 4 (12x12) sheets of tile, I had to trim off some of the edges. But these glass tiles were incredible easy to work with and I just had to cut through the netting that attached them.

Step 3: Once you have the correct amount of tiles, it's time to lay the adhesive. Since I was working with a relatively small surface area I didn't have to worry about my adhesive drying, so I spread on enough to cover one sheet of tiles. I used a paint stir stick to grab some adhesive, and then used the trowel (metal thing with notches) to spread it out evenly. I went over my patch of adhesive with the notched side to make the lines in the adhesive.

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Klimt Lack

Materials: Lack side table

Description: My Lack table was too green for my room,so I decided to add it a little color- painted the top and the sides white in two layers, put a Klimt picture from an old calendar,and secured it with a 4 mm glass. The best thing is that the picture is not glued,so i can change it any time I want.

~ Pera Peric, Kragujevac,Serbia

IKEA LEGO Table

Materials: Ramvik

Description: When I moved in I bought an IKEA Ramvik table and while travelling this summer I had an idea (don't ask why): decorate its top with Lego bricks used as pixels. Here are the steps I went through. If you don't care about those steps and want to see a nice time-lapse video, scroll to the end of the article!

Lego bricks

First things first. What are the Lego brick sizes and colors available? Oddly enough this question is not that easily answered. Probably because Lego's site is crappy, or because nobody really cares... I eventually found Brickipedia which happens to be a much richer resource than the official ones. Everything I was looking for was there: the Lego "unit" is 8 millimeters and the color palette is pretty simple.

Table specs

Knowing my table size I had various options, depending on the "pixel size" I'd choose. Of course the number of bricks (and the price) would also vary. So I created a dynamic spreadsheet on Google Docs that'd do the calculations for me...

I chose the 4x4 option, quite cheap and still offering a cool number of pixels.

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Sultan Lien Slats to Turntable Table

Materials: Sultan Lien Slats

Description: I replaced my Ikea bed and noticed that these slats were pretty solid when laid on top of one another. Wanting to give my turntable a more suitable home, I thought the slats could be arranged to leave a hole in the middle where the player could sit.

1. Measure and cut the slats. (leave room for audio jacks and on/off switch)

2. Glue and clamp each piece together. (Wood glue typically takes 20-30 minutes to dry and there were around 70 pieces.)

3. 4 interesting steel table legs from a second-hand store, and there's a solid and low profile table.

~ Scott, Pasadena, CA

Good ol', cheapo upholstered Gorm Bar

Materials: Gorm Posts, Gorm Shelves, Gorm Corner Shelf

Description: This is I and my husband's first hack. After weeks of trawling through this site, I managed to convince DH that building our own bar would be cheaper than buying a new one.

We wanted an L shaped bar and thought about using expensive IKEA pieces for this, but settled for good ole, cheapo Gorm.

Supplies:
2 51cm GORM corner shelves - $26
8 51 x 77cm GORM shelves - $56
8 31 x 77cm GORM shelves - $40
24 packs of 110cm GORM posts - $96
Packet of screws - $9
Fabric - $16
13mm MDF sheets for the top of the bar - $13
Staple gun and staples
Hand drill

Total: $256

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Quick table

Materials: LÄMPLIG chopping board, Vika Curry

Description: I needed a small table to put my printer on.

I couldn't find any table suited at the Ikea store, so I hacked one together from the LÄMPLIG chopping board and used 4 Vika Curry legs to support it.

It took me 15 minutes to piece it together and for €20 in materials it wasn't expensive.

~ Adri Mathlener

Whisky cabinet

Materials: Faktum cabinet, Perfekt bottle shelf, some boards, small angle braces

Description: My partner needed a cabinet for his whisky collection. We couldn't find a suitable one with correct dimensions and features, so he made an Ikea hack.

First he built a sturdy table-like frame to support the combination of the bottle shelf and the cabinet. He removed the bottom board of the cabinet and attached it a little lower in the frame to make more room for the bigger bottles. In the end, all parts were attached together.

The little table surface on the front side is handy, you can have the glass standing on it while you pour the drink.

~ Milla Bäcklund

Basketball Table

Materials: Ikea table, small hooks, long skinny hooks, basketball net, magnet of your favorite team, super glue, black spray paint, a saw to cut off the flowery part, rubber feet to make it into a trivet
(optional)

Description: My boyfriend loves basketball and I saw this other table at the NBA Store in NYC and decided I could make it myself. I bought this table at the Ikea Store (product not shown online) and sawed off the inside flower insert that looks like this:

I then added rubber feet to the bottom of this and made this flower piece into a trivet for the dining table.
After that, I spray painted an embroidery hoop to make the top of the net black.  Then I bought a net at a sports store/walmart for a basketball hoop and purchased long skinny hooks as well.  These long hooks were then attached to the 4 table legs and held the hoop in place in the middle.

The net was attached to the embroidery hoop using small hooks that were inserted into the empty space between the 2 embroidery rings (once I inserted them, I tightened the rings closer together to hold and inserted a small amount of super glue).

I then attached a magnet of my boyfriend's favorite basketball team to the top  - the Phoenix Suns. Now he had a custom basketball table and I had a new trivet for the kitchen!

~ Christin Franco from Chandler, AZ

Foldable LAN party tables

Materials: VIKA AMON/VIKA CURRY, hinges, brackets, chipboard, rubber bushes, rope, buckles

Description: At LAN-parties, tables and space are limited. My husband and his gamer friends went table hunting at IKEA and my guy came home with two neat and price worthy tabletops "VIKA AMON" (100x60 cm) and eight "VIKA CURRY" legs.

He takes them with him every time they throw a party, but since the tables were still a bit bulky to carry, he started modifying them. The goal was to fold the table into a "portfolio", with room for the legs inside!

First he cut the tabletops in halves. The tables are hollow with cardboard inside so they needed to be reinforced, and the cut surfaces smoothed. He used chipboard for this purpose.

He then mounted hinges on the backs of the tabletop pieces. Since he wanted to store the legs inside the fold, he used brackets to extend the hinges and make more room, and he attached rubber bushes to keep the legs in place. Handles were made out of rope, and the folded table is kept folded with buckles.

The tables turned out GREAT, and they are very useful - for all types of indoor parties.

Check out the entire description at here. (in Swedish, but if you paste the link in Google translate you'll understand most of it).

See more the Foldable LAN party table

~ Sofia, Sweden

Galant Dining table

Materials: GALANT meeting room table

Description: There was GALANT meeting room table in the bin. Table surface was in terrible condition but table legs were OK. I glued 8 mm plywood on the surface and beech baseboard list to the table edge.

White paint is excess from sailboat project ( Hemplel Brilliant Enamer ). You do not need to be an finnish software engineer and stingy in these projects - but it helps.

~ Heikki Tanner, Tampere Finland

Lift coffee table

Materials: VIKA AMON

Description: I made a coffee table lift (# 1) using a VIKA AMON plate and a trestle (in any hardware store) which I adapted some curtain rods to make it slide (# 3 and #4). So I can transform it into a table to eat (# 2)

~ Noëlle, BOURG EN BRESSE - FRANCE

Customised Kritter Table

Materials: 1 x Kritter table, oilcloth (or fabric + pvc table liner) and staple gun

Description: For my niece's 2nd birthday, I customised a Kritter table by stapling fabric and pvc table liner to the top. This could also be done with oilcloth. It's now easier to keep in good condition than the standard painted veneer top and looks a bit more interesting.

~ Catherine, Melbourne, Australia

Lack gone oriental

Materials: Lack table, decoupage paper, thin metal plate, decoupage glue, decoupage lacquer, pencil, all-purpose glue

Description: We had this Lack table for ages and wanted something fresh without investing a lot of money or having to throw out something that is still good.

So I decided to spice up our Lack table to match our colorful living room.
Step by step:

1. Wipe the table clean with a moist cloth and let it dry.
2. Spread the decoupage paper on the table the way you want it to be later.
3. Apply a coat of decoupage glue where you want to fix your decoupage paper. Don't apply more than you need for one sheet, otherwise it might dry too quickly and you will have to apply glue again, resulting in thicker layers and uneven results.
4. Apply the decoupage paper and try to apply it without bubbles. It worked for me to have my wifeys help, she held the paper on two edges and I smoothed it down onto the table.

5. Be sure to have enough paper overlapping the edges of the table, you will want to wrap it around properly.
6. When you finished the applying of decoupage paper on top of the table, go for the small side of the shelf. I glued more decoupage paper than needed on it and after drying I just cut the overlapping rest with a scalpel.
7. Coat the entire decoupaged surfaces with decoupage lacquer for a brilliant or a matte finish (you will have to choose yours). Try not to go over the same spot many times, as it may cause the thin paper to break.
8. Allow it to dry about an hour before applying the second layer of lacquer.


Edge decoration:

1. Get a golden, silver or copper colored very thin plate of metal.

2. First design your desired edge decoration on paper and hold it on to the edges of your Lack table. If you like it, then it's gonna be your model.
3. According to the paper model, cut 4 identical triangles out of the metallic plate. It really has to be thin in order to be cut with normal scissors.
4. Cut the shape into it (here the little bows).
5. Turn the ugly side (you will have one ;)) upside so you can write on it and lay it on a soft underground (a carpet or a thick cloth for example)

6. With a pencil impress the wanted design onto each triangle and then fold it in the middle.

7. Adjust the triangles on the edges and if you are happy with the result glue them onto them with all purpose glue. I used Uhu.


~ Sarah, Germany