I had the opportunity to put together a small apartment (well, 3 rooms of it) for the Vancouver Fall Home Show this past weekend. The project was the mastermind of Tyson, the Home Show Manager and his intense belief that I could do it. Along with Ikea’s encouragement, I found myself staying up late nights and working on the weekends to put together these rooms in 3 short weeks! In the end, having a creative blank cheque to recreate our small space with only Ikea items turned out to be a fun and exciting challenge. Normally I would create a room from many different sources so to choose everything from one store posed a unique challenge. I find myself coming back to Ikea over and over for my home and other’s for storage solutions, small space furniture and Scandinavian design so it wasn’t a big stretch to choose everything from Ikea.

The space ended up being a dining room with a hacked dining corner bench and a small entryway, a cozy living room and a shared kids bedroom. The 3 rooms totalled less than 300 square feet. I wanted to breakdown some of the design process as well as link to the items selected for anyone interested. I know how overwhelming the Ikea website and store can be. I took multiple trips to the stores to touch and feel and put items beside each other to make sure they coordinated. So I’ve broken down the kid’s bedroom to start.

Beds

I chose the Sniglar Junior Bed as I find Junior Beds are often overlooked as an option. Theo lasted in his Sniglar Crib (with the side removed) until he was over 4 years old. I imagine kids could last in a junior bed until at least 8 before they mention anything. These beds are affordable and fit twin bedspreads which while big just made it extra cozy. I chose the linen bedspreads as linen is a wonder fabric that breathes and cleans easily. I put the beds foot to foot, something I’ve always wished I could do in our room. You need 10.8 feet along one wall to make this set up which I know is not possible in all small rooms. But if you do have the length, I love how these narrow beds allow room for play. An L formation could be another way to use these beds in a smaller room.

Storage

I use the Kuggis bins in our closets at home. I love them. They are sturdy and stackable and nice looking. Luckily 3 of the larger Kuggis fit under each bed for this room. I pictured the bins filled with toys, art supplies or even clothing.

Dollhouse + Bookshelves

I tried to mount as much as possible on the walls just like we do in our space at home. I used the Flisat bookshelves (a favourite from our home) at each bed and a bedside lamp for reading. Then I mounted the Flisat Dollhouse to create a play space and tucked the Flisat stools underneath. This way the kids could sit and play at the dollhouse and use the the stools around the house as step stools.

Paper Roll

A friend recommended finding a way to hang the Mala paper roll on the wall so I worked with the IKEA Osternas leather handles and Trevor found a way to mount them to the wall with a flush mount picture hanger (similar here). I used a wooden dowel to hold the paper roll. I think if you did this at home you might need to be careful the kids don’t unroll all the paper at once or draw on the walls but I still like the concept. If you do it please let me know how it goes! I don’t have any spare wall space to do it at home.

Wardrobe

I chose the Stuva wardrobe because I liked that it was kid height. Hopefully these imaginary kids would put their own clothes away. If I had more space I would have added a toy box or bench from the same line to create more concealed storage. I should note that IKEA made sure I attached all these items to the wall for safety reasons.

Additional sources:

Paint Colour: Senior Moment 0159 Cloverdale Paint
Rug: Stockholm
Art: By Mae, Frames Hovsta

I’ll plan to share about the other two rooms shortly. Thanks for the notes of encouragement and requests for sources!

ps. please excuse the lighting in the photos as convention centre lighting is not the most flattering. And the black carpet was all over the showroom, so I had to roll with it.

pps. I could not have done this installation without the amazing construction team at the Vancouver Home Show, or my brother Josh, Siser-in-law Kelly and my Dad. And thank you also to the team at Ikea for their support, especially the incredible Aideen and Thomas.