retro – Interior Design inspirations by Indywiduum Design

living room, presentations

Flat of the day / Mieszkanie dnia

06/05/2010 natienka

Inspiration for our living room. / Inspiracja dla naszego salonu.

Full post and pics:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/small-cool-2010/small-cool-2010-karas-shades-of-gray-small-division-11-113883

accessories, art in interiors, lighting, presentations

Mounted deer head / Jelen na scianie

14/10/2009 natienka

Don’t you find it fascinating how trends you were sure were so tragic you won’t see them again come back – and in such a victorious fashion? 🙂
So, will you let the deer into your living rooms?

SNOW WHITE - Hand Knit Scandinavian Buck Deer Stag from Attiladesign

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Czyz to nie fascynujace jak trendy ktore uznalismy za tak tragiczne ze bylismy pewni iz nie wroca – robia zwycieski come back? 🙂
Czy poroza wroca na Wasze salony?

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accessories, budget decorating, budget design, furniture, home office, inspiration, lighting, presentations

Shop finds / Znaleziska sklepowe

07/10/200907/10/2009 natienka

Further to my post about vintage, second-hand finds a few days ago, let me share with you what I found in shops on my Polish trip. You know I love a budget find – and all that’s featured below comes from high-street retailers.

One of the super-hot designs of this season – cross-legged side table. I’ve seen it on cover of the new John Lewis catalogue, of the Dream Bathrooms (from Homes & Gardens) too, and inside many recent magazines! I find it so light and delicate – it can visually lift up any sofa it stands next to, and add elegance and subtleness to the bedroom when used instead of heavy bedside tables:

Cross-legged round black glass side / coffee table

Funky retro lamps – white & black – absolutely spot-on for now and for such a good price! Found in the local equivalent to Homebase and consting from £30 for a table lamp, through to £60 for the floor lamp.

The huge wall light from the series is the truly fabulous – it has this designer feel to it which makes it a great statement piece, and it’s so versatile due to the long arched arm – one moment it can be used over a table, another – give you the reading light over the sofa…

Retro eye-ball wall lamp with long swing arm

Another (bargain!) table lamp replicating the eye-ball shape, working well with minimalist, retro and modern interiors:

Is it only me or does this lamp look like it was made from a jar? 🙂

And now – inspired by nature and thus timeless, but fun at the same time, the ‘twigs’ lamp:

Loads of such ‘wavy plastic‘ designs around, both on high street and at designers, and yet few of them cost £10…

This gorgeous glamour, delicate ceiling lamp with crystals-and-sheer-white-glittery shade will most probably find its place in the yellow bedroom. Under £30.

Glamour white ceiling lamp with crystals

Now to some coffee tables.

This one intrigued me with its lovely visible wood design (check out both the general pattern and the 3 tiles in the middle of the top), its practicality (huge drawers) and its lightness achieved thanks to slim metal legs (this photo does not show off the lifting effect too well). Price: ca. £200.

This one I love for its functionality and versatility – not only in size and shape but also colour and finish. I adore such items for their aplicability to small spaces, when you need something smaller for everyday, but need space when entertaining guests.

This one is pretty simple, not from best materials either, but interesting enough to have cought my eye… and I had to give it a second look when I saw the price – for £80 you can buy it for a few years or for your rented flat without guilt!

Sleek, linear design makes this chair a great addition to a sharp, elegant home office:

Sleek elegant wood, metal and leather office chair

And finally – what lovely fabric! Believe, when I cast my eye on the same sofa in cream alcantara, I haven’t blinked twice. But this is an example of how the choice of fabric can dramatically influence the look, instantly making it a fashionable statement for the bachelor’s pad.

Silver shimmery L-shaped sofa for a bachelor pad

…believe it or not but this is not all I want to share with you from my trip – there will still be one more buy, and a DIY project we’ve completed in our flat back home.

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Tak jak obiecalam, po znaleziskach ‘z drugiej reki’ – czas na to co znalazlam w polskich sklepach podczas mojej ostatniej wizyty. A bylo tego sporo i naprawde pozytywnie mnie to zaskoczylo – a zgodnie z moim motto, szukalam jedynie produktow w dobrych cenach!

Znalazlam wiele pieknych dizajnerskich lamp – niektore retro; najciekawsza z nich to ‘kinkiet’ z biala kula na bardzo dlugim ramieniu dzieki czemu moze oswietlac dwie strefy – no ale zyrandol ze sloika nie odbiega oryginalnoscia!. Inne inspirowane natura i dzieki temu ponadczasowe (bardzo ciekawa lampka nocna z galazek drzewa), a takze lampa podlogowa z falujacych kawalkow plastiku, bardzo modna w tej chwili – a jeszcze za taka cene?! No i piekny delikatny glamour w postaci krysztalkowego zyrandola z przeswitujacym abazurem, ktory, cos tak czuje, znajdzie swoje miejsce w zoltej sypialni.

Dalej – stoliki kawowe. Piekny wzor slojow przyciagnal moj wzrok do pierwszego mebla, ale tak samo interesujace sa w nim dwie niezwykle pojemne szuflady i metalowe nozki dodajace stolowi lekkosci. Potem trafilam na kilka stolikow ‘warstwowych’, interesujacych tym bardziej im wiecej mozliwosci ustawienia daja (idealne do malych pomieszczen!). No i moje ulubione ostatnio – stoliki ze skrzyzowanymi nozkami, ktore nadaja niezwyklej lekkosci kazdej sofie przy ktorej stoja, oraz elegancji i delikatnosci sypialniom, gdzie zastepuja ciezkie stoliki nocne.

No i jeszcze dwa ciekawe meble do siedzenia – przepiekny, elegancki i prosty w formie fotel laczacy drewno, metal i skore doda szyku kazdemu gabinetowi, a kanapa z niezwyklym lekko blyszczacym szarym obiciem bedzie wygladac pieknie w kawalerskim mieszkaniu modnego mezczyzny – idealny przyklad jak duzo zmienia material, gdyz ten sam model widzialam moment wczesniej w bezowym obiciu z alcantary… wystarczy powiedziec ze nie spojrzalam na niego drugi raz, a ta wersja az wyprosila zdjecie.

…ale ale, to nie koniec relacji z tej podrozy – podziele sie jeszcze z Wami kolejnym zakupem i projektem zrob-to-sam ktory popelnilismy z mezem w naszym polskim mieszkaniu!

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room of the day

Room of the Day / Pokoj Dnia

06/10/200906/10/2009 natienka

For this gorgeous natural feeling of being outdoor – indoor.

Courtesy of Desire to Inspire.

accessories, budget decorating, budget design, color, DIY, furniture, home office, inspiration, kitchen, living room

The Finds / Znaleziska

29/09/2009 natienka

I can’t believe how many great products and designs I’ve seen on my last trip to Poland. The interior design market is changing there rapidly, and there aren’t that many new trends that you can’t find there now; even better – most of them are available at high street retailers, making great design available for many!

But before we go into the New, first let us talk about the Old. First, a find stil bought in the UK, but which I envisage to place in the yellow bedroom I was describing some time ago. For now to keep you in suspense – still in packaging, you will see the final effect when all is ready! This vintage glamour / shabby chic mirror frame cost peanuts and is absolutely amazing; I found it on iBootSale and picked up the next day. As it turned out, it was too big even for my mutant-huge suitcase, so had to ship with DHL. But it was worth it, the new owners are thrilled to have it!

Vintage glamour / shabby chic ornamental mirror frame

As we’re with vintage, when we visited my in-laws, I was in heaven. Here are some more finds. First, the sideboards, etc that my husband’s grandfather hand made some years ago (he was even taking carpenter order for those for local people, and funnily enough I saw a very similar one in some other garage when cycling through the village):

I’m planning to sand it, paint in a delicate pastel colour, add a few embellishments and generally keep it shabby chic / country. Whether for me or someone else – I don’t know yet!

Handmade vintage sideboard by my husband's grandfather

This is another beauty, with more bite to it and gorgeous handles… there is also a sideboard top in another shed but in much worse condition – still there is a chance 🙂

Loads of those around as well… I’ve seen some very nice decors of country kitchens with stove door as a decoration on the wall:

…and finally our finds from a nearby house that is being refurbished – a vintage double shelf and an old radio which I am thinking about converting into a night stand. They were just being thrown away so hopefully they will get a second chance 🙂

And now last truly vintage items. Not obviously planning to do that, and with ideas ranging from ghost chairs to mismatched vintage, we bought 8 chairs 🙂 When we first got into this antique shop, we just came in to browse, and then we came across the two beauties:

…the raspberry-peach louis-style chairs, eight

…and the black and golden stylized chairs (19th c. Art Noveau style), six

Black and golden 19th/20th century style chairs — Black and golden 19th century Art Noveau style chairs

I couldn’t decide which ones are better. The raspberry ones worked well with my idea, and I even considered such chairs (with different upholstery); they are also much easier to fit with many styles; glamour, eclectic, shabby chic, etc. The black ones, though, were absolutely original and different to what you normally find, but would not suit our space as they would really require it to be much more upscale than we planned for.

But we couldn’t decide, as both sets were gorgeous. We also had to think through whether they really will work well, how much they will influence other design elements in the house, even what are we going to do with this number of chairs 🙂 At some point we wanted to get both sets, as the black ones were dirt cheap. Having slept over the night dreaming about them, we took a decision – we go again and we buy one set that will work best.

At closer inspection, it turned out that the black chairs were very uncomfortable – what looked as well-formed foam was in fact a nicely shaped plank, or some other piece of wood, and the seats were darn hard. Also, the paint was peeling off at the teeniest touch, and someone actually painted (probably with spray) over part of the fabric at the back. There were a few other elements we didn’t like either.

Generally unhappy about the quality, we turned to the raspberry set. Gosh, that was comfortable 🙂 Very soft, stable, and sturdy in construction; after being told the shop can pressure-clean them, and having got a super-discount, decision was taken and they are OURS! Of course they need re-upholstering and a new coat of finish (and maybe crystal buttons?), but after cleaning they can even serve as they are for the time-being (meaning: when they are in the shed waiting until we move back to Poland, but no one knows when!).

Their versatility will allow me also to use one for a work desk, and another two can work very well with some retro or modern couch.

My mother-in-law even suggested some fabrics for upholstery from her own collection:

Golden and cream upholstery for the chairs

OK! Enough of vintage, I will show you what I found in shops next time 🙂

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Az mi trudno uwierzyc ile przepieknych i oryginalnych produktow i projektow znalazlam w czasie mojego ostatniego pobytu w polsce. Rynek wnetrzarski i projektowania wnetrz naprawde jest teraz ciekawy, i niewiele zostalo jeszcze designow ktorych w Polsce nie mozna teraz znalezc. Co lepsze – dostepne sa w zwyklych sklepach, nie u drogich importerow, dzieki czemu dostep do nich ma w koncu wiele osob.

Ale zanim o nowosciach, troche o starociach. Najpierw przepiekna stara rama, na skrzyzowaniu glamour i shabby chic, ktora planuje powiesic w zoltej sypialni o ktorej kiedys pisalam. Znalazlam ja za grosze na iBootSale i odebralam nastepnego dnia. Niestety okazala sie za duza nawet na moja gigantycznie zmutowana walize, wiec poleciala do Polski DHLem. Ale bylo warto – rama bardzo spodobala sie nowym wlascicielom!

Juz w Polsce najpierw odwiedzilismy tesciow. Moja radocha nie miala konca gdy zajrzalam do stodoly, obory, i innych skrytek. Znalazlam na przyklad dwa przepiekne kredensy / komody zrobione wlasnorecznie przez dziadka mojego meza (robil je tak dobrze ze nawet przyjmowal zamowienia od okolicznych mieszkancow, i faktycznie – rowerujac sobie przez wioske znalazlam w innym garazu bardzo podobny kredens!).

Z kremowa lub pastelowa farba i krysztalowymi galkami beda przepiekne 🙂 (choc ta mniejsza komoda sama z siebie ma piekne raczki wiec moze zostana). Jeszcze nie wiem czy znajda miejsce u mnie (w koncu 59m2 ma swoj limit!) czy jednak u kogos innego…

Mnostwo jest takze drzwiczek od starych piecow kaflowych, ktore pieknie moznaby wkomponowac w kuchnie wiejska.

…a na spacerze kilka domow dalej trwal remont, gdzie wsrod wyrzuconych smieci znalazlam piekna podwojna polke i rame starego radia (ktora byc moze stanie sie stolikiem nocnym). Cuda nad cudami 🙂

No i w koncu – ‘niechcacy’ kupilismy krzesla 🙂 no nie moglismy sie oprzec. Zastanawialismy sie nad dwoma zestawami – malinowo- brzoskwiniowymi Ludwikami, oraz czarno-zlotymi z przelomu XIX/XX wieku, w stylu secesyjnym. Przyznaje ze bardziej za serce w pierwszym momencie chwycily secesyjne, choc od razu wywietrzylam problem. Te krzesla mocno narzucaja swoj styl, ktory jest duzo bardziej elegancki niz planowalismy. Z kolei ludwiki jak to ludwiki – pasuja do wielu wnetrz (eklektyczne, glamour, shabby chic, i inne), wygladaja dobrze nawet z nowoczesnymi (szklo, plastik itd)…

…przespalismy sie z problemem, w pewnym momencie nawet uznajac ze moze kupimy oba zestawy. No ale przy drugim obejrzeniu okazalo sie ze jakosciowo te czarne nie sa najlepsze… i mocno niewygodne. Oczywiscie byloby to do zmiany ale juz nas tak nie zachwycaly jak dzien wczesniej. Malinowe (choc siedzenia bardziej w brzoskwinke wpadaja) ludwiczki za to jak najbardziej wygodne, i nawet sprzedawca dorzucil profesjonalne pranie zeby troche ich jeszcze pouzywac tak jak sa. No i je wzielismy 🙂

I tak przyda im sie nowa tapicerka z pelniejszym wypelnieniem, krysztalowe guziczki (moze) i nowy lakier, ale poniewaz na razie i tak stoja w schowku czekajac na lepsze czasy czyli nasz powrot do PL (kiedy? kiedy??…) to moga byc 🙂 Planuje jednego uzyc do biurka, i sa odpowiednio ozdobne by pasowac tez przy retro czy nowoczesnej kanapie. Kochana tesciowka odlozyla juz nawet material ktorego moglabym uzyc na obicie i inne dodatki, ale to juz zalezne bedzie od ostatecznej koncepcji. Juz sie nie moge doczekac!

No! To tyle tego vintage. W nastepnym poscie przechodzimy do nowosci jakie znalazlam 🙂

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accessories, art in interiors, bedroom, budget decorating, home office, inspiration, living room

Living white / Mieszkac na bialo

26/08/200915/12/2009 natienka

“I’ve noticed that you prefer white recently” wrote my Mum through IM a few days ago. Do I? I guess I do. Although I’m ashamed to admit it, it took me some time to acknowledge white as a color. I’ve always loved bold colors (even though my red bedroom was giving me headaches during my uni years). With time, however, perhaps the more interiors I’ve seen, the more I’ve learned how colors dramatically influence how we perceive everything around us.

White is a great background to both statement pieces of art, and bold color accents. If you want to display a treasured painting, a gorgeous chair or any other item – what better background than white?? (unless the item is white 🙂 )
White works for everyone. It makes interiors seem timeless, elegant, fresh. It’s exactly why we call it the blank canvas – everyone can imagine themselves in the space, even if to decide what other colors to use. It’s easy on our imagination, bluntly speaking.
White works with every style. Normally we’d think – minimalist. But think also – modern; think shabby chic; French country, Scandinavian, etc, etc. Even think retro! (as a background to graphic designs)
But most importantly, white = space. They are almost synonyms. It will always create this feeling of spaciuosness, so desired in small places.

And yet, surprisingly, white seems to be used more in big spaces rather than small flats. I’ve realized it when looking through my inspirations collections to choose images for today’s post. All the post-industrial, ex-school buldings, lofts, barn conversions and quite a number of old big mansions boast the white interiors. So why not small flats? (And yes I know I admit my kitchen is green and my bathroom orange! I’m not saying everything needs to be white 🙂 )

Anyway here are some not-so-big-or-expensive places that I hope will inspire everyone to the gorgeous white…

…workspaces at home

…calm and relaxing bedrooms

Kikettes white bedroom — Kikette's white bedroom

Decor pads glamour bedroom with mirrored end tables — Decor pad's glamour bedroom with mirrored end tables

Melanie Acevedos simple and light bedroom — Melanie Acevedo's simple and light bedroom

Charlies design diarys simple white bedroom — Charlie's design diary's simple white bedroom

…and chic and spacious living rooms

Stylerooms white living room — Styleroom's white living room

I like designs living room — I like design's living room

Steven Shadleys gallery-style living room from Katiedid — Steven Shadley's gallery-style living room from Katiedid

Freshhomes minimalist living room with fireplace — Freshhome's minimalist living room with fireplace

So? I’m sure you have at least one white room. Will you look at it differently now?

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“Widze, ze ostatnio preferujesz biel“, Mama napisala do mnie na GG kilka dni temu. Coz, chyba ma racje. To prawda, dlugo mi zajelo zanim uznalam bialy za kolor. Zawsze uwielbialam mocne kolory, mimo ze ze moja czerwona sypialnia z czasow studenckich przyprawiala mnie kiedys o bol glowy. Ale z czasem, ogladajac coraz wiecej wnetrz, nauczylam sie jak wielki wplyw maja na nas kolory wszystkiego co nas otacza.

Bialy to doskonale tlo zarowno dla wyrazistych dziel sztuki, jak i mocnych akcentow kolorystycznych. Jezeli chcesz wyeksponowac ulubiony obraz czy wyjatkowy fotel – nie ma lepszego tla (no chyba ze obiekt tez jest bialy 🙂 )
Bialy pasuje wszystkim i do wszystkiego. Sprawia ze wnetrza staja sie ponadczasowe, eleganckie i swieze. Wlasnie dlatego mowimy – biala karta, czyste tlo, poczatek; kazdy moze sie w takim wnetrzu ‘zobaczyc’, nawet po to by zdecydowac na jakie kolory ten bialy wymienic. Jest to kolor przyjazny wyobrazji, ze tak powiem.
Bialy pasuje do kazdego stylu. Pierwsze skojarzenie – minimalizm. Ale takze nowoczesny, shabby chic, francuski, skandynawski, itd, itp.. nawet retro, jako kontrastowa podstawa do mocnych wzorow.
Co najwazniejsze, biel = przestrzen. To prawieze synonimy. Biel zawsze doda poczucia przestronnosci, tak potrzebnej w malych wnetrzach.

A jednak, co zadziwiajace, wydaje sie ze biel jest duzo czesniej uzywana w wielkich przestrzeniach niz malych. Zwrocilam na to uwage przegladajac moje kolekcje inspiracji, gdy wybieralam zdjecia na dzis. Wszystkie te post-industrialne, po-szkolne obiekty, lofty, i inne wielkie budynki wrecz chlubia sie biela i przestrzenia. Czemu wiec nie male mieszkania? (Tak, wiem, moja kuchnia jest zielona a mini-lazienka pomaranczowa, nigdzie nie powiedzialam ze wszystko musi byc biale ale jednak…)

Tak czy inaczej, powyzej przedstawiam kilka wnetrz ktore mam nadzieje ze Was zainspiruja – domowe biura, sypialnie i salony. Prawie kazdy z nas ma choc jeden bialy pokoj – czy spojrzysz teraz na niego inaczej?

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accessories, art in interiors, bedroom, furniture, inspiration, my projects, presentations, software

‘My Deco’ free interior design software / Darmowy program do projektowania wnetrz

21/08/200913/10/2009 natienka

I have started playing with a really cool and free interior design software – My deco. It allows for creation of a moodboard – either from uploaded images, or from the existing galleries, or even from websites by installing a plugin allowing to copy any image you see in the Internet to your gallery. Then you can share your moodboard with others.

However, what’s really great is the Design a 3D room interior design software. Not only has it a gallery of real items, so that you create more realistic spaces; you even are given all the information on the shop, price and can actually buy the item straight from the program. While you probably won’t do it too often, the advantage it gives is that the price list of the whole room is generated when the room is ready.

Finally, the absolute best is the free rendering this program offers! You have to wait a few hours, sometimes even a day or two (probably due to demand), but the result is really realistic for free software! And you don’t need to know anything about that – rendering is automatic.

And now to…

My FIRST project!

…just as well I found it as I needed to quickly design a bedroom. Some details: walls of these energetic 40-something year-olds’ bedroom are already of creamy yellow color, so color scheme and accessories needed to be chosen around that. I prepared two versions to match the homeowners’ personalities:

a glamour – style inspired version with stylized mirrors and lamps, and ornamental wallpaper;
and a more contemporary one, with simpler shapes and striped wallpaper.

Naturally these are still drafts to be consulted for a more final look.

Please remember that I just started using it and am only getting to know the program’s possibilities; I thought, however, that I’ll share with you those first samples, mixing both styles (as it is yet unclear which one will be preferred).

Before the rendering, in the editing mode, you can get images like this:

After the rendering, you get images like this:

Bedroom visualization render 1 - mixed influences with wall sticker

Bedroom visualization render 2 - contemporary with a touch of retro

Bedroom visualization render 3 - glamour inspired

Bedroom visualization render 4 - glamour inspired

Bedroom visualization render 5 - family photos

I will gladly read what you think about those drafts. Perhaps you have some complementing furnishings in mind? Or even a totally different idea in mind?
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Znalazlam również wczoraj bardzo przyjemny i darmowy program do projektowania i stylizacji wnetrz My deco. Mozna w nim na przyklad stworzyc moodboards – dosłownie ‘tablice nastrojów’. Zadaniem takiej tablicy jest zebranie inspiracji do danego pomieszczenia; skrawki materialow, zdjecia, kolory, podlogi, ale takze inspiracje w szerszym znaczeniu – np. zdjecie z ulubionych wakacji, do ktorego chcielibyscie by pokoj nawiazywal. Stworzyc te tablice w programie mozna albo z gotowych elementow, albo wrzucic swoje zdjecia, lub tez nawet skopiowac dowolne zdjecie z internetu dzieki malemu pluginowi ktory mozna zainstalowac w przegladarce.

Jeszcze ciekawsza czesc programu to Design a 3D room czyli ‘zaprojektuj pokoj w 3D’. Co ciekawe, program wykorzystuje prawdziwe elementy wyposazenia dostarczone przez firmy i sklepy, co dodaje realnosci programowi. Te przedmioty mozna tez zakupic bezposrednio z programu. Mimo ze to pewnie bedzie rzadkie, przydaje sie opcja automatycznej wyceny calego pokoju lacznie z dodatkami.

Jednak najlepszy aspekt Design a 3D room to darmowy rendering (symulacja obiektow). Dzieki temu, wnetrza wygladaja duzo bardziej realistycznie. Co prawda na rendering wlasnego projektu trzeba poczekac od kilku godzin do 1-2 dni, to i tak jestem zaskoczona ze ta opcja dostepna jest w darmowym programie. Na obrazkach powyzej mozna zobaczyc jaka jest roznica miedzy podgladem w trybie edycji, a rysunkiem zrenderowanym!

Skoro juz jestem przy obrazkach, to chetnie wspomne…

Moj PIERWSZY projekt!

Obrazki te przedstawiaja pierwsze wersje sypialni ktora musialam dosc szybko zaprojektowac, i cale szczescie natknelam sie na ten program! Sypialnia nalezaca do energicznych czterdziestoparolatkow jest juz pomalowana na zolto, wiec musialam stworzyc schemat kolorystyczny i dobrac dodatki pasujace do tego koloru. W tworzeniu zainspirowaly mnie dwie wersje stylistyczne, pasujace do charakterow mieszkancow:

glamour – stylizowane lampy, lustra, zdobne tapety;
klasyczny / wspolczesny – z nutka dodatkow retro.

Oczywiscie obrazki powyzej to pierwsze probki; po konsultacji powstanie spojniejsza i pelniejsza wersja.

Z przyjemnoscia dowiem sie co myslicie na temat tych pierwszych probek! A moze macie jakies pomysly na dodatki?

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accessories, art in interiors, bedroom, DIY, furniture, hall, inspiration, living room

DIY IKEA, or how to make the standard – unique

18/08/200918/08/2009 natienka

I can’t believe what some people are able to do with some of IKEA classics. If you’re up to it, try this out; some of the projects aren’t that difficult (more time-consuming and nerve-racking) but SO amazing! All of them have been found on the IKEA hacker blog.