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Tweaked: 3 different looks for an IKEA bookshelf

Some people may call it the lazy man’s do-it-yourself project. We prefer to call it DIY-light: transforming an inexpensive manufactured product into something that looks anything but mass-market. That’s the point of a new occasional Home feature called “Tweaked.” This week, Rebecca Johnson and husband Jeff Klarin of Bughouse Art & Design in Eagle Rock try to have a little fun with IKEA’s $39.99 Värde shelf.

Some people may call it the lazy man’s do-it-yourself project. We prefer to call it DIY-light: transforming an inexpensive manufactured product into something that looks anything but mass-market. That’s the point of a new occasional Home feature called “Tweaked.” This week, Rebecca Johnson and husband Jeff Klarin of Bughouse Art & Design in Eagle Rock try to have a little fun with IKEA’s $39.99 Värde shelf.  (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

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An occasional feature in which Southern California designers create a custom look using only inexpensive, mass-market components.

Tweaked

The wall-mounted unit is made of solid wood, with shelves cantilevered from brackets. “It’s solid, basic and unembellished,” Johnson says. “And a little boring,” Klarin adds.  (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Tweaked

For the first of three tweaks, the Bughouse team created a music lover’s ode to vinyl that could work equally well in a kid’s bedroom or a loft space. They concealed the structural uprights with new back panels — pieces of 1-inch-thick pine that cost less than $15 at a lumberyard. Then Klarin cut up vinyl record covers bought at thrift shops and glued them to the panels. “You could use any number of things — wallpaper, movie posters, photographs, dust jackets from books, junk-food wrappers, crushed soda cans,” Johnson says. The new back panels can be glued or nailed to the vertical supports or simply held in place by books on the shelf.  (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Tweaked

The permutations are only as limited as one’s imagination, Klarin says. For a completely different look, he and Johnson used a wood-grain tool -- a favorite of set designers and an item sold at many hardware stores -- to create a vibrant pattern. Craft-store butterflies cover mounting screws. The result reflects the current vogue for woodsy design and Victorian curiosity cabinets.  (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Tweaked

For a third variation, the Bughouse team tried an industrial look: metal grate purchased at a hardware store and glued to foam core board from an arts and crafts supplier. “You might dismiss metal grate, the kind of material you see on the covers of old steam radiators,” Klarin says. “But if you examine the pattern, which is kind of traditional Moroccan, you see how beautiful, modern and masculine it can be.”  (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

Tweaked

For step-by-step instructions on creating all three tweaks of the Värde shelf, look for the video posted with this article.  (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

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