Thanks to Pinterest and a bunch of fabulous ideas we’ve been bookmarking from other bloggers, Gwyneth and I had the best time making the Expedit ours this weekend!
We loved the DIY brass figurines Cassie from Hi Sugarplum! created and had to have a few of our own. Here’s a plastic toy elephant that got a makeover with Krylon Metallic Brass Spray Paint.
The elephant came in a set of toys that included a giraffe, lion, tiger and gorilla that all got spray paint makeovers. Gwyneth and I now have a brass menagerie that we’ll have to find homes for!
A while back we saw an idea on Pinterest that we loved, and thought our bookcase would be the perfect spot to bring it to life in our home. We downloaded a fortune cookie printable, cut out the fortunes and put them in a small bowl. Love an extra kick of inspiration on the way out the door!
We also gave the end of our Expedit a little customization with My Overlays. They have several patterns and sizes to choose from and come white and ready to paint any color you want! We spray painted them with the same metallic we used on our elephant and stuck them on with spray adhesive.
Gwyneth monitored my work to make sure I put them on straight while resting in her favorite spot.
The bedroom side of the bookcase is right next to the closet, so the shelves were perfect for my bowls of jewelry and perfume tray.
(Yes, that’s a spray painted frog on the tray. We were on a roll.)
We couldn’t be more pleased with our new purchase! We got the separation and storage we desperately needed and had the best time styling each of the cubbies!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynie
It looks soooo good! Perfect for the separation you needed and wanted. I have the same silver tray that my perfume is on too! Good taste!
Yes, clearly we are in good company! Thanks so much for the kind words! We are really loving it! I have no idea why we didn’t do this a year ago!
xoxo,
mk & Little G
MEREDITH!! THIS IS INSANE!! omg omg
Thanks, B!! It’s created a little extra space in the closet…..So I think we are going to be browsing a few of your selections for Spring to fill the space!
xoxo,
mk & Super G
It all looks so amazing!! I love the gold elephant and frog…and the overlays are a great touch, too! Your place looks too cute!
Thank you so much! We love working on our tiny space, and I have a feeling we are going to be attempting many of your projects! We just love your work!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
I absolutely love Expedits! I have 4 and counting around my house. I have them as room dividers and one for some much needed storage in my sewing nook.
You are making me quite jealous with your sewing nook! I DREAM about a day when we’ll have a separate area for all our projects! Right now we put craft paper down on the kitchen counter!!
xoxo,
mk & Little G
It looks fabulous!!! I need a place for one!!
Whit, one would look fabulous in your home office! Especially with the O’verlays!!
Love to Olive from Gwynnie!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
Wow! You did a fabulous job styling! Love your frog and the O’verlays are perfect for a little pizzazz and high end look!
Thank you, Pam!
So glad to be following your blog! The post with the NYPL images is genious – we will be searching this weekend!
xoxo,
mk & Gwyneth
Love the accessories! This project would be perfect for our linky party featuring “Transformations” called Repurpose-Remodel-Reveal, I know our readers would love to see it too! (It starts Friday, March 2nd 2012 at 7:00 am MST and reoccures every 1st and 3rd Friday)
-Whitney @ TheRoosterAndTheHen
We’ve linked up! Thanks so much for the kind words and for sharing the link party! We are so excited to be following you blog!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
Love it! We just bought our first expedit this week! Am in the process of organising and prettying it up! I love the sides, and that you’ve used it as a room divider. Found you on i heart organising.
Congrats!! You will have so much fun with it!! Please share photos! We always love to see a pretty bookcase!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
Lots of adorable little touches, great job!
Jeanette
Thank you, Jeanette! We had a lot of fun with it!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
Great job Meredith! It turned out so well! Thanks for linking up! You have a great eye for design!
Melody
Thanks, Melody! I think it’s all the Nate Berkus Gwyneth has been watching while I’m at work!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
Gorgeous! I am so jealous! I can’t wait to get one. I have a whole Pinterest board devoted to them.
(http://pinterest.com/elenasullivan/ikea-expedit/)
Do you mind if I pin this one?
~Elena
http://acasarella.blogspot.com/
Thank you! I love your Pinterest board and would love our bookcase to be added to it! You’ll have a lot of fun styling yours from all the beautiful images you’ve been collecting!
xoxo,
mk & G
Welcome to NYC – we’re neighbors. I’m a quick train ride away in NJ. Love your ikea bookcase and those cute little “brass” figures. Also, loving the way your store your jewels!! Newest follower of you and Gwyneth!
Kelly
Hi Kelly! Glad to have you following along and thanks so much for the kind words! We live on the West side, with an awesome view of the Hudson, and I can guarantee Gwyneth will be lounging on the edge of the couch all morning supervising whatever is going on in New Jersey!!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
Absolutely fantastic! You did such a great job of styling everything, and I love the idea of the spray-painted toy-elephant! : )
Thanks for sharing so much at Feature Friday FREE-FOR-ALL!
~Abbie
Thanks, Abbie! We had the best time browsing all the amazing projects at your link party!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
Expedits are seriously one of my all time favorite ways to add storage in any space, but I have never thought to add overlays to them! So pretty, thank you for sharing!
xxoo,
Jen
Looks great! Also, I love the canopy you did over your bed, do you have a post about that?
Hi there! Thank you! Tried to email you back about the canopy, but you are listed as “no-reply”, so I am hoping you check back here! I did not post about the canopy, since my mom sewed it for me (although I totally should have!) So here you go:
I hung two swing arm cranes from Restoration Hardware on the wall behind the bed. They are 8 feet from the floor and 5 feet apart. Mom bought 24 feet of sheer linen and sewed white Pom-Pom trim on one side. Then I just draped the fabric over the cranes. The extra 3 feet of curtain allows for them to puddle on either side of the bed and drape in the middle.
Here’s a post with more photos of the curtain from a while back! http://meredithandthenewyorkie.blogspot.com/2011/08/good-genes.html
Hope this helps! You can always email us at meredith.l.krull@gmail.com if you have any more questions!!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
Expedit makes the world go ’round! I have one in my home office and I seriously couldn’t love it more!
Your room looks amazing and it is sooooo classy! Nice work DIY’ing, beautifying, and styling it all! 
You are totally talented (and your puppy is adorable!)!!!
Thank you for your inspiration! I found your blog via iheartorganizing last week and I’m so glad I did. I’m in the process of redoing our Expedit bookcase right now with your photos on my computer to guide me.
Thanks, Lori! Good luck styling yours and have so much fun!!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
Where are the baskets in the expedit from. Love them!
Thank you! They are IKEA too!
xoxo,
mk & G
I LOVE how you added O’verlays to the end of the unit, it looks amazing! I too, dressed up my IKEA find with O’verlays..aren’t they the greatest? I really wanted to paint mine gold, but my husband vetoed that pretty quickly
, so I stuck with white, and love the result! You can check mine out here:
http://decorgreat.blogspot.com/2012/05/diy-overlays-dresser.html
xoxo,
Brooke
Thanks, Brooke! Your dresser looks amazing! What a transformation!
xoxo,
mk & Gwynnie
great job everything looks awesome love the elephant & the overlays great job putting it all togther
Thank you!
xoxo,
mk & Little G
Love this idea! Going to try this in our guest room to seperate the office!! Your ‘brass’ figures, are they made of plastic and then you spray painted them?
Thanks!!
So excited you are inspired! The Expedit is hands down the best, smartest buy we made for the apartment! And you got it exactly on the figurines – we bought children’s plastic toys from Amazon and just spray painted them! Good luck, and please send us photos of your finished product!
xoxo,
Meredith & Gwyneth
I did something similar in my long narrow bedroom/craft/office room. I put two shelving units like yours (not as tall), back to back, so a wider divider, and tons of storage. LOVE this idea and always will.
So jealous that you have your very own craft room / office. We’d love to have our Expedit in there for storage galore! Thanks so much for stopping by!
xoxo,
mk & G
We love this shelf system from Ikea! Right now it is great against the wall while my girls are smaller and share a loft type bunk bed. But, when they are older, and need more privacy, this is going to be a great room divider. My next Expidit shelf will be the one with the desk for my craft room. Just wish Ikea wasn’t 3+ hours away.
We are with you on the distance factor! Ours is 3 hours away too, so we never get there are often as we’d like!
xoxo,
mk & G
I have the same bookshelf from Ikea but am having a terrible time finding baskets that fit the cubbies. Where did you get the baskets that you have across the middle row? I love them!
Hi Lauren! The baskets are the Knipsa basket – also from Ikea!
Here’s the link:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20110540/
xoxo,
mk & Gwyneth