Today’s Ikea Besta hack is a totally grounding transformation guided by Feng Shui and the creative brilliance of Amy Finch, a student in the Feng Shui School- The  School of Intention- who wowed me with these amazing before and after pictures!  I’m turning this over to Amy now to share the details of this project, and I hope you follow along with everything she creates on Instagram at @mindfulnestfengshui. 

This is a Grounding Transformation

My name is Amy Finch and I am a student in The School of Intention, on my way to becoming a certified Feng Shui Consultant.

I love using the principals of Feng Shui to shift the energy and flow in a space by transforming what you already have. While it is nice to buy all new “stuff”, your budget may not always allow for that type of a splurge. When it comes to making changes and shifts in a home, look at items or areas that are either functionally not working and/or need an energetic shift. For a starting point, choose something that you see or use every day. You do not need to revamp your whole house to begin to create flow and harmony, even a small creative project can have a huge energetic impact!

Now it’s time to get your creative juices flowing! Look online or in magazines (old school style) for inspirations and envision what the finished product will be. Brainstorm ideas and ask yourself:

How do you want it to make you feel?

What do you need to change for it to create more flow and harmony in your space?

How does it need to function?

Here is an example of this type of project that my husband and I recently completed.  We wanted to transform our TV console cabinet, both functionally and energetically. Our existing console cabinet was an Ikea Besta unit which had been mounted to the wall for a “floating effect”. The wall is covered in compressed bamboo panels, which in conjunction with the TV cabinet, felt so disconnected and ungrounded.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a floating cabinet, but in this case, I often found myself unable to sit still to watch a movie or TV show. It literally felt like the cabinet was coming off the wall! I wanted to jump off the couch and float away too!

Additionally, because we have a sound bar with subwoofer speaker housed inside the cabinet, the door needed to always be left open to hear the speaker. My husband’s gaming system is also kept in the cabinet and would overheat if the door was not left open. So, two of the three doors would always be open.  Visually it looked terrible, further added to the “coming off the wall” feeling and was just not functional!

Time for a shift.

First, we bought new shaker style doors from Ikea and removed the inside panels from the door frames. You will need to use a mallet and piece of wood to knock the frames apart without damaging the wood of the outer frame. Once you have the outer door frame left you can reassemble, leaving the open space in the frame, sort of like a picture frame.

Now the fun part! Find a wonderful lightweight fabric and cut pieces slightly bigger than the inside dimension of the door frame. We ultimately choose a mandala pattern for the extra grounding energy but had first tried with a burlap type one. Both worked and looked amazing.

Using screen spline, that you can purchase at any home improvement store, you will work the fabric into the frame groove. Pull it tightly as you go around the inside of the frame to create a smooth surface, pushing the spline in with a dull knife to secure the fabric in place. The bonus here is that you can switch the fabric up anytime to change with the seasons or when you need a shift!  And, from a functional aspect, the doors now remain closed all the time since the fabric allows the electric components to get air flow and the sound from the speaker can escape freely.

How cool is that!?

We removed the cabinet from the wall and installed new legs that we purchased on Amazon. There are lots of replacement legs available online and these can really transform an existing piece of furniture. Lastly, we replaced the glass top with a wood top (also from Ikea).

In the end, the console cabinet was transformed for less than $160, which is a fraction of what a new cabinet would be. The piece now provides a grounded feeling in the living room and also functions for its intended use, which is great energy all around!

What creative transformation can you make in your space using what you already have?

To stay up to date with my latest projects and the launch of my business please follow me on Instagram @mindfulnestfengshui.