A Happy Accident Side Table

Sometimes when things don't go quite as planned, there can still be a happily ever after...  I love those moments.  Especially when it is also creates a high end look on a budget.

Our guest room is in need of some side tables/nightstands since right now we just have a stool popped in as a temporary solution:

Being cheap, I thought I would just use a couple of $8 LACK side tables from IKEA.

It really doesn't look so awful in this photo, but it was oddly low and the size was all wrong.  Once the first one was together, I knew that it wasn't going to be the right solution for the room....

Since I live about an hour from IKEA, taking the table apart and returning both, wasn't exactly at the top of my "to do" list {although, you really don't have to twist my arm much to go to IKEA}.  Then, I remembered that I seen a great IKEA "hack" somewhere out in blogland.  This is why it's important to blog and share ideas; to save others in moments like these.

That hack had shown me that two LACK tables = one super awesome parsons side table.  You know, like the one from West Elm for $150 or Amazon for $100.  Yeah, those...

And we had other rooms in need of a side table.  Specifically, our newly finished family room in the lower level.

So to achieve the parsons table look with two LACK tables, we snagged four 3" screws and a drill:

Flipped the already assembled LACK table over and popped the top of the other kit with the pretty white side facing down {unfinished side up}:

There were already holes pre-drilled by IKEA, where the legs from the second table should have gone.  We just used those to screw the top to the bottom {got that?}:

Flipped it back over and we had a new parsons side table for $18!

Because there is only one table now, instead of two, we decided to use it in the family room at the end of the sectional {the over-sized brown leather one that we recently moved back down from the main living room}:

It's the perfect fit, and I just love how perfectly it worked out in it's completely unplanned and unexpected home!  Our happy accident!


Can't picture where it is exactly?  Stay tuned, tomorrow I am finally whipping out that floor plan post you have been asking for and that I have been promising to give for almost two years now.  Yahoo!

Time to chat about happy accidents!  Who else has experienced one lately that left you grinning ear to ear?  How about a fun IKEA hack to share?