How I Repaired an IKEA Kids Chair

From Gilded to Grounded: A Standing Jewelry Armoire's Dark Moody Transformation

Sometimes, a "bright and airy" makeover just doesn’t fit the vibe. I found this standing jewelry armoire after it had already been given a white and gold facelift by someone else, but it felt a bit too "glam" for many people. I knew it had the potential to be something much more sophisticated, mysterious, and—of course— moody . In this tutorial, I’m taking you through the process of retaining some of the previous DIY and layering on a deep, velvety dark green finish. We’ll be leaning into those shadows, highlighting the unique curved silhouette. Whether you're looking to tone down a piece that's "too bright" or you're ready to embrace the dark academia aesthetic, here is how I turned a high-contrast piece into a seamless, moody masterpiece.

My sweet little niece has a cute little IKEA table and chair set but her older brother broke the laminated chipboard seat after falling on it while rollerblading in the house (Covid indoor activities ;) )

Here is the broken seat, there is no support except at the front and back hence why it snapped in the center.

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She asked if I had any wood to repair it but all I had on hand was thinner as shown above or thicker shown below.

But as a recycler and repurposer I had a couple more storage piles to check.

This is the front support edge with brad nails once I took it all apart.

A couple dowel were snapped off as well once it was apart so I drilled them out and replaced with new dowels.

In my last pile I found 3/8" plywood sheet that was perfect. I cut it first on the table saw to rip it down to a manageable size.

Then I fine tuned the piece on the mitre saw.

The edges were sanded smooth and tapped into the frame. See the added 1/4" piece under the front edge to give a firm surface to hammer on to affix the brad nails into the replacement seat.