Make: Baby Gym Ikea Hack DIY

Posted by magpie
On August 18, 2017
Comments

Message from Maggie:

I am sure this makes me sound like a horrible mother-to-be but I am offended by nearly all the baby stuff that exists out there. Why does everything have to be so… baby-ish? I have been looking around for a baby gym that would be worthy of our itty bitty Gentile and I found they are either very pricey or don’t exist. I saw this version at Ikea and it was so close to being exactly what I was looking for that I grabbed it. When I got home I upgrade it to meet our aesthetic needs while still providing the goal of entertaining the baby with some visual contrast. I have been warned our house will soon be consumed with all things baby and am sure I am beyond naive to think I can stop it from happening- but today this was a small step to controlling it while also providing a fun DIY for our itty bitty Gentile.

Materials:

Ikea Leka Baby Gym
No voc paint (Note: I used white and grey)
Natural macrame cord
Favorite blanket or soft rug (Note: I bought this one)

Instructions:

As with all things Ikea this comes practically disassembled, but the toys need to be removed from the strings in order to paint.
Throw the Ikea strings away.
Lay out the pieces and paint some of them gray and some of them white using no-voc paints. Note: It took about 4 coats of paint.
Carefully paint the four side spinners as well covering the base with tape so it doesn’t bleed.
Once everything is painted and dried, attach the two base pieces to the main piece using the instructions provided by Ikea.
Using macrame reattach hanging toys, making sure individual knots of macrame are very secure.
Place on top of your favorite blanket or rug.