IKEA hack - Kivik Sofa (DIY arm wrap and side table)

Of course, with one Ikea hack, you find another, and it wasn't long during my research on Ikea Kivik sofas that I discovered the "custom arm wrap" on Etsy.  There are a few artisans who make these glorious items, at a cost of approximately $200 each.  Since I knew I would want at least two, I realized it was going to cost about $400 (plus shipping) I obviously put off this expenditure.

It wasn't long before I was really thinking about these beautiful wooden arm wraps/side tables again.  My lovely dog assisted in this, as she had managed to chew/mangle the edges of the sofa when we weren't looking. (I know, I know, don't let the dog on the sofa...).  All lack of dog-parenting skills aside, I was humming and hawing about how to hide the marks, and remembered the arm wraps.

But, again, the cost held me back.  So, when I discovered this blog on how to do an arm wrap DIY, I was intrigued and immediately saved it to Pinterest.  But I was nervous.... I don't know how to cut wood! I didn't want to buy a saw and two saw horses!  These small thoughts held me back.  

I started telling a colleague (the same colleague who gave us our lovely dog) about how she chewed the couch and how I was considering these wooden arm wraps.  I showed the blog to her and mentioned my concerns, to which she basically responded "that is literally three pieces of wood glued and then screwed together - just get Home Depot to cut the wood to size for you, a three year old could do this project".  With that inspiration, I made the trek to Home Depot.

Now, in hindsight, I should have brought a tape measure to Home Depot.  I assumed that 10 inch wide wood would be 10 inches wide, when it, in fact, is more like 9.25 inches.  So, the first piece of wood I got cut was sort of a waste (although I am trying to make some sort of artsy project out of it...).  Overall, the materials cost about $75 but if I hadn't made that mistake it would have been more like $60 (although I already had lots of sandpaper).  I used a cheaper wood (pine).  I screwed the pieces together instead of using other recommended fancy wood putting together techniques.  But, in the end, I learned a lot:
1. When they tell you to sand with the grain, sand with the grain;
2. Bring a tape measure to Home Depot to make sure you buy the right sizes regardless of what is indicated on the sign;
3. You can save big bucks if you are prepared to live with something that doesn't look as good/finished as what you see on Easy (less than $40 per wrap was the total cost); and
4. Don't let yourself get discouraged - you are so much more capable than you give yourself credit for.

I am not going to give a step by step on how I. made it, as there are lots of blogs out there that you can find (Google: DIY couch arm wrap).  But to encourage you, I want to post pictures of the end result, which I especially like because I managed to stain them to be a near-match to the legs!