IKEA’s BLANDA MATT bamboo bowls are sold as serving pieces, but Brittany Christina saw enough depth in their rounded sides to use them for something far removed from the kitchen. Twelve 11-inch bowls became the two sculptural supports for a console table, with pairs joined rim to rim to create the stacked spheres.
The project, shared by Brittany Christina on YouTube, also uses the top shelf from an IKEA LACK TV unit. Once the bamboo bowls are joined, filled, sanded, and painted, almost none of their original purpose is apparent in the finished piece.
Six bamboo bowls form each console leg
The transformation starts with the bowls left intact. Rather than cutting the bamboo or trying to reshape it, Christina applies construction adhesive around the rim so two matching bowls can be pressed together.
Eight of the 12 bowls are used to make four closed spheres, leaving four individual bowls for the top and bottom of the two supports. The curved profile is already built into the serving pieces, so joining two rims produces the rounded shape without woodworking or a lathe.
Stacked bowls create the full pedestal shape
Each support uses six bowls: two glued spheres sit between individual bowls positioned at the top and bottom. Flipping the outer bowls creates flatter contact points where the legs meet the tabletop and floor, while the paired bowls provide the two large rounded sections in between.
At this stage, the construction is still easy to read because the bamboo grain runs across every section and the seams remain visible. The proportions, however, already resemble the oversized ball and sphere legs found on sculptural console tables.
Wood filler hides where the bowl rims meet
Joining two bowls leaves a groove around the middle of each sphere, so wood filler is worked into the seam before the pieces are painted. Once it dries, sanding reduces the ridge between the two rims and makes the separate bowls read more like a single form.
The bamboo construction also gives the pieces enough visual consistency to make the stacked shapes work together. Grain direction changes from bowl to bowl, but that becomes far less noticeable once the entire base receives an opaque finish.
Black paint makes the serving bowls almost unrecognizable
Matte black paint covers the bamboo grain, filler, and construction seams, leaving the curved geometry as the dominant feature. A long black shelf forms the tabletop, with one stacked bowl pedestal placed near each end to support it.
The completed console bears little resemblance to a group of salad bowls. What remains visible is their shape: the same rounded sides that made them useful for serving food become a pair of oversized spherical furniture legs.