You may or may not know that when I started this blog I was doing mostly DIY projects...
It wasn't until about 3 years ago that I started to focus more on my scrapbooking and memory-keeping...and that part of my life has pretty much taken over the content I post here.
Until today.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Belwith Products (manufacturer of Hickory Hardware) to see if I wanted to take part in a multi-blogger IKEA hack. I immediately jumped at the chance...and then thought to myself..."oh man...can I still DIY???"
This was our "assignment:" Take a plain old ordinary IKEA Rast dresser and hack it.
There are a ton of photos of these hacks on Pinterest...a ton. But I wasn't "feeling" any of them...so I started searching for pins of dressers and end tables and I found something I loved. I'd found my hack inspiration.
Below you will see my inspiration photo...it's of a Danish Modern end table...and I instantly fell in love with it. Which is weird, because Danish Modern looks an awful lot like American Mid-Century Modern and if you'd asked me a month ago what I thought about the Mid-Century Modern style I probably would have made a gagging/puking motion. But I gotta tell ya...I think my furniture style may be a-changing.
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I started by assembling my dresser. IKEA is truly the master of build-it-yourself furniture and the whole process took me about 30 minutes. Now came the fun part...
**I feel I have to give a little disclaimer here...my husband is an avid woodworker. So I did ask him for his advice on how to do a few things...and he did help me with advice and setting up machines and stuff...but I did the work. And it was so fun.**
My husband suggested I dye the drawers the dark color I wanted instead of painting (which would take away the look of the grain) or staining (which is more difficult and messy & has a great chance for screw- ups). I was totally on-board for the easier way.
The thing is...wood dye can be really expensive. Like $20 for 2 oz. expensive. So my husband suggested trying food coloring. Genius idea. Only after about 15 tries I still couldn't find the right mix of red, blue & yellow to give me the dark brown I wanted. Then it dawned on me. Fabric dye.
And a quick trip to Michaels later I was set...
Here's how I dyed the wood...
I filled a little bowl with some water...then I poured in some of the Rit. I grabbed a paint brush and brushed it on...I let it dry and sanded the wood (the water & dye make the wood kind of "furry"). I brushed on another coat of dye, let it dry and then did it again. 3 coats. That's it. Easiest color job ever. And with every coat of the dye the wood got darker and darker...it was awesome.
I haven't done this yet, but eventually I will need apply a few layers of shellac to my drawer faces so that the dye will stay put.
I patched the holes that were drilled for the original pulls and re-drilled holes for the new handles I chose and received from Hickory Hardware.
A few coats of white paint to the outside of the dresser and I was almost done.
I knew I wanted to add legs to the bottom...but the Rast, as it comes, has no bottom. So I measured and cut one...screwed it into place and added some legs. I dyed the wood on those, too...the same way I did the drawers.
And that's it.
I am sooooo happy with this piece. I love how it looks in my living/dining room, and now I want to re-design that entire space around it.
And I'm so grateul to Hickory Hardware for giving me this opportunity! I had a blast with it...
Wanna see the rest of the Rast hacks that were part of this project?
DISCLAIMER: In exchange for participating in this project, Hickory Hardware sent me IKEA Rast dresser, a Menards gift card and the drawer pulls of my choice. Although I was compensated for this post, all design choices were mine, and at no time was I asked to state anything except my own opinion. I adore my new dresser...and I'm so happy I was chosen to participate.
