DIY Ikea Hack

In my last post, I found a steal of a bed, but even with saving over $600, spending almost $700 on a bed is still a lot of money. I wanted to finally graduate from Ikea onto better quality furniture, but hey some times you just have to make it work. I'm investing more money (while still finding a deal of course) on the main pieces, and going to Ikea or consignment stores on the smaller pieces. I've been seeing a lot of Ikea Hacks on Pinterest so I decided to try my hand at it. I got 2 of the Ikea Rast 3 Drawer Chest which were only $35 each and in an unfinished wood. Here's what it would look like standard.

For this ikea hack, I bought all my supplies at Lowe's except for the new knobs:

• Valspar Ultra White Semi-Gloss Paint (1 quart)
• Minwax Wood Finish Stain in Provincial (1 quart)
• Minwax Semi-Gloss Polyurethane (1 quart) 
• Knobs from LeeValley.com
• Foam brushes (roller and hand brush)
• Sanding Block or Sand Paper 200-220 Grit (not pictured)
• Old towel or t-shirt to wipe off stain (not pictured)

The Lowe's employees in the paint section are always very helpful, so use the free help if you're not super knowledgeable like me. They tested different stains and paints for me so I could make sure I liked what they looked like when dry. They also recommended supplies and gave me tips. One tip I have to share is to make sure to use the same material brush if you're using more than one, as the different brush strokes will show. I used a roller brush to cover more surface and then a small hand brush for the corners and for staining, so i made sure both brushes were foam. Now for the dirty work...

The first step was to put the ikea night stand together. It's much easier to paint and stain when it's put together. 

1. Wipe down the drawers and make sure there's no dust. I used the roller brush to paint the cover of the drawers white. I painted each drawer 3 layers to get that white color I wanted. Make sure to follow the instructions on drying time between each paint layer. 
2. For the frame, lightly sand the surface and wipe off all the residue with a towel, or in my case an old t-shirt. 
3. I used the foam hand brush to lightly paint the stain on. Follow the steps on the stain. This stain said to wait 10-15 minutes then wipe the excess stain off after with a towel. I was happy with the color after one layer, but you can opt to do another layer of stain if you want it darker.
4. After the stain was dry, it was time to seal the stain with polyurethane. It's important to use very light layers and make sure there is no excess drip because it will dry like that and look like gobs of glue. For this brand, it recommended 3 layers of polyurethane with a 2 hour dry time between each layer. Follow the directions; after the first layer dried, I did a light sand, wiped off the excess, and brushed on another layer of polyurethane. I repeated this and on the 3rd final coat, you don't have to sand it down, just let it try for at least 24 hours.
5. The final step was to screw in my own knobs since I didn't like the ones it came with. They have a variety at Lowe's and Home Depot.

And here is the final product. I absolutely love how rich the stain came out and how the white paint and gold knobs give it a modern feel.

Would you have ever guessed that this started as a $35 Ikea Drawer Chest? With just a few more bucks and some sweat equity, I think these new night stands will look fab with our new bed, and dare I say, look expensive too. We also made a matching dresser which will double as a TV stand, so watch out for that on the next post...