Simple DIY IKEA Apothecary Box Makeover

by Market House Restorations

4 Materials

2 Hours

Easy

I have been looking for something to sit on top of my desk to could hold smaller item’s but I couldn’t find anything in my budget that I liked, so I came up with my own idea. When my sister and I went to Ikea last month, I bought these cute little cabinet-drawers for $16.99/each. I loved the size of them, but wasn’t crazy about the look.

I decided to take out the drawers and turn them around (so you couldn’t see the finger-pull) and use some of the awesome card catalog pulls that I purchased from D.Lawless Hardware to make them fit my style and the decor in my office.

Step 1: Since these drawers aren’t made of the highest quality wood, there are a lot of “particles” that sit on if it, so I took a 220 grit sanding block and sanded down all of the sides.

Step 2: Clean-off dust with vacuum

Step 3: I sprayed a thin coat of of BIN primer to the outsides. *Anytime you use spray primer or spray paint, make sure you’re in an open area and always wear a respirator mask and gloves.

Step 4: Sanded any remaining “particles” that may have been lifted from the wood when I applied the primer.

Step 5: Sprayed 2 coats of white Rust-Oleum spray paint to everything, including the insides

Step 6: After everything was nice and dry I added card catalog pulls that I purchased from D.Lawless Hardware. Instead of using tack-nails, since the wood is thin, I just used Multi-Surface Titebond and glued the pulls to the drawer. If you don’t have Titebond, Gorilla Glue or Loctite would also work well.