IKEA Rast Dresser Turned Apothecary Chest

Kara S.
by Kara S.
10 Materials
$80
3 Hours
Medium

Love the look for Potter Barn furniture but don't love the price? Here's an IKEA hack for you!

I picked up the Rast dresser from IKEA and assembled the body of the dresser - do not assemble the drawers.

After the 5 hours it took to assemble (hehe just kidding - don't you love IKEA!) I found the drawer fronts.

I filled the 2 existing drawer pull holes with wood filler using a putty knife and set them aside to dry.

Once they were dry, I measured the drawers, splitting them into 3 equal squares. I marked them off using a pencil. Repeat this to all 3 drawers.

This is the most important part so be sure to double check your measurements!

Next, using a miter saw that I rented from Home Depot (check out the end of the video above for more info!) I set the depth of my blade to barley cut through the drawer - The way to set your saw depth varies on each saw so I recommend looking this up in your owners manual or watch a quick video on how to do so! - After practicing on a scrap piece of wood I cut my 2 guide lines to create these faux drawer fronts.

Then, I stained the entire body of the dresser. I used a stain + polyurethane mix to knock out 2 steps in 1. I let this dry for 24-48 hours before moving on.

For the drawers, after assembly I sanded off the leftover wood filler with a fine grit sand paper. This is very important to get all the filler off or it will resist your stain and leave marks! (Believe me, I learned the hard way!)

When staining the drawers, I was sure to apply extra stain, wiggling my brush in the cut I made to create a depth effect. This will enhance my cut and really bring the faux effect to life!

After the stain was totally dry it was time for drawer pulls. To make this easy, I made a pattern by measuring up and down on the square I created and found the center of the drawer. Then I placed my pull on top and poked holes through the screw holes until I penetrated the paper. Then used the pencil to make the mark on the drawer.

Be sure to drill pilot holes before attaching your pulls to prevent wood splitting since this isn't high quality wood. Then line up your pulls and screw them in.

I am totally in love with how this turned out! Now that it doesn't look like it's just for clothes you can use it anywhere in your house. Not to mention the total project cost under $100 - how could you not make this!?

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  • Lisa Hancock Lisa Hancock on Feb 18, 2019

    Can you lay tile over vinyl around the tub? Can you touch up epoxy,

  • Veronica Veronica on Oct 10, 2019

    About how many hours did it take you to create this?

  • Kathy Kathy on Nov 18, 2020

    I have a bathroom with ugly plastic tiles. Can I do this on these type of tiles

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