IKEA Rast Hack

*this is a sponsored post and this hack along with several others are up for voting! Go here to place your vote for your favorite hack!

I love IKEA, and I love IKEA hacks. I even have a pinterest board just for IKEA hacks.  It’s just so cool what you can do with the plain wood pieces that IKEA sells at very affordable prices.

Now I know some people aren’t that impressed with IKEA and think their furniture is super ‘cheap’.  Well, it IS cheap in price and it’s not built with the quality and durability of hardwood furniture made in a furniture shop.  But it wasn’t intended to be the fine, high-end hardwood furniture from a furniture shop!  It’s well-made, inexpensive furniture that comes in pieces that make it easy to buy and transport home.

And the instructions – I’ve heard people complain and seen them roll their eyes over the instructions.  But you know what I’ve found?  It’s really very easy to put and a piece of IKEA furniture together.  I put my IKEA rast dresser together all by myeslf in just under 30 minutes.  I’ve put other pieces together too and I’ve not had problems with any of them.  If I can do it – anyone can!

When I was contacted about receiving a rast dresser, hardware and paint to do an IKEA Rast Hack I was pretty happy.  I’ve seen so many hacks over the past several months and it was fun to do one myself.  Mine is pretty simple but I really like what it looks like.

Here is what I used:

IKEA rast dresser

Pittsburgh Paint from Menards

Antiqued bronze pulls and Casters from Hickory Hardware

Large dowel rod, plywood, wood filler,and hanger bolts from Menards

 To add the casters I needed ‘legs’ to mount the casters onto.  To mount legs I needed a board on the bottom of the dresser.  I would have just screwed the board onto the bottom of the dresser from the side – but my husband stepped in and did it a better way!  He added some small pieces of wood to each side, pinning them on with his air pinner.  Then the plywood bottom was added using glue and screws.

For the ‘legs’ we used a long, hardwood dowel rod that fit in the top of the casters.  To make the ‘legs’ fit properly we used a belt sander to sand down the lower ends so they fit snugly into the tapered casters.  The casters were then screwed securely to the ‘legs’.

I was really liking how the casters took the plain pine dresser up a notch but I also thought it needed something a bit beefier for the top.  So my hubby stepped in again and used the rest of the plywood to create a top.  I would have just screwed a piece of the plywood on the top – but once again my hubby did it even better!  He created trim pieces for around the edge of the plywood so the plywood edge wasn’t the finished edge.  He created a bit of a groove on each side so the plywood piece would sit tightly and level on the top of the dresser as the Rast dresser’s sides stick up a bit above the top.  Then he added trim under the tops overhang to give it even more of a finished, classy look.

The IKEA Rast Hack comes with two wood knobs per drawer.  But I like the look of one drawer pull in the middle of the drawers of the Rast Dresser.  So I used some wood filler from Menards to fill the pre-drilled holes in the drawers.

After 3 coats of paint on the drawer fronts I drilled new holes for the pulls.  I have this cool guide my hubby gave me to figure out what size drill bit to use. 🙂 (he gave me a couple cordless drills too – gotta love a man who gives you power tools and teaches you to use them!)

As I said, my finished IKEA Rast Hack is simple – I like to think it is elegantly simple.  With just a few additions we took a plain, pine dresser and turned it into a pretty white piece with stately lines and fun pulls and casters.

The finish on the paint does indeed end up very smooth and almost free of brush strokes.

It is an oil based paint so using this paint requires EXCELLENT ventilation.  I wouldn’t use it inside – I painted outside.  It also takes a good 48 hours to be completely dry.  If you have your heart set on an oil-based paint this one would be a good choice – make sure you use a brush designed for oil based paint.  I used old brushes I had on hand and tossed them when I was finished.  You must use mineral spirits to clean oil based paint and I prefer to just use and old brush and toss it when finished.

My opinion is this would be a great paint for exterior trim – the finish is just shiny enough for that and the finish is so smooth and pretty for exterior trim.  If you have furniture that needs oil based paint this would be a good option.

 I love the hardware – those casters are just so fun.  And by using the dowel rod to create the ‘legs’ you could add these casters to just about any piece of furniture.   I picked the pulls hoping they would match the casters and they did – beautifully!

I liked the look of this dresser styled in a nautical theme – would be fun in a child’s room.

 I also set it up beside my bed – see how well it works as a side table?!  And those drawers would be some great additional storage in any bedroom.

 There are so many great IKEA hacks out there – I hope you enjoyed my take on it!

I certainly enjoyed participating in this hack.  There are several of us that did these and they are being voted on now!! Go here to see them all and to vote – you can vote once a day through September 7th.

*this is sponsored post – I was given the dresser, hardware, and gift cards to buy paint and supplies.  All opinions expressed here are 100% my own from my experience working with these items.

 Jill