DIY GRAY & GOLD NIGHTSTAND

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Jun 23

We have had three of the Ikea Rast dressers for over a decade and they have seen a few makeovers over the years. These dressers are a really great “canvas” to make just about anything.

You can use them, of course, as dressers but I’ve seen them made over into everything from coffee or wine bars to built in bookcases. Before this project, I had added mirrors to two of the dressers and turned them into nightstands.

I enjoyed this version of the dressers for a couple of years but decided I wanted something a little more simple (and easier to keep clean!). If you’re starting with the original raw dressers, you’re good to skip the next part. For me, I had to remove the mirrors, the leftover adhesive and sand off the few layers of paint that was underneath from my previous makeovers. This is what I was starting with -

Once I had everything prepped, I was starting with more of the original raw version of the dresser. The drawer fronts are flat and I wanted to add some trim that would give the drawers some visual interest (and make the nightstand look more expensive). I ended up using the same trim I used on our dining room accent wall. Adding trim to a drawer front is a lot easier than you might think. You don’t need any special power tools, I just used a hand saw to cut my pieces. I cut 4 pieces with the 45 degree angle slot in my saw box for each drawer front. Once I had my pieces cut, I used wood glue to attach the trim to my drawer fronts.

I used some wood filler to fill in any gaps in the wood on the corners and let that dry completely before painting. I did two coats of paint on all the drawer fronts and the base of the dressers (I used two dressers to make two nightstands). I used the paint leftover from the dining room wall.

After the paint had fully dried, I used a staining sponge to apply a layer of Polycrylic to seal and protect the paint.

I slid out the thin pieces of wood in the bottom of the drawers and covered them with marble contact paper for a more finished look inside the drawers.