Ever since moving into my apartment in May, I have envisioned a pair of small dressers flanking my fireplace. This is one of my favourite looks and it also provides some much needed storage for my board games, dvds, cozy blankets for watching tv, etc. My dream was to find a matching vintage pair, but this proved to be a challenge. Vintage pairs of anything are hard to find, and because of their rarity are usually pretty expensive when you do finally find anything. I decided that for now, the best plan would be to try my hand at an ikea hack.
I bought the KOPPANG 3 drawer chest. I liked the simple lines as a nice blank canvas and the price was right.
I did the rest of the steps after assembling the dresser, but if I were to do it again I would add the trim and paint everything before putting it together to make the job easier.
Next I bought some small decorative trim from the Home Depot and used a saw and mitre box to cut it. I glued the trim pieces onto the drawer faces using No More Nails glue and filled in any gaps in the mitred corners with paintable caulking. The trim really helps to make this streamlined piece look more traditional.
Next came priming and paint. I used the Zinnser Shellac Based primer (which Jenny of Little Green Notebook swears by for painting IKEA furniture). I painted out the dressers in a beautiful robin's egg blue called Cape Hope by Beauti-Tone paints.
Lastly, I switched out the cheapy-cheap black plastic knobs that came with the
dresser for some pretty brass octagonal knobs that I got a liquidation
shop in my home town for only $2 a piece and voila!I think that the dressers now have that vintage/traditional look that I was hunting for. It's also my first time owning any painted furniture, and I have to say, I'm loving the dose of colour!!
The place is really coming together! In the living room all that's left to do is a buy few accessories, get my cane chairs reupholstered, sew a couple of small lumbar pillows and paint something big for over the sofa. In an ideal world I would also ditch that ceiling fan. Have you ever done an ikea hack? Share the link in the comments and I will be sure to check it out!
xox
