Ikea Rast Hack - New Dressers / Nightstands

All Photo Credits: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

For my second Ikea Hack project, I used the Ikea Rast. Basically it is a very plain looking untreated pine set of 3 drawers. In our original hunt for something (ANYTHING!), we found the availability of bedside tables that actually have functional storage is pathetically low (and pretty ugly haha) so this was definitely a great solution! The Rast is fairly low and isn't too deep, so I thought they would work great as bedside drawer sets / nightstands. Plus, they were on sale for 39.99 which was great, so we picked up two. 


For reference, this is what the Rast looks like once it is put together (it comes flat-packed):

Photo borrowed from www.ikea.com

I am big on vintage aesthetics and colorways so I decided to pick a seafoam green color which also coordinated with a small stripe on our duvet color. I love this color! I didn't want to over-complicate things so I opted for simply painting the entire dresser and finding pretty metal knobs to replace the gross wooden ones that came with the drawers. 

After picking up an interior paint that contained primer (this stops the surface from getting all ridged and raised when the pine absorbs the paint), my partner and I spent a good chunk of time sanding down all the wooden pieces so they were extremely smooth. Then on to the painting! The pieces all took 2-3 coats just to make sure everything was smooth and perfect. I should note that I first put together the main frame of the Rast before painting, leaving off the back boards. All the drawer pieces were painted individually and then put together once everything was dried. Here is a process photo of one of the Rast's drying, you can see the frame is constructed.

Photo Credit: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.

Once it was all constructed, I screwed in the silver knobs I had found for handles. 

-> Issues with the Rast itself: Not going to lie, Ikea has some major issues with fit sometimes. The drawers are not on rollers, but plastic pieces that sit inside a cut out in the side of the drawer. These plastic pieces have three nodules that stick out of the other side and are supposed to fit in to three coordinating holes that have been pre-drilled in the wall of the Rast frame. Well, one of the Rasts had holes that were in bizarre places, one was about 3/4" off in placement, another was too close. This required pulling out the power drill and creating new holes myself which was a bit of a pain in the butt. In the end, it wasn't a huge issue.. I'm just glad I have a power drill!

All in all, I think they turned out lovely! It was fun actually building something I'd hacked like this, I feel like there will be many more projects like these in my future :)

Photo Credit: TM 2013 SMASHWORKS. All Rights Reserved.