DIY: Ikea Rast Hack

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week. A week off from work (and blogging) was just what I needed. I plan to recap part of our trip south to Charlotte later this week if work doesn't get too crazy. We had a great trip! But until then, let's get back to house projects.

I shared our master bedroom as it currently stands two weeks ago. And since I promised to be back with more details regarding our nightstands, here we go.

When we originally bought our bedroom set years ago, I just couldn't justify buying the matching nightstands. For one, they wouldn't fit in our condo at the time. But also, they would have rung in at more than $250 each. No thank you.

So we made do in our tiny bedroom. But in our new home, using a TV table just wasn't ideal. Time to grow up. And with a laundry list of purchases to make, spending $$ on nightstands still wasn't a priority. So I knew early on that heading to Ikea for nightstands was the best solution for us. Why not? 

So here's what we did:

What you need:

• Wood conditioner
• Wood stain - we used Miniwax in Honey (new, still not on their website...)
• Polyurethane
• Paintable/stainable wood filler
• Oil based primer
• Paint color/finish of your choice (We used the trim paint from our master bath reno - white in a satin finish)
• Stain brush - wood conditioner and stain
• Foam brush - poly
• Paint brush - oil based primer
• Small foam roller - finish off the drawers with a smooth finish
• Sand paper - fine, superfine
• Steel wool
• Tack cloth
• Cloth rag
• Paint thinner - you'll want to keep some on hand with a separate cloth rag in case you get any stain on your hands, which is inevitable. Also use this to clean the brushes.

*Make sure you have a well ventilated area to  work with stain and oil-based primer. The fumes are insanely strong. I can't stress this enough. 

For the shell:

• Sand, sand, sand the unfinished wood. Then wipe down with tack cloth.
• Cover in wood conditioner and let sit for at least 15 minutes
• Once the wood conditioner has set in, coat with your first layer of stain of choice. Let the stain soak in for at least 15 minutes. The longer you let it sit, the more it will soak in to the wood.
• Wipe off the excess stain with a cloth rag (we used an old shirt of J's).
• Let this sit for a couple hours and fully dry. I believe the Miniwax stain says 4-6 hours on the back of the can.
• Once dry and ready for another coat, sand with steel wool (steel wool is much finer than sandpaper and will not leave any scratch marks that could show up in the staining process)
• Add another coat and follow steps 3-6 again. 
• Add as many coats as needed until you reach your desired color. We were happy with 2 coats of stain.
• Once dry and sanded with steel wool, it's time to poly the wood. This will give it a really nice shine. The poly takes a whole lot longer to dry. Like 8 hours...so get a coat on at the end of day 1 if you can and let it sit overnight.
• Sand with steel wool once dry
• Add a second coat of poly and let dry. We stopped here.

Drawer Fronts:

• If you are changing the location of the drawer knobs, fill the pre-drilled holes with paintable/stainable wood filler. Let dry (15 mins).
• Sand the drawer fronts down until smooth. Wipe with tack cloth.
• Prime the drawers with an oil based primer to ensure that no yellowing bleeds through from the wood.
• This should dry quickly, within 15 mins. So sand again, and prime again. 
• Lightly sand again and apply your first coat of paint.
• Once dry lightly sand once more and apply your final coat of paint.
• Add your hardware of choice. We went with these.

Make sure to stain the insides of the nightstand shell. I can't stress this enough. We didn't think about this, threw the drawers in to see how everything looked, and immediately saw the raw, unstained wood staring back at us. Thankfully this is a quick fix, but I'd advise staining all the way back to the shelf ledges. 

And the final product: 

What do you think?

I can't believe we waited so long to get these nightstands finished. If you can dedicate a full day and a half to them (with plenty of drying time to get other things done) these nightstands are very DIY-able. We love them!

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