I have seen a lot of great Ikea hacks with the Ikea rast small dresser turned bedside table or nightstand. After i saw this one, i kept it in my “to do” files and i knew it would be a great option for some new bedside tables / nightstands we were in desperate need of.
It really is the perfect size and offers some great storage. It is also nice that it comes un-painted so that you can customize your piece to any color you would like.
So, we started out with two ikea rast dressers.
This is what they looked like before:
And, here’s the after, painted white with new hardware:
I’ve had a lot of questions about my painting process, so here’s a little rundown of how i usually paint or re-paint any kind of furniture.
How to paint furniture:
1. Clean/ wipe down the furniture really well, especially if it is used. i usually just use baby wipes or clorox wipes, but just make sure there aren’t any fibers hanging around.
2. Apply two coats of kiltz primer (i prefer the latex kind) with a good quality foam brush from a good paint or hardware store, not the craft store kind. the foam brush is key, it is what makes the end result nice and smooth. this dries really fast, so i usually wait about 20 minutes or so between coats if i am in a hurry. and, no i do not sand. i feel like it is a waste of time and i don’t want to inhale all those weird bits of paint. so, i just use primer over everything and it has worked very well. even for veneer finishes, like on the ikea malm bed i just painted. the primer helps the paint stick to pretty much anything i’ve tried.
3. Next, apply two to three coats of the color of your choice with a foam brush (i usually wait at least an hour between coats, or until it is dry) but, look at the instructions on your paint. i like the furniture paint found locally at four chairs furniture, they use old village paint, but i have also used stuff from lowes or home depot, and it has been fine too. also, since the foam brushes are pretty cheap, i just throw them out each coat and use a new one.
4. Next, i let the piece dry at least over night before putting on the two to three coats* (depending on how shiny you want it) of the top coat. i prefer to used the water based minwax polyurethane finish. i usually let it dry at least an hour or more between coats. *for the top finish, i don’t use the foam brushes, because it sucks up the finish. i use a synthetic brush like this one, i think it’s made of nylon or polyester. i paint it on quickly with nice long strokes. it seems the more you go back over a layer, the more it seems to add a weird texture, so i try to work fast. if you do find some clumpy-ness then just let it dry and sand it with a very very fine sand paper then re-apply. when finished with each coat make sure to clean the brush really well with really, really hot water between coats, or you can get some stickiness and build up on your piece.
5. Let it dry a day, then add the hardware!
Hopefully this helps! I have painted a lot of stuff the last little while, and this process is what has worked best for me!
I found the hardware for my nightstands here. size 51 mm x 43 mm in burnished bronze.
