Ikea Hacker

Okay so I'm really excited about this post! I haven't written a blog for what seems like ages - I guess the creative juices hadn't been flowing! But with Christmas out the way, the sewing machine has come out and already a few birthday pressies made which I will blog about at a later date.

I rarely make things for myself, but after seeing an image on the internet I had to give it a go. I desperately needed a set of small wooden drawers for the office, to house general bits like scissors, tape, pins, you know the kind of thing. It was also important to me that it was old.

I hunted around looking at boot fairs, flea markets and charity shops but they were either too small, too big or far too expensive; in the end I picked up this set of drawers from Ikea.



So its not really what I had in mind, certainly not old, however the size was perfect so I set to work. I had seen images online of people 'pimping' up these Ikea shelves, and as they were wood they were ideal to paint or decorate.

  


My first concern was the holes on the front of the drawers, I wanted to fill them in, such a simple solution dawned on me... to turn them around.

I then raided the shed and found a tiny tin of Ronseal quick drying wood stain in Rosewood; so after sanding down the edges to give them a more rounded antique look I started applying the varnish. I did give it a light sand between coats to disguise the brush strokes. The more coats I added the deeper the colour and the older it looked so eventually I stopped at four.

I was going to add small round wooden knobs distressed in the same way, however as they were for the office I went for finger pull handles which also meant I could slip in small pieces of paper. I bought these off eBay they worked out just over £1 each as they came from China.

I cant take full credit for this blog as the idea was pinched from an image I found online. However I think they look old, especially with the dove tail joints and the rounded edges.

I'm really pleased with the finished article; It sits proudly on my office desk. I don't think they scream Ikea and they fit in well with our old office desk. The drawers are already filled with tape, pens and general office stuff that is best hidden away.

I'm not a fan of Ikea furniture and generally shy away from it, however this was a great buy at £15 plus a few pounds for the stain and finger pulls.

I'm going to head back to Ikea and see what else I can find to pimp up.

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