WE HAVE ANOTHER IKEA HACK
- Dec 2, 2020
- 4 min read
If you're an avid supporter, you'll know that most recently I updated the bed in our guest room, but if you have no idea what I'm talking about or just need a reminder, you can check out that project here. There were a few adjustments I made to the room, all of which fit a more antique/transitional style; therefore, the pieces that didn't fit that, needed some drastic changes. Here's a quick reminder of what the room looked like after I refinished the bed...
You might notice, aside from all the white, that there's also deep wood tones, hints of black and brass, and even my current favorite...deep, dark greens. The desk to the right was a previous DIY I did to resell but ended up liking it so much, I kept it for ourselves. I mean, what else is new? With that said, I knew that I wanted to do something similar to the piece in the room that didn't quite fit the room's over all style, so why don't we take a look at that, shall we?
Here it is. It's rather cute, and I really loved the way it looked in our old home, but it's also rather "boho" for this space. Anyone else agree? So I did what I usually do, and painted the whole thing black. But before I get ahead of myself, let me show you the little details I decided to add to it before painting. After all, it's all in the details, isn't it?
First things first, I bought some thin decorative molding from Lowes. I'd have to go through roughly 680 pages to find the exact style online, but here's a picture of that (plus all the other tools required for this project).
The marker was used for marking, the utility knife and ruler for cutting, and the liquid nails for attaching the actual trim to the console/dresser. The trim was fairly thin and therefore pretty easy to cut with a sharp utility knife, but watch the fingers! All I'd do is measure the length I wanted, marked it, did a few scores with the knife and then snapped it apart with my hands. It was really quite simple, but I also took a video of the process (shown below). I'm a visual learner, myself.
To make sure the edges were clean, I went back and cut off all the dangly splinters at the ends after I snapped the piece in half. Next part was perhaps the easiest; I just attached everything with liquid nails. I made sure not to add too much as I didn't want a bunch oozing out from behind the trim as I placed it on, but I'll admit, I got carried away sometimes.
When applying, I put the top and bottom pieces on first...
and then the sides, following the same steps. I made sure to press it on firmly and wipe away any liquid nails that seeped out from behind.
After all the trim was placed on, I used some painters tape on the corners to make sure they wouldn't budge while the glue dried. You may notice in the photo above that there's a sliver of a gap between the trim and the actual drawer front, in other words, the connection is not perfectly seamless. And although technically the trim is an add on, and therefore a bit of an afterthought, we don't actually want it to appear that way. I wanted the trim to look as seamless as possible, and that the whole piece was designed and created with that way. So what's my solution for that? Caulk, of course! Because what do we say? Caulk hides all sins, that's correct.
Now since I'm planning to paint this piece, I obviously have to sand it all down prior to caulking. Which let's be real, is the most daunting task. I made sure to sand the drawer front (not the top and/or decorative side of the trim), as well as the sides to ensure the edges of the trim aligned with the edges of the drawer front. After sanding, I went ahead and caulked not only the inside of the trim, but also the outside along the drawer front edges. Then for some extra seamless work, I also caulked where the top and bottom trim meets the side trim pieces. Exactly like this...
You may have noticed that before and during that process, I made sure to tape off the back side of the drawer front, that way when I paint the drawers black, they will still have this pretty wood grain surprise inside when you open them. And so, speaking of paint. I used my tried and true Rust-Oleum spray paint. This stuff does not lie! It really is fast drying, has excellent coverage, and is extremely durable. Not to mention, it's way easier than brushing and/or rolling on paint from the can. Also, even though I did tape off the back side, I used a scrap piece of cardboard as well just for some added protection.
I went ahead and chose a matte finish for this but if I ever want it to have a sheen in the future, I can always use a semi-gloss top coat. Wait Sofia, are you saying you didn't use a top coat to begin with? That's right ladies and gentlemen, I did not. That's how much I trust this Rust-Oleum paint. I didn't use a top coat, not for the drawers, and not for the console/dresser itself. Speaking of which, why don't I show you me spraying that thing, outside in Christmas red sweatpants and lilac flip flops. We call that fashion, friends.
After a couple coats, the console is finally done! Well...almost. One last thing I did while waiting for the paint to quickly dry, was Rub 'n Buff the drawer handles. I actually really liked how simple and surprisingly heavy the existing Ikea ones were so I decided to reuse them and just give them a little gold polish to match the other accents in the room.
I left everything to sit an extra day and while I'd like to say it was for safety measures, it was actually just time to binge our latest TV show...but yeah, like I said, safety measures.
The next day, I assembled everything back together and ta da! A brand new TV console/dresser!
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