Sep 13, 2011

{New Bedside Tables...they're a RAST hack}








Do you want to turn this...                                     into this?


Rast dressers from IKEA are pretty boring on their own (no offense, IKEA, you know I heart you), but I have seen IKEA's Rast pine dresser transformed into fabulous end tables out there in the blogosphere!

Look what Lindsay and Aubrey did to their Rast for their bedroom.  Absolutely divine...I love the mix of wood and paint. 

Why don't my pictures turn out like this?

I love what Hodge Podge did to reinvent their Rast.  Very cool and chic with silver and black.


RAST dressers are solid wood, and seem to be pretty sturdy...which is a plus in my book.  I thought the drawers operated pretty smoothly as well...and at $34.99 they were cheap in our price range. 

Using the photos above as our inspiration, my goal was to transform these boring, and kind of ugly dressers into something fabulous for our bedroom. Justin and I really needed end tables for our bedroom. We have been using some that I had picked up at Walmart for several years, and although they fulfill the purpose of holding the alarm clocks, glasses, books and shelter magazines, we needed more storage.

What you'll need: Rast dresser from IKEA, nail gun, wood puddy, stain of your choice, poly, 6 pulls (or 12 if you want to keep the original holes), paint of your choice

Lumber you'll need:
2 (1x4) cut to the width of the dresser
1 (1x6) cut to the width of the dresser
lattice (about 40 feet)
1 (1x2) or firring strip cut to the width of the space under the third drawer

Using 1 piece of lattice and an extra piece of 1x2 lumber we built up the bottom, so there would be a place to attach the base molding to the bottom...

Add the base molding.  You could use anything here...if you don't like miter cuts, then use 1x4's...

We bought about 40 feet of lattice and trimmed out both sides and drawers with it.  We LOVE the way this turned out...
Use wood puddy to fill your nail holes.

For the top, we essentially just made a tray (check out the {LittleTrays} post) using two pieces of pre-stained (1/2 English Chestnut and 1/2 Special Walnut) 1x4's and one piece of 1x6 cut to the width of the dresser.  We nailed those cut pieces to the top side-by-side, and then trimmed the edges with pre-stained lattice...

Paint the rest of the dresser...we used a mixture of SW Extra White and a touch of SW Nomadic Desert that we had left over from wall touch-ups. 

Add knobs (we got these from Hobby Lobby for 50% off, so only a $1.99 each)!


Here's the top...


We have a his...

 And a hers...


Now, I have plenty of room for bedside storage and won't have to look at all that clutter.  I love the way they turned out!  I wonder what else I can hack from IKEA? Oh, the money saving possibilities! I heart IKEA...and I just can't leave it alone.






61 comments:

  1. Those are stunning! I love your hack - what a good idea to add the base moulding and the trim pieces. I did the Aubrey and Lindsay hack but am thinking about adding moulding like you did to dress it up a bit. Good job!

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  2. Brilliant change! A few simple adjustments and the possibilities are endless...

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  3. Superb! The lattice trim dresses it up nicely.

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  4. Okay I love the end tables - clearly y'all are brilliant - but I love most the Urlacher poster in your garage. Go Bears.

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  5. this is absolutely gorgeous! I saw the first one you posted awhile back and I loved it but yours is more my style and I think i may just HAVE to do this...my husband is going to ban me from blogs!

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  6. @ Bridget...just start your own, and then he can't ban you. LOL @Amy...Go bears! @ everyone else...thank you, we love the comments!

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  7. Wow, that seriously looks amazing. You are so darn creative. I love your pottery barn typewriter picture too!

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  8. That moulding takes it to a whole new level....love this!! Gotta love IKEA!

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  9. Wow!! This is a beautiful ikea hack! Saw your feature on Centsational girl's BOTB. Love this!

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  10. they are gorgeous! I would love a pair just like them but I don't know if I could actually pull it off!

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  11. Came via Centsational Girl - love your Rast hack! Fabulous. I had always though some overlays, or trim would really spice them up, but I love how you added moulding to the bottom too! Fabulous!

    Thanks for the shout-out!

    barbara@hodge:podge

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  12. These are beautiful! I was just thinking about doing something similar, and now that I saw how fab yours turned out I'm definitely going to do it. Great job :)

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  13. Wow what a great transformation. If you don't mind me asking, do you know what your total amount spent came out to be? Would love to do something similar!

    Aimee

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  14. Oh wow! These are amazing! You did such an awesome job and had such a brilliant idea! I would be excited to lay down next to these every night! We have been searching for night stand options! Imitation is the best form of flattery, right?! :-)

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  15. @ Everyone...thank you for your nice comments. I would say the cost was about $55 for all the lumber and including the cost of the Rast at $35. We had poly, paint, brushes, and nails. @Casey...give it a shot! @Tiffany...LOL! I'm not sure if I'm excited to go to bed next to these...that makes me smile. Please imitate...that's why I share!

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  16. $55 for it all (Rast+supplies=$55) Sorry if that wasn't clear.

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  17. I'm normally a bit shy when it comes to commenting, but had to tell you how much I love this project and am inspired to try it myself. I am able to get the same ikea dresser here in the uk, just need to find some knobs! Thank you!

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  18. Wow! So cute AND creative. I've been thinking of making a filing cabinet desk, but I could just as easily use one of these and some legs....hmmmm

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  19. Love them. I am going to give it a try. Do you know the final dimensions? Thanks!

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  20. Best Rast makeover I've seen so far. Awesome job!

    xoxo

    Allison @ House of Hepworths

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  21. holy cow that looks awesome!! great project! thanks for sharing

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  23. Absolutely fantastic makeover! Thanks so much for the inspiration.

    I was also wondering about final dimensions, as well as the actual dimensions of useable space of the drawers; could I trouble you for that info?

    Take care,
    Christina
    designingbynumbers.blogspot.com

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  24. Wow! Y'all! Thanks for the nice compliments!

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  25. This is amazing, they look absolutely stunning. You are very talented!!!

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  26. Love this, you are amazing!

    I`m your latest follower!

    Please visit my blog too,

    http://pudel-design.blogspot.com/

    Lovely greetings from Germany...

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  27. Fantastic job. Congrats.

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  28. Must say this was the first time I came across an Ikea hack (I admit I usually surf food blogs). Thanks for sharing, this looks so super nice. Oh the possibilities! Greetings from Germany!

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  29. Hi!

    Thank you very much for this beautiful Rast-hack!!! I've seen it on IkeaHackers and just fell completely in love with it!
    So I had to hack Rast too and here it is: http://s1.directupload.net/images/111102/4c3vt6wq.jpg

    So many thanks from Germany once again - you do seem to have a lot of german fans already!

    Greetings from Bonn,
    Corinna

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  30. These are gorgeous! You were featured today. Please come by and grab a button.

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  31. I love this!I really want to do something like this, but we have NO tools to speak of. Can you tell me what tools we would absolutely need to be able to make these?

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  32. I would love to make this but the directions are confusing me. Is there a blog where I can get more specific directions? I can't figure out where the lattice comes in,

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  33. Hi there, I found your blog through another blog & fell in LOVE with your nightstands! I have a question about the lattice that you talk about in the directions. Are you talking about wood lattice that goes around decking?? Anyways thanks for sharing!! :)

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  34. For those wondering about the lattice, I just made these nightstands using the directions from this blog and, after some searching, found the lattice along the back wall of my Lowes with the moulding. It's thin strips of wood about 1" wide and comes in about 8ft lengths. Hope that helps. Also, measure the top of your table AFTER you trim it out to get the width for your "tray" top. I wasn't thinking and had my wood cut to the width before trimmed and had to have more cut. BTW, I love my nightstand!

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  35. I spotted these on Ikeahackers and they look amazing. I hope you don't mind that I have 'borrowed' your designs to make my own:). I only need to paint them now and they should be complete!

    For anyone in the UK, the lattice is called pine stripwood at all the DIY shops and is about £2 for 2.4m lengths(depending on the width/depth).

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  36. I love this! I would love to make this ... I have a question though. I don't have access to a saw. Do you think I could have Lowes/Home Depot cut all the lattice and molding if I had it all measured out for them? Would that work not having the dresser there?

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  37. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE
    (can u tell i just love this.)

    u have impeccable test.

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    1. i meant to say... u have impeccable TASTE
      no sleep catching up w/me

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  38. Lisa, better to get the cuts exact. You definitely don't need any sort of special tool though; lattice is really thin and really soft. You can cut it in about five seconds with any $10 handsaw, or even the saw on a Swiss Army knife, an old serrated kitchen knife, etc.

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    1. Oh, Home Depot usually even has saws in the department for you to hack off whatever you need. They sell their moulding by the foot/partial foot and will measure it at the counter. Lowes only sells whole lengths.

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  39. OMG!! I am inlove!1 I have a rast dresser and dont know what to do with it, I got so inspired when i came accross your blog, But i was wondering in regards to the directions.. would you mind emailing the cut lengths to me gj.pugal@gmail.com?? If you dont mind. Thanks again! Awesome Job!

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  40. Late to the party but did you use an orbital sander or was it hand?

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  41. Fantastic job! Love the hardware you chose for them :)

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  42. wow, what a wonderful job you did! Stupid question, how did you nail the top to the dresser without showing the nails, or do they just blend in that well? :)

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    1. Brad nails do not have tops. They actually sink into the wood. Wood filler fills the hole, with a little sanding, and you won't see it at all!

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    2. So does the lumber listed cover both nightstands or is it for just 1?

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  44. How cool is this!?!? I am SO completely terrified when it comes to that much wood but I'm so inspired! Yay!

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  45. I am in love with these. Got my (2) Rast pieces last weekend and am ready to go. Questions - would you paint the Rast pieces before you put it together? Is that easier than painting after it's put together? Thoughts?

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    1. No...we painted them when they were together. For some reason, I just think painting after is easy to manuever.

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  46. I totally stole your idea and remade my RAST stands... however, I'm a little nervous to put only a single drawer pull on such a wide drawer. Do you find that your drawers stick at all?

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  47. Do you perhaps have measurements for cutting the wood, so that I could have it pre-cut at the store? I live in NYC and it would be a lot easier to bring the wood home if i I can have it cut before I leave the store. If you don't have measurements, I can probably try to figure it all out at home before I go to the store, BUT I'm pretty new to DIY.... so I'm hoping to avoid messing up the measurements, haha.

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  48. I love this! I have been eyeing these dressers for night stands for a while, and I love your makeover. I wish I had the tools and knowledge to do the cuts needed! It looks fabulous.

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  49. Love your RAST hack - this is mine ...

    http://deeatthecarlton.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/ikea-hacks.html

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  50. Forgive me for not reading all the comments. I'm getting ready to embark on replicating your nightstands. They look good in pictures, but I'm wondering about the size...your thoughts now that you've (presumably) lived with them for a while? Please and thanks.

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  51. In the middle of this Rast hack (thanks for the inspriation). A few notes from my experience:

    1. meausure/cut the lumber for the top AFTER you put on the lattice (oops).
    2. I didn't have any scrap lumber hanging around and I've spent at least an additional $50 on lumber.

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  52. Love these! You inspired me to create my own. Thanks!

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  53. I love what you've done here. I thought you'd like to know that the imbedded link to the Little Trays goes to your old domain.

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