Ikea RAST makeover

My hubby's birthday is right around the corner. Aside from him having anxiety attacks and suddenly pushing for a man cave, he is ready for the big 3-0.

Being the wonderful wife that I am, I didn't really think about it very much until verrrry recently.

source

I'm sure you're wondering what that IKEA dresser has anything to do with this.

Well, my hubby has been without a side table on his side of the bed since we got married, so I thought I'd even things out a bit & have one of his bday gifts an upcycled RAST chest.

I've seen so many wonderful ideas on the internet of what people have done to 'hack' this IKEA chest, and thought I might give it a go (I used this as my inspiration). I found this RAST for $20 on CL & picked it up.

So, the first thing I did, was take off the knobs and use painters tape on the edging of the drawer fronts. I used the leftover paint from my credenza (Behr's Primer & Paint in Gallery White).

after taping off the sides of the drawers & giving them about 3 coats of paint, I used a Gel Stain in Dark Walnut for the rest of the frame. 

Everything was just peachy until I noticed this:

The inner edges of the frame was not stained & showed a little too well beside my nicely painted drawer fronts.

What's a girl to do, except...

... just stain the thing & surrender the nice paint job (while whining a bit).

just.icky.

gah... the trials of working with an already assembled dresser!

After re-taping the drawer fronts & painting them, I attached my hardware. I bought ring pulls from Lee Valley Tools (in the 51mm x 41mm, burnished bronze) at $2.40 a piece (it's cheaper if you order more than 10).

and the final product:

I'm loving the rings!

Now, I would love to show you what it looks like in the bedroom, but I'll be doing a reveal later on. Let's just say that it is definitely in no condition to be exposed!

before...

and after.

Well, my hubby finally has a place to put all of his belongings at night. I guess you could say, 'At RAST!' ;)