Ikea Rast Chest Hack

So it’s that time again to share my update for the One Room Challenge hosted by Calling it Home. It seems like the weeks are going by so fast and honestly I feel like I have a ton of projects going on for the home office makeover but none of them are quite completed. It’s frustrating, but I know it will all come together in the end!

One thing I wanted to keep in mind for this makeover is that I wanted it to be very budget friendly but still have the outcome that I am looking for. Since I am a huge lover of DIY, that is usually where my mind goes when I think about a room renovation. I first think about what I can do myself and try to go from there. My go to for inspiration is Pinterest and I seem to always find something I want to tackle. For the home office I was looking for an affordable solution for storage other than my built-ins (which I will be posting about in the coming weeks), but that still fits into the feel of the room. I have seen so many people hack Ikea furniture and I thought I would give it a try. I picked the Ikea Rast Chest.  I went to Ikea, picked up 2 Rast Chests and made my own spin on an Ikea Rast Chest Hack!

I absolutely love Ikea! You can’t beat the prices and with all the hack ideas out on the internet you can really make anything fit your style and vision. You also can’t beat the price. I went in and picked up 2 of the Ikea Rast Chests at $39 a piece and knew that if for some reason I messed this up I was out only about $80.

At this point, I feel like I am a gold medalist in putting together Ikea furniture. I have had many Ikea pieces and I will say that these chests were by far the easiest to put together. I put both of them together in under an hour….I call that a win!

These chests feel very sturdy and the wood feels like it is high quality, and they didn’t feel as manufactured as some of their pieces. After working on them for an hour, here is what they looked like completed:

My next move was to give them a really pretty paint job. The look I was going for was the same Restoration Hardware worn gray look that I am trying to incorporate into the office. I didn’t want them to clash with the darker gray walls so I wanted to make sure I made these a bit lighter so they would stand out.

I ended up giving both of the chests 2 coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint in French Linen. The first coat I just painted straight out of the can, but I made sure to add a bit of water to my second coat to make it not so thick and glide on a bit smoother. I really didn’t bother with making sure the paint job looked perfect. That is the great thing about chalk paint, it is made to be able to see the brush strokes which I really like and I also knew I was going over it with some dry brushing and dark wax. Here is what it looked like after the second coat of French Linen:

As you can see from the picture above, I even left a few spots where the wood beneath was bleeding through to make sure I got a good worn look for the piece.

After I let this dry for about 24 hours the next step was to go over the piece with a little dry brushing. Dry brushing is the technique of antiquing a piece without sandpaper. I took a little of my French Linen paint and mixed it with a small amount of my Annie Sloan Old White until I achieved a very light gray color. I then wiped away all the excess paint from my brush and started dry brushing, really just hitting the high points in very long horizontal strokes. I would then (without putting anymore paint on my brush) would swipe my brush in all different directions to achieve that antique worn look. Dry brushing is very hard for me to explain so if you’re looking for a great video on how to dry brush I highly recommend checking out Rachel from Shades of Blue Interiors here. I learned a lot of my paint techniques from her, she is awesome!

After I was done dry brushing I then applied my Annie Sloan clear wax. I made sure to work this in small sections. Before I let the clear wax dry I then went over the same section with dark wax and immediately wiped it off with a rag. This way it would give me enough of the dark wax to give it that worn look on the edges and in certain spots without leaving the whole piece a dark brown color.

I was very pleased with the way the coloring turned out.  After everything started to dry, the next day I put new knobs on the dresser and then the chest really started to come to life. I picked up these knobs from Lowe’s, but you can really go with anything here that fits your look.

The next step for this chest is to somehow hook the two pieces together and maybe attaching a new top. I am still trying to decide which way I want to go with this, but will be sure to post an update when I have decided!

This One Room Challenge is forcing me to think in different ways and look at different avenues to achieve the look I’m going for. It has been so fun and inspiring to see this room come together and can’t wait to see the end result!

What is your favorite Ikea Hack?

Be sure to go check out the progress of the other guest participants here. I love seeing how everyones makeovers are coming along, so inspiring! If you’ve missed any of my home office progress, get caught up here:

Home Office Makeover Inspiration (Week 1)

DIY Chalk Paint Chandelier (Week 2)

Ikea Rast Chest Hack (Week 3) You’re Here!

A Beautiful Vintage Office Rug (Week 4)

DIY Built-ins with Ikea Billy Bookcases (Week 5)

A Cozy Home Office Makeover (Reveal)

Thank you for following along!