Big Girl Furniture: Ikea Rast Hack

Furnishing an apartment is expensive and I want to start decorating my place with more "grown-up" pieces, which is hard to do on a limited budget. Pinterest and blogs have been a huge source of inspiration, especially when I found this Ikea hack on jaxdoesdesign.blogspot.com. Kelly, the blogger for Jax Does Design, used a $35 Ikea dresser and turned it into this beautiful, modern, yet classic sidetable that looks much more expensive than it is. 

So off I went to Ikea, where I picked up two Rast dressers for about $35 each. They're smaller than the average dresser, so their height made them perfect for side tables next to my bed. 

I also bought two Pippa Rast Kits from myoverlays.com and six Lattice and Bead handles from Lee Valley. After all the parts arrived, I was ready to assemble and paint! The hardest part was drilling the new holes for the handles. It involved a lot of measuring and a few mishaps and unintended holes that I needed to fill with wood glue. All the trouble was totally worth it because the dressers came out better than I ever thought they would.

Here's a picture of what the dresser looked like before I put the handles on.

And here's what it looks like after everything's finished! The bottom drawer could use another thin coat of faux zinc, but I can't tell in real life that it looks darker than the rest of the drawers, so I'll leave it as is for now. 

I also have two books, random perfume samples (held in a votive), and Voluspa's Panjoree Lychee candle. Burning candles have become one of my favorite night time rituals. 

Please let me know what you think of my new dressers! 

  

Inspiration for my Dream Starter Home

When I think of my dream starter home, I don't mean one that I actually purchase, but a place where I plan to stay for longer than a year. Here are some things that I will look for:

1. A large kitchen with plenty of counter space and, ideally, an island. I also prefer gas ranges over electric. I really love how open and light-filled this kitchen is. I also wouldn't be opposed to wooden cabinets to mix modern and traditional elements.

2. A cozy living room with fun and feminine (but not-too-girly) furnishings. I really like how the masculine coffee table prevents the tufted couch and pink accent chairs from feeling too fru-fru. I need to get a tufted couch. That is an absolutely must. 

Picture from www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com

3. I'm not sure what my bedroom would look like in this dream starter home. For one thing, my DIY dressers/bedside tables must be in there. I worked too damn hard on them to just toss them!! And an upholstered headboard with nail-head trim may also be a requirement. I have to think more about this for another post, so stay tuned! =)