Week 6 of the One Room Challenge is coming to a close and this week I took on a IKEA Hemnes dresser hack! Gracie’s bedroom dresser has a new lease on life and I’m loving it.
If you’re new here, welcome and thank you for following along on my budget friendly bedroom refresh for my middle daughter, Gracie. You can click on the links below for progress that I’ve made over the past 5 weeks.
WEEK ONE. WEEK TWO. WEEK THREE. WEEK FOUR. WEEK FIVE. WEEK SIX. WEEK SEVEN. WEEK EIGHT
We’ve had this IKEA Hemnes dresser for years and love it. It’s large, affordable and has beautiful clean lines. It’s also extremely sturdy. This dresser has traveled from Virginia to Germany and then back to Massachusetts on a boat in a storage container. That’s durability! While I still love the design, I was wanting something different for Gracie’s space. With budget in mind I looked at ways to update what we already had. I first saw this hack on Country Girl Home Instagram account and was stunned to find out it was a IKEA hack. Then I found a great tutorial by Building Bluebird and knew I needed to take this hack on!
I first measured how much material I would need, which ended up being 52 feet! At Home Depot, I selected this panel moulding, which came in 8 foot lengths. I purchased 8, although I only needed 7, wood glue and miter sheers. I have to say, these miter sheers, were the MVP of the project. Not only did it save me many, many trips to the basement where our miter saw is, it also saved the moulding. The miter saw is too powerful and it’s hard to get a clean cut. If you’re working with thin moulding, highly suggest investing in miter sheers. After all my cuts were made I attached the moulding using wood glue, and then came back and used a few brad nails to secure everything. This project, is really simple, and took about 1.5 hours to attach the trim.
For a video tutorial, head to my Instagram, where I have a highlight on this hack.
The longest part of the project is painting. My dresser is laminate so a coat of primer was needed for increased adhersion. My favorite primer is Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3. After the primer dried, I applied two coats of Benjamin Moore Simply White, about 8 hours apart. I still need to add a matte top coat, for a harder finish.
While I was waiting for the dresser to dry I also decided to paint the bed side table and art table chairs, the same color as her stenciled wall, Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray. It was a last minute decision. The bedside table is from my childhood bedroom and the art table chairs are the Pottery Barn Carolina play chair. Both are banged up from years of use so a fresh coat of paint has me falling for them all over again!
I love how the addition of simple trim to the drawer fronts and new hardware has transformed this IKEA dresser. Refreshed and renewed for more years of enjoyment! Love me a good IKEA hack, check this one out!
Be sure to head over to the One Room Challenge Blog to check out all of the spaces that the designers and guest participants will be making over. My favorite part besides tackling a space is following along and encouraging participants along the way.
