Ikea Rast Makeover Take 2!

Yes... I know it's been far too long.

I wish I had some great reason for being absent from blogland...but alas... I do not.
School took over March and half of April and then I was in Chile until May. (Chile, by the way is uber fabulous!!)

The plan was to jump into blogging full gear when I returned but what can I say? I wasn't feeling very DIYish...

Well a few weeks ago I finally got my butt in gear when I came across another RAST dresser in my mom's garage. Like I've said before... Mom's garage is the best place to find things.

So you might remember my first RAST makeover that I posted back in February (PS thanks for all the love! I appreciate every comment!!)

Life: Designed

True, Ikea is not synonymous with long lasting quality... I mean, you get what you pay for. But this little dresser is actually a decent buy. It's solid pine and is perfect for socks, undergarments, etc.

For those you unfamiliar with this famous Rast dresser, here it is:

 

Now this second makeover I'm about to reveal is nothing unique. I can't take credit for it. If you type in Ikea Rast makeover, you will see a ton of different ideas and the most popular idea is the one I fell in love with a long time ago. (I was going to do this with my first makeover but the Anthropologie pulls won me over). 

I don't know who did this makeover first - all I know is it's been featured everywhere with lots of people recreating it. Urbane Jane did the same makeover a while ago - you can check out her process here.

So if you read my post on staining a magazine holder, you know I'm not a huge fan of staining... I think I'm just far too impatient for the staining process and.... I fail to follow instructions EVERY time...

I used Minwax stain in Dark Walnut and here it is after just one coat:

Life Designed

Not bad but I wanted it DARKER.

Life Designed

All you staining pros, if you're thinking something looks off you'd be right!

After hours of letting it dry, it was still tacky... I let it sit over night and still... stain was coming off on my fingers. Google to the rescue!

Again, stain pros, you'd be right if you're thinking I missed a step... They're not kidding when they say wipe off excess stain between coats.

Do not be lazy and skip this step!!

So to remedy this I had to put on another layer of stain, let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe it down with a rag. This took a lot of the stain off in some areas and left it a bit blotchy...

Life Designed

As you can see with all the excess stain off, it's a lot lighter... This time, it dried pretty well. Well, as good as it could. I mean, I had pretty much ruined it so it was what it was.

After I got the desired darkness, I noticed some places were still not drying right (I guess I missed a few spots with the rag...) Google tells me not to apply a layer of polycrylic as that would just strip the stain off.

So what to do... strip the whole thing and start all over? The smart answer is probably yes but I was in a hurray to get this done. Then I remembered I had a bottle of Rust-Oleum's Painter's Touch clear spray that seals and protects. What the heck... why not give it a try.

I sprayed the dickens out of that thing and voila! Success! Haha...This is not a proud moment.

Now for the hardware! I went to Lee Valley for the brass rings and lo and behold, they only had 5 of the rings I wanted. This is the second time Lee Valley has come up one short of the item I wanted. I should really learn to call ahead and check stock.

So I went with the burnished bronze rings and bought Brasso at Home Depot to shine them up.  These are nice rings by the way. Made in Italy and real brass, not that fake stuff.

Side note: How do you know if it's real brass? Real brass is not magnetic. So if a magnetic sticks, it's brass plated.

Life Designed

I contemplated for a while as to whether I should keep them burnished or shine them up... Ultimately I wanted something brighter to contrast with the dark stain so I shined away!

But I stopped short of shining them all the way. I liked the mix of burnished and shiny - not to mention I was getting high off that Brasso stuff.

Life Designed

I have to admit, as soon as I started stripping the rings, I regretted it....Well there was no going back so I convinced myself I had done the right thing.

Life Designed

There you have it! Now I have two dressers - one that is ultra feminine and another that is a bit more masculine. I love them both! This one is sitting in our spare bedroom. Eventually I've have to decide which one will be mine forever!

What's your vote? The seafoam green or the dark stain?