IKEA Rast Hack… Again!

I’ve got a project for you today that I’m probably a little too excited to share. After all, it’s just a glorified piece of IKEA furniture. However, this project was really fun, and I’m happy with how it turned out. So of course I’m excited to relive all the fun with you all.

I thought my days of hacking the rast were behind me. After all, I’d done 2 already. Did I really need a third? My first rast hack was my very first project. As in, the first time I ever cut a piece of wood. It was my media console. You can find it here, although because I actually made it well before I started blogging, my details and instructions are fuzzy at best.

My 2nd rast hack was a way to give me some drawer and cable storage next to my bed. My instructions weren’t overly important, because unlike the media console, I simply used a single rast. I wasn’t ganging anything together.

And so now, I’m refreshing our hallway. At the end of the hall is a blank wall where my faux fireplace sat. Truth be told, this was made for Christmas stockings, intended to be pulled out as a Christmas decoration. And yet it has been sitting there for years.

And then it occurred to me… the rast! It’s not deep, it’s full of drawers. And the best part, the rast is roughly 24″ wide, so 2 would be perfect. The cherry on top? They happened to be on sale for $29 a pop.

Adressing my issues with the Rast

As I was planning my hack, I considered the key parts of the rast that make it look like… well… like a piece of IKEA furniture. (No offense, IKEA… I love you!)

The toe kick: The rast has no feet, and it has a weird toe-kick slightly inset at the bottom. It’s the first thing that turns me off about the piece. In my media console, I added on baseboard around the bottom to take care of the issue. On my nightstands, I removed it completely.

The slightly inset top: The table top on the rast is inset about 1/8″. I know why it’s made this way, as you need room to attach the top to the sides. But I don’t like it. On my media console, I created a new top, like an upside down tray, and the gap was hidden by a piece of lattice moulding. For the nightstand, I used a different finish (stained wood) for the top, and the gap is there if you look, but not really obvious. I think the two different material finishes make the gap seem not all that unnatural, if you will. I wanted something cleaner for this piece.

The very-evident bolts on the sides: These bolts attach the table top to the legs, and the back stretcher/ support bar. In both of my previous hacks, i used lattice molding to create a shaker panel effect and cover the bolts. But again, I didn’t want to do the panel look on this one.

When ganging 2+ cabinets together: To give the look of one true piece, the extra leg needs to be removed so that there’s only 1 leg in between each unit. Granted, this issue can also be fixed by sandwiching the two legs and doing a bang-up spackle job. I’m not the best spackler.

So as I came up with my plan, I knew I needed to address each of these issues while also creating something a little more sleek than my other 2 hacks. You’ll see below just how I did that.

Supplies

2 Rast chests of drawers

1 Edge glued 12″ x 6′ panel (see note) should be 12″ wide, not 11 1/4″ like a 1×12

1 1×12, 6′

pocket hole screws and/or corner brackets

screws, glue, and spackle/ wood filler

Notes

So I started noticing I had a ton of notes on this project, and I didn’t want to confuse you any more than I already am, so I put them all together here. Buckle up; they are fun!

• For the edge-glued panel, be sure it is 12” wide (or wider is fine.) At Lowes, they have paint grade and stain grade. Even though I was painting mine, I paid a few extra bucks for the stain grade because the boards are nicer and need less finishing, but the paint grade will work also.
• I refer to left and right in relation to facing the front of the dresser. The dresser on the left is A, and on the right is B. See diagram below.
• These instructions are what I would consider the best way to go about this. I, however, was feeling my way through this, and the pictures show that. For example, I have extra, unneeded pocket holes in the bottoms of my legs. Also, I trimmed off 1/8″ from the tops of each leg and used the supplied bolts to attach the table tops. Metal brackets or pocket screws are definitely both better alternatives than this. So don’t get hung up if you see something a little off in one of my pictures.
• Hardware: I’m definitely a fan of pocket hole joinery, and this was the first project I used my new K5 on, which was totally fun! However, if you don’t have a pocket hole jig, you can get this R3 Jr or this super basic one. Not down with pocket holes? You can use metal corner brackets in each spot where I use pocket holes.
• This little guy made a huge difference to me in wanting to tackle this project. I’m not a fan of using my table saw. Or rather, I wasn’t a fan. But now, I get a little giddy when I have to flip that sucker on. Check it out. You won’t be disappointed!

For Reference

Steps

1.Cut off 3 5/8″ from the bottom of the right leg of A, which will become the middle of the console. The left leg of Dresser B will not be used.

2. Cut 2 7/8″ from the bottoms of the left leg of A and the right leg of B. While I was at it, I labeled the right, middle, and left legs to help me along the way. The legs should be 3/4″ shorter than the middle leg, assuming your your 1×12 is 3/4″ thick. Adjust as necessary for your 1×12.

3. Drill (2) 5/8″ pocket holes into the bottom of the middle leg.

4. On the middle leg, drill through the drawer slot holes with a 5/16″ drill bit. This will enable you to push the plastic drawer slides into each side of the middle leg. Be sure your holes are straight.

5. Use a chisel or saw to remove the lip on the back of the middle leg and sand down the excess enough to allow the back panel to be attached. This doesn’t have to be pretty.

6. Install the drawer slides as directed in IKEA step 1, installing 6 slides total on the middle leg.

7. On the outside of the left and right legs, use a 5/16″ drill bit to widen just the very top of each of the screw holes which are almost half way up the leg (see diagram above – there will be one on each leg.) This will enable the screw to be counter sunk so that you can fill and cover the hole.

8. IKEA Step 2 – Attaching table top: Drill (2) 5/8″ pocket holes into each end on the undersides of Table top A and Table top B (total of 8 holes). To ensure placement doesn’t interfere with the pre-drilled IKEA holes, line up the table top first and mark hole placement. Attach table top A to left leg of A using 1″ pocket screws or corner brackets.

9. Complete IKEA step 3 for dresser A, but do not attach toe kick.

10. IKEA step 4: Attach middle leg to top and left of dresser A. Use supplied screw to attach stretcher bar in back.

11. Use pocket hole screws or corner brackets to attach dresser B top to dresser B right leg.

12. Dresser B: Attach stretcher to dresser B right leg using supplied screw.

13. Attaching Dresser B to Dresser A: Use 1″ pocket screws or corner brackets to attach B table top to middle leg. Use corner bracket to attach B stretcher bar to middle leg.

14. Using the provided nails or a nailer, attach the backs to each dresser. It’s important to do this step before going further to ensure dresser is square. Note: One of the backs will need to be trimmed to fit.

15. Measure and cut the 1×12 to length (about 48″). If using pocket holes, drill 2 pocket holes into each end (4 total).

16. Place the dresser, right side up, onto the 1×12. The 1×12 should be flush to the front of the dressers.

17. Use 1″ pocket screws to attach the middle leg to 1×12 using the holes drilled in step 3. Attach the right and left legs using holes drilled in step 15. Or use corner brackets to attach each leg to 1×12.

18. Cut down the edge glued panel to desired length for console top. Mine is about 49 1/2″, giving ~1/2″ overhang on each end.

19. Lay the dresser upside down onto the console top, centering it from side to side, with the back of the dresser flush with the back of the console top. Screw through bottoms of table tops into console top.

20. Assemble drawers per instructions.

21. To finish, fill holes with spackle or wood filler. For mine, I used Zinsser B-I-N shellac primer. I use two coats, lightly sanding in between each coat. I then painted it in Sherwin Williams Lullaby (SW9136) at 150%. It’s basically the shade in between Lullaby and Niebla Azul (SW9137).

Legs: There are tons of premade legs out there you can use, depending on the look you are going for. I made these, but for simplicity, I have shared how I made them in a separate post here.

Pulls: See this post on how I made the pulls.

Phew… that was a lot! It really isn’t as difficult as I made it seem, I swear! It’s a fun little project and so very versatile. I love that it is light weight and easy to move around, but also provides some nice storage. And the fact that it is unfinished wood makes this so easy to create a look YOU love. I hope this gets your creative juices going… have fun!

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Sources

Mirror | Lamp | Shade | Vase | Pear | Frames | Rug

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