finished!! customizing a wooden ikea orgnizer- PHOTOS

Athos · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

hey everyone!

i bought two of those ikea organizers - the ones of thin, unfinished wood that have slide out drawers. there's a small cut out in the top front of each drawer so you can stick your finger in and pull it out.

i want to paint it white, turn the drawers around, and add knobs so it looks like a tiny dresser. i got the idea from seeing a tiny white chest of drawers in a book called "vintage fabric" and i just love the idea of keeping much of my sewing stuff organized that way.

anyway, i'm concerned that paint will make the cheap wood swell and layer too thickly, and then the drawers unable to close. i was thinking of just staining it with white wood stain instead. but then i won't get the look i was going for anyway, so i was thinking of doing a fun color stain, like blue or red, and then perhaps doing some detail stenciling on the outside.

i also just got a digi camera, so this project will be posted all through every stage. ; )

any comments on using colored wood stain instead of painting? anyone think i'll have a problem with painting? and on the larger issues, when refinishing furniture, how do you all choose a decorating scheme that you think you'll like in several years?

MonaMew · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 62 Location: Canada

I don't know about the stain but I do know that you are right to be concerned about painting the drawers...

My friend has one of those and painted it and then the drawers no longer fit properly (whether the wood swelled from the water-based paint or the paint just made it too thick, I don't know). She ended up having to sand the drawers down so they would slide in.

Sooooo, long story short, if you do decide to go with paint, I would say just paint the drawer fronts and the outside of the organizer to be on the safe side.

Sounds like it will be very cute when you are done! :o)
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lizzymahoney · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 804

Does this come preassembled? If it does, then mark the drawers with the order they fit. You might mark inside the shell where the numbered drawers go if you think you might forget whether you started top or bottom or left or right. All of my drawers have wax pencil markings on them in case i pull a bunch out.

If the drawers are not preassembled, then work them in and out until you find the best fitting order. Then sand them smooth, and wax your tracks. Still fit great? Then you are okay to paint.

A stain is not much different than a paint. Both will swell the wood to a degree. Some wood more so than others. If this has any plywood or composition board, the solvents used in some paints could swell the adhesives, too.

I'd paint a thin coat, let it cure, then slip the drawers in to check the fit.

Athos · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

okay, i'm going to make my first attempt ever at adding photos. here's one from the book of the chest of drawers i want to imitate, one of the drawers beforehand, and one of them after i spent two hours drilling holes and strongarming the knobs on. tomorrow is sanding and i'm going to put a very thin layer of gesso over the outside and the front only of the drawers, which hopefully won't mess them up too much. i've heard from a few people that they will swell if i do the whole thing. hope the photos aren't too big! i'm still getting the hang of this.

robotgirl · Joined: 13 Apr 2004 Posts: 47

Athos,
I painted one of those Ikea cheapies (it's sitting right here at my desk, as a matter of fact) and I had no problem with swelling. I used a craft acrylic and I painted just the fronts of the drawers and the top and sides of the box. It looks great. I have it at work and I get a lot of compliments. I say, paint away!

CraftyChicaAZ · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 686 Location: phx, az

I love it! There is an IKEa openinghere in town soon, i can hardly wait!!
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Athos · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

thanks for all the suggestions! i wound up doing a thin coat of gesso and not really touching the insides of everything to keep it from sticking. i'll have to start a new thread about how i'm going to reorganize my craft space to look more like the photo i liked from vintage fabric. i just can't believe that i've had this project on the burner for over five months, feeling down every time i looked at my craft space, and it took at the most five hours.

craftychicaaz - you'll love it! ikea has lots of cheap stuff you can customize. only trouble is that it's so cheaply put together, it's hard to invest a lot of time in it.

here it is:

ottseetotsee · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 22 Location: Trenton, NJ

Love what you're doing with the Ikea organizers! I've been having fun with them too. I live in NJ, and don't have central air, and it gets pretty humid during the summer; and as such, I've found the drawers stick a bit, especially on the bigger/longer drawers. The smaller ones -- you know, the chest of six same-sized drawers -- don't have the same problem.

Here's a picture of one of mine (which is actually two stuck together):

I decoupaged every other drawer, using modge podge, and scrapbooking paper; and I used a light stain - natural, I think - on the drawers, red stain on the outside of the chest. I think both stains came from Ikea.

Thanks for the great ideas!

Chrissy

kazoogrrl · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 72

Looks good! I fixed one up for marvy for Christmas. I stained all but the front of the drawers with a magenta stain, then painted the fronts with chalkboard paint, so she can write what's in each one. Then I filled it with small sewing notions.

Athos · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

chrissy - yours looks great!

kazoogrrl - i'd love to see photos of yours if you took any!

jean · Posted: Tue May 18, 2004 1:46 pm Post subject:

hwo great is this thread! love it. makes me want to head out to ikea right now.
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kazoogrrl · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 72

Athos - sadly, I am digital camera free *sob*

Athos · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

kazoogrrl - i am too. but my boss and roommates aren't!

deborahthecraft · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 364 Location: California

And here is my version.I sanded it a little,painted it with acrilic paint and did a little deco.
I use on as a jewelry box and another for 'tools' such as paperclips and nails.

Athos · Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 446 Location: San Francisco

wow deborahthecraft, that looks awesome! are those the photos from the chronicle books latina calendar?

this is all motivating me to finish cleaning off my desk so i can get a pic and show you all how i'm trying to reach my goal of it looking like a 1940s attic.