{how-to make a silver leaf dresser: an ikea rast hack}

Do you want to know how to take this:

{Ikea}

To this?

Re-inventing the Ikea rast dresser was VERY easy and relatively inexpensive. It is constructed of solid wood making it a great surface to paint, wallpaper, stain, etc.

Because I am frugal and love to DIY, I decided to silver leaf the drawer fronts of the dresser and change the knobs to give the Ikea Rast dresser the glamour treatment. 

This project was easy, as silver leaf is very easy to work with. Silver leaf is very delicate and light but forgiving, the first few tries will be tricky but you'll get the hang of it quite quickly. It is easy to patch up and cover gaps with bits of silver leaf. I find it amazing how it all blends together. What I found was that silver leafing wood with a grain was a bit more challenging to get a seamless finish than on a smooth surface such as my lamp.

Materials needed:

Rast dresser from Ikea {I paid $29 but it is showing up online as $39 - must of been my lucky day}

Black paint {or colour of your choosing} I used Benjamin Moore's Aura paint in black

Silver leaf  {I used a package of 24 sheets and leftover leaf from my lamp project. I would recommend  2 packages of 24 from Michaels}

Gilding adhesive size

Crystal knobs {or knobs of your choice}
Sanding block

Varathane

Paint brush for the paint and wipe-on poly

Smaller paint brush for the size

Fluffy dry paint brush to smooth and dust off silver leaf

How-to:

Assemble the dresser using the instructions provided, but don't mount the drawers into the dresser {the dresser comes with small plastic pieces to keep the drawers from coming out all the way, don't put those in until the dresser is finished}

Lightly sand the dresser with a sanding block and clean off the dust. 

Paint the outside of the dresser and drawer fronts. It took only 2 coats of paint using the Aura paint. I didn't prime because the paint I used has a "built-in" primer. If you use other paint you will want to prime as the surface is raw wood.

When paint is dry, you can start the gilding process on the drawer fronts. 

You will want to do this in an area that is easy to clean up as you will get silver dust everywhere.

Paint on a good layer of gilding size, following the directions on the bottle. I let the size dry until it was tacky to the touch and turned clear.

{I didn't take any photos of this process as there was silver leaf dust everywhere didn't want it to get into the camera lens and was in a hurry}

But here are photos of a lamp I gilded, the process is the same.

Now adhere the silver leaf using a brush to pick up the leaf, slightly overlapping each piece. Smooth each piece with a brush, brushing away the loose bits.

Silver leaf is very forgiving. If you missed a spot you can take a little piece of leaf and just smooth it in with your fingers.

After all the drawers fronts are done, paint on varathane to seal the silver finish. I painted 3 coats to give it a durable finish. I also gave the top and sides

{Also didn't take photos - was in hurry to get this finished}

Once dry, add knobs of your choice. I used these crystal knobs from Home Depot. At $6 each, they ended up costing more than the dresser itself but so worth it as they add that extra touch of bling!

Voila!

Happy gilding!

If you have any questions, feel free to comment or email me:
barbaras.hodgepodge@yahoo.ca

XOXO Barbara


*Dec 23:linking to: SNS@Funky Junk Interiors