Dressing up Ikea dressers!

It's my first DIY project on my own. No help (so far) from anyone.

I'm excited. I'm nervous I'm going to screw something up. I'm anxious to put all the pieces together and see what I've created.

For now, here's what has happened so far (in pictures, because that's always more fun):

Ikea's Rast dresser was delivered and sat in our garage for three weeks until the hubs said "I NEED a bedside table!" and I decided to bite the bullet and get to work!

I unpacked the contents of Rast box #1 and had a mini freak-out in my head. I was sure I'd never be able to figure out the Ikea instructions, because I never have much luck even when the hubs is helping. A few deep breaths later and I decided to keep going - I am raising a little girl in her terrible two's, so I SHOULD be able to assemble a dresser, right??

SUCCESS!!!! It took a whole lot longer to assemble without the hubs who speaks the language of Ikea instructions, but I DID IT!

And the drawers too - although there was a tense moment when I was sure Ikea had not included the correct side panels in the box and I contemplated taking that hammer and smashing everything into wood chips, but I persevered and got those bad boys together! Times TWO (for two dressers)!

Then the staining and painting extravaganza began. It was significantly easier than I thought it would be, just somewhat time consuming. This is the first coat. Dark stain for the base and drawer surround and white for the drawers - both need at least another coat of paint. 

We are thrilled with the colour of the dark stain, but the white drawers need at least a few more coats to ensure that the wood grain doesn't peek through. Hoping that I can be done the drawers by Friday!

Stay tuned for an update later this week/this weekend on how the unit came together (fingers crossed) and then how these cute little, unassuming dressers look in our master bedroom transformed into sophisticated, elegant nightstands!