IKEA Hack Nightstand Construction Details

Yesterday I showed you my fancy new nightstands, and today I'm outlining the steps I took to construct and finish them. Buckle up, because here are the steps to make your own!

Step 1: Assemble RAST nightstand per included instructions.

Step 2: Cut and glue lattice on drawer fronts.

I purchased  a few sticks of 1/4" hemlock lattice at my local HD. It's nice and smooth, great for crafts - if you can find it. It took me forever to locate it in my store even though it was just in the regular moulding department... I struggle. I cut it into 7 7/16" lengths and 20 3/16" lengths and attached it with wood glue. Instead of clamps, I used heavy cans of food to hold the lattice in place until it dried - we're super professional over here.

I decided against mitering the corners after looking at several nightstands I liked and noticing this style of joint on their drawer fronts. I'm a total copy cat.

Step 3: Attach decorative moulding to top

Next I used small moulding (removed from various places in my 1960 house, layers of old yellowed poly included free of charge!) and trimmed out the top of the nightstands. I used a thin piece of scrap lattice to fill and reinforce the gap along the front created by the nightstand's wider side pieces.

Step 4: Details!

- Tighten any visible screws until they suck up into the wood so you can fill them with wood putty and sand them flush.

- Cut away a rough opening in the toe kick-thingy with a jig saw.

- Add a few pieces of scrap  lattice to the top of the toe kick so that a 3/4" piece of MDF placed on top of them will sit flush with the front of the nightstand.

Step 5: Cut out decorative front piece with jig saw

I drew a template, traced it onto two pieces of 3/4" MDF pieces that were each 23 1/8" x 3 13/16" and went at it with a jig saw. Mine has a little twisty knob that helps make sharp corners, and I just tried to get them as close as possible. Mine are definitely not perfect - I used my orbital sander with  rough grit sandpaper to smooth them out and help conceal any boo-boos.  After they're done, attach them to the nightstands with glue and nails through the sides and where the 1/4" lattice scrap is.

One quick tip: I stood the nightstands up when I fit the decorative front piece on to make sure it was flush with the bottom of the nightstand and to help prevent any issues with the bottom drawer opening if it was placed too high.

Step 6: Attach table tops

Cut a piece of MDF a little larger than the size of the nightstand + decorative moulding. My tops were 26" x 12 3/4". Attach them with glue and nails.

Step 7:  Caulk if you want - I only caulked between the table top and the strip of moulding, I purposefully left the tight joints on the drawer fronts as is. Also fill any nail holes and seams with wood putty, then sand smooth.

Step 8: Prime with oil-based primer (remember, it's MDF and raw wood. Oil-based!)

Step 9: Finish with paint of your choice.

I used Martha Stewart paint in Mushroom (love) and a little bit of Floetrol, an additive that helps minimize paint and roller lines in latex paints (there's also something called Penetrol for oil-based paints, FYI)

I used an angled brush and a small high-density foam roller to apply two coats of paint.

After the paint dried, I applied a non-yellowing water-based poly with a foam craft brush -- do not use a roller as that will result in bubbles. Promise. Coat an area with poly and then work your way back across the entire surface, pulling in one direction to help minimize any lines.

Let that dry, add some knobs and voilà! You have a nightstand. Or two!

Hopefully it doesn't take you 4 months like it took me! I took my time to uh...make sure... everything was perfect. Or something.

Updated to add: Apartment Therapy already featured these nightstands! A couple observant people over there commented on the lack of baseboard/outlet cover in an otherwise nice photo (y'all know how I struggle with baseboard... le sigh.)  So, for fun, I made up a pretend photo so we can all imagine it's done and everything's pretty-like.

Ahh. Much better, right? If only it was really that easy!

Sharing at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Home Stories A to Z, Thrifty Decor Chick