Hey everyguys! (that’s what our first born used to say and it’s my favorite) It’s week 3 of the One Room Challenge. So much happened in the reading room this week. We actually got the shelf brackets hung, curtains up and rug down. There’s still so much to do but it looks like a room now! **this post contains affiliate links
Today, I’m going to talk about the knock off West Elm dresser I created from the TARVA 5 drawer chest at IKEA. **IKEA Frisco generously partnered with me on this One Room Challenge. I’m so thankful they trust my ideas and vision.
On week one, I shared this image to give you any idea of what the feature wall will look like.
This dresser will ultimately be on the wall right in the middle of the shelves. I wanted it to be a project piece and when I saw the Gemini 5 drawer dresser from West Elm, I knew that’s what I wanted. The original is $699 and comes in lacquered white and also in a stained version. The TARVA dresser comes in white or pine (that can be finished however I want) for $149.
We put the dresser together. I filled the holes that were already drilled for the knobs so that I could create my own.
To make the drawer pulls that would give me the same look I measured the width of the drawers, decided how long I wanted each pull and bought (2) 8ft 1×3’s.
From there I cut them down to size. There are 8 in total and they’re 22 1/2″ long. You can change that measurement depending on the width of your drawers.
I decided I didn’t want my pulls to be oval and thought a 45 degree angle would look awesome and might be easier to router in the next step so I set up the saw fence so that every angle would begin at the same measurement. This way all I’d have to do is hold it flush with the fence (on the right in the picture below) and the fence in the back.
Because of that, things went really quickly.
If you don’t have access to a router, you could probably leave this step out but routered edges give you something to grab onto and pull the dresser open.
Plus it matches the inspiration pic.
You’ll need a 45 degree chamfer? (is that the terminology?) Here’s the one we used.
For this part my sweet husband and I made a router table**. **technically the reverse of a router table and we used scrap wood so it’s not actually one at all. The set up gave a place for the router to be held still by my husband and a fence for me to push the drawer handles through (one angle at a time)
I didn’t take anymore pictures of this part because I was WORKING!
In these clothes:
PJ pants and open toed shoes. My husband is so proud…..not. After we finished the long sides, we cut a scrap piece of wood to a 45 degree angle to give us another guide for the tiny angles that I thought would make things easier. We should have done the smaller angles first. It was no big deal but would have been better.
With all the pieces finished it was time to wood glue and clamp them onto the drawer fronts. Measure the center of the drawers and the center of the handles for a guide. I did things way harder than this and a couple got off center.
The top drawer and the bottom drawer get one piece, the center drawers get two. One at the top and one at the bottom.
I made sure each was clamped for a couple hours. Did you know wood glue is stronger than wood? I didn’t realize that screws and nails aren’t always the answer.
I told you one was a little off center. It’s hard because you have the open the drawers to clamp so its not like you can see it to make sure.
I can sand it down a little but I still LOVE IT!!!
I haven’t decided how I want to finish it. I’m going between dark stain or painted the same color as the wall. I want the shelves to be the focal point. I just can’t decide.
I think I’m going to wait and decide when the book shelves are up and filled. I’ll have a clearer vision that way.
That’s it for this week! Here’s the to do list:
remove carpet
clean up concrete floors
prime and paint the baseboards
paint the walls
make shelves- the hubs
stain shelves
install shelves -the hubs
hang rods and curtains
hem curtains
install lights
install the fan
figure out wall art situation
make dresser pulls
diy table
figure out pillow covers for the chairs
cover louvered doors
style shelves
shoot reveal pics
So close yet so far… Make sure to come back next week!
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Thanks for reading, friends!
It looks amazing! Great job!
Thank you so much!! I love how it turned out.
For a future project I would recommend trying to round the edges as well. You could also easily take some mid century legs and attach them to the bottom to further the look.
yep. that would be great!