My IKEA Hack

Last year, my friend Grant and I decided to make his daughters a new bedroom dresser. This, of course, was a boon for me as we got to buy woodworking tools and even learned a few new techniques. The old dresser was falling apart - it was an IKEA special with thin cardboard bottoms in the drawers. When Grant ended up moving back to Oregon, I inherited the dresser. Carmela, a mutual friend, helped Grant move and saw the dresser. We both thought, with a bit of help, it could be turned into a nice, smaller buffet for her dining room. With a little creativity (and help from the internet), we put our ideas together and designed a faux apothecary buffet with Mexican Talevara tile. We shored up the drawers with good plywood bottoms, notched the drawers so they appeared to be three separate drawers each, got some apothecary pulls from Home Depot, and ordered the tile online. It was a two day job and the results are quite nice I think. Below are a few pictures and more detail on the process:

The Original Dresser

The Flimsy Drawer Bottoms

Making Room For The Plywood Replacement

The Center Piece Is The Plywood - Notice The Clip On The Left Where The Old Cardboard Slid Into

I Installed Some Steel Plates That Slid Into The Clips Then Attached Them To The Center Plywood Piece

Next, I Took A Circular Saw And Made A 1/8th Inch Cut Into The Drawer Giving It The Appearance Of Three Separate Drawers (Hadn't Changed The Lousy Cardboard Bottom Yet)

With Help From Carmela, We Tiled The Top - She Turned Out To Be A Good (But Somewhat Messy) Tile Back Butterer

After Some Expresso Colored Paint,  Apothecary Drawer Pulls, And Some Trim Around The Tiled Top, The New And Improved Buffet!

Happy Owner! And No Grant And Jocelyn, No "Takesies Backsies"