J.N. Taylor and Co.: Rastastic desk By: Jules IKEAHacker

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Rastastic desk By: Jules IKEAHacker

Materials:

2 Rast three drawer chests

Wood filler

Stain + polyurethane

High gloss paint

6 drawer pulls

8- 3 1/2″ hairpin legs + screws

16- 1 1/2″ L brackets + screws

1 pine board, 14″ W x whatever length you desire the desk to be for the desktop (I used 6′ length)

1 piece (equal length to the desk top) moulding, no more than 1 1/2″W

2 pine boards 24 1/2″ x 11 3/4″ x 1″ (for the bottom)

Tools:

Screw driver

Wood glue

Electric drill

Paint brushes

1) Unpackage everything and keep similar parts together

2) Find the kick board to the bottom of the chest and the sides.

3) Figure out the width of the kick board and cut that amount off the bottom of the side pieces (about 4 1/2″). I had this done at Home Depot since I don’t own a saw. (I’m turning the extra wood into a scratch post for my cat).

4) I assembled all of the drawers and used wood filler to fill in the holes for the stock knobs. I then used about 3 coats of Glidden super high gloss paint in white to paint the whole drawer front board. Using primer on the soft pine before the paint will probably help the wood grain to not show through. I didn’t use primer and kinda sorta seeing the grain doesn’t bother me at all.

5) Simultaneously, I stained and polyurethaned the rest of the wood, including the pieces that were cut for the bottom. I only worried about the sides that I knew would be showing.

6) Once dry, I assembled everything per IKEA’s caveman drawings, er instructions, except for adding the drawers.

7) Attach the bottom board to the side pieces of the chest using the L brackets and electric drill. Make sure the stained side is facing up because you’ll be able to see a sliver of the top of the board. Use 2 brackets per corner.

8) Attach the legs. I found my hairpin legs on Etsy for relatively inexpensive. Mine attached with 2 – 1″ screws per leg.