Plans to Hack (Makeover) the Ikea Malm Dresser

I wrote the other day about my big plans to creaste a seaside villa paradise in my bedroom. I’ve been scouring the internet for inspiration, because the place where I sleep is an extremely important one. I can’t decide if its importance is tied with the kitchen or higher or lower–I’m leaning towards tied.

I mentioned that I wanted a statement dresser. And when I saw this photo, I knew this was the one:

But then I remembered that my bank account cannot afford designer dressers and I’ll probably end up with a cheap one from Ikea and my dreams were crushed and oh well. Game changer: to my surprise (and overwhelming happiness), I found out that this WAS an Ikea dresser–made-over to be a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Can you believe it?

It was then I decided that I would makeover my own Ikea dresser! I’ve done quite a bit of research on how to makeover the dresser correctly. You know, so it doesn’t look like an Ikea hack.

The key to the designer dresser look are the O’verlays–those beautiful white wooden outlines on each of the drawers. They come in many different styles and are made specifically to hack Ikea furniture. Who knew? At their listed price point, they were out of my budget, so I offered the wonderful women at My O’verlays an ad spot in my sidebar as well as a mention in my post in exchange for 50% off. They accepted. Win-win-win all the way around!

Here’s what I’m going to do:

1. Purchase 6-drawer Malm dresser from Ikea 
2. Prime dresser with Zinsser Cover Stain Primer (heard this stuff is awesome, covers anything–NO sanding!)
3. Paint dresser a shade of blue…read more for which shade!
4. Screw holes for drawer pulls
5. Attach O’verlays to dresser drawers
6. Attach drawer pulls
7. Fall in love with my favorite-ever piece of furniture

After I made my initial plan, I went off in search of color and drawer pull inspiration. Not surprisingly, I found both at one of my favorite blogs–iHeart Organizing! Jen has a beautiful Ikea dresser with O’verlays in her dressing room, which served as inspiration for my future drawer pulls:

I really, really love those chunky glass handles. I want drawer pulls that look like huge diamonds, like these, from LynnsGraceland’s Etsy shop (she has the most adorable drawer pulls!):

Just love a little bling in a room. And for the color, here ‘s my inspiration, from iHeart Organizing also:

Like I said in my last post, I want a navy dresser. I think the photo above is the perfect shade of navy. So beautiful! Here’s the color swatch:

And GET THIS. It’s called “Restless Sea!” A little punny for a bedroom meant to be a seaside villa paradise, and I love a good pun! 🙂

So, to recap:

• The dresser will be an Ikea Malm 6 drawer
• The color will be Restless Sea
• The O’verlays will be white (the same style as the first photo in this post)
• The drawer pulls will be diamonds, real ones of course

Does that make sense!? I can hardly wait to share the final makeover with you all…now that you know my plans! I was planning on tackling the dresser this weekend, but it’s been storming like crazy, so it may have to wait (I can’t paint outside)!

Have you ever made-over an old piece of furniture? How about a new one? Any Ikea Hackers out there? Stay tuned for the final makeover!