IKEA Rast Farmhouse Nightstand

The Rast 3 drawer chest comes ready to assemble. It took about 15 minutes to put together and is a solid piece of furniture. It can be left as is and finished with stain or paint, but we wanted more of a farmhouse style so we added a few things to give it a more finished look.

Material List:

• IKEA Rast 3 drawer chest

• 1- 1x4x8 1/4" underlayment cut into 1.5" strips for drawer trim

• 1- Edge glued pine board

• 11/16" cove trim for under nightstand top (9 feet will cover 2 stands)

• Pneumatic nail gun & nails

• Saw

• Drill & screws

• Router & bits

• Primer, paint, paint brush & roller

• DAP crown molding sealant

• Elmer's Probond wood filler

We started by adding 1/4" thick underlayment (plywood) to the drawer fronts using a pneumatic nail gun. First, cut the horizontal pieces to the exact width of the drawer. Nail them on before moving on to the vertical pieces. This way you can custom cut each vertical piece to make sure you have a precise fit.

To beef up the bottom of the nightstand and give it a more custom look we added a 1×4 board as the base board around the front and sides.

Note- We did not add base trim to the back side of the stand so we could push it closer to the wall.

We routered the top edge of the base boards with a 45° chamfer bit.

This is a progress photo of the stand with the base and drawer trim on.

For the top we used an edge glued pine board from Menards. We wanted a thicker look for the top so that is why we chose this type of board. Smaller sizes are available but I have another DIY project I will use the extra on.

We cut the nightstand top to have a flush back and a 1 inch overhang on the front and the sides.

Note- We did not attach the top to the stand until after the pieces had been primed and painted.

The nightstand is ready for nail holes and cracks to be filled. We used DAP Crown molding trim sealant (caulk) to fill the crack between the base trim and the body of the stand and Elmer's Probond wood filler to fill the nail holes and plywood trim seams.

After the caulk & wood filler had dried, it was sanded and primed with Zinsser primer (We love this primer). Then it was painted with a satin white paint.

Once the stand and top were completely dry we attached the top from the underside of the stand using 4- 1.5" screws.

To finish the piece we used 11/16" cove trim under the top board.

We attached it with the nail gun and filled the nail holes and seams with filler. Then it was sanded and the paint was touched up.

Note- The nightstand top and cove trim was primed and painted prior to attaching it to the stand.

Here it is...our finished Farmhouse style IKEA Rast Hack!

To keep with the Rustic Farmhouse vibe, we decided to purchase different knobs. These painted cast iron knobs were purchased on Amazon.