Ikea Hack DIY Beverage Cart From a Dresser Tutorial

I'm excited to share a recent DIY project I completed in conjunction with a live presentation I gave at the Novi Boat Show Harborside Market this weekend. Lakeside living and entertaining go hand in hand, so I decided to share a tutorial on how to turn a budget friendly dresser into a chic beverage cart with a little nautical flavor. 

Take a look..

Before

After

You already know I love a good Ikea hack. DIY projects involving Ikea furniture can be quick and simple, as well as dramatic and that's just what I was going for. I started this project by purchasing an unfinished, unassembled, Tarva Dresser.

Prior to assembling the dresser, I painted all sides of each piece of wood with cabinet, door and trim paint by Dutch Boy. It has primer built in and adhered beautifully to the unfinished Tarva wood offering a durable, one coat finish. The color I used was "Cooled Graphite".

Once the paint dried, I assembled dresser per the instructions. When it came time to install the drawers, I omitted step where I was supposed to put the top two drawers. This left room for my bar serving area. 

I screwed a stemware rack underneath the top of the dresser. 

To give the piece a finished look, I added a piece of wood to create an apron across the top. This helped to disguise the white wire glass rack.

Using a piece of MDF cut to size and painted out in gray, I created a shelf above the drawer. Thin strips of poplar screwed into the sides of the dresser act as support brackets for the shelf to rest on. I filled in the holes left from the uninstalled drawers with plastic wood filler. 

Once the wood filler cured, I was able to give the areas a light sanding and touch them up with paint as needed. Then, it was time for the fun part,  accessorizing! This is where I gave this piece some personality and style.

Swapping out the basic wood knobs with these unique compass knobs from Hobby Lobby instantly provided lakeside living flair.

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Wine corks made great vase fillers and these lanterns looks so cute on the top. 

These fantastic hooks featuring rope detail attached to the sides of the bar cart offer a spot to hang attractive towels and bar accessories...

The rest of the styling was done simply by stocking the cart with basic necessities.

The shelf is perfect for wine storage and the top of the piece provides a nice serving area. Cheese and crackers, anyone?

 The three bottom drawers provide a lot of storage space for entertaining supplies which could make throwing your next party a breeze. 

After the presentation, it was so much fun to give this piece away to one lucky recipient at the show! If I'm being honest, it was a little hard to let go of it, but this will be a great project to do again this summer. 

There are so many ways this piece could be customized to complement your decor. How cute would it be to add pretty wall paper to the back of the shelf and/or inside the drawers? The possibilities are endless! I'll be back in a few days to show you the second DIY project I presented to the crowd at the boat show! You didn't think I could stop at just one, did you?  For now, back to the design studio!

We currently have openings for new Online Design Projects (E-Design). If you're interested in getting started on a room makeover in your home, please click here to make your reservation.

Lime Green Dresser Makeover Tutorial

Every year, around this time I start craving a little green in my life. Spring is a ways off and I'm still enjoying the snow, but when it comes to sprucing up our interior, I'm feeling green. While I'm busy making some changes in our family room (that include a little green) I thought we could take a minute today to re-visit one of my favorite green DIY projects. It is part of a makeover I worked on a few year ago. To see this complete room makeover (including before and after photos) Please Click Here.

 This DIY project is the work of two hard-core DIY warriors; my clients Sarah and EJ.  This project exemplifies  "when there's a will, there's a way".  Sarah and EJ ran through fire to complete this dresser makeover for their twin 3 year old twin boys room.    

Here is a look at the inspiration board I created for the boy's new Vintage Surf Bedroom through my online consultation service.    

Sarah and EJ got to work immediately on their design plan.  The room turned out great, you can see the reveal here. Today I'm focusing on their fabulous dresser makeover that was part of the custom plan we created for them.  These guys never shy away from a project.  Using the inspiration board as their guide, they hit Craigslist to find a great dresser, large enough for twins. It didn't take long for them to find an extra long 1970's dark wood dresser for $100. 

It was very similar to this dresser...

They had a great piece now they needed the perfect paint color.  To get the perfect shade of green, I "chipped" my inspiration board with my Sherwin Williams ChipIt! tool.  Here were the results...

Bam.  Lime Rickey it was. 

Let me set the scene, Sarah and EJ have busy lives.  Both professionals, not to mention parents to four small children.  Although they requested we include some DIY projects in their design plan, they don't have a lot of extra time to work on them.  No worries, they had it all planned out.  Grandma would take the kids for an entire weekend while EJ got to work on carpentry projects in the bedroom and Sarah would knock out the dresser makeover.  

The kids left for the weekend with Grandma, time to get started.  

The house was quiet, there were no little ones underfoot, it was just Sarah, EJ, their power tools and... an unexplained power outage.  

  

It didn't stop these two.  They had to make hay while the sun was shining, in this case, the sun was a flashlight. 

Here is the project tutorial...

The first step was to remove all the hardware and give the piece a good sanding (hand sanding this time, no electricity for a power sander...man they are tough).  

 After the sanding, it was wiped down with a damp cloth to remove the dust.  

A sponge roller was used to apply a coat of primer (Zinsser or Kilz latex primer).  

Then came two coats of Sherwin Williams Lime Rickey Semi-Gloss latex paint. 

After the paint was completely dry, Sarah applied a mixture of glaze and stain to the piece, one section at a time, wiping away the excess as she went along with a cotton rag.  

The stain mixture was one part stain to three parts glaze.  

The stain/glaze top coat toned the bright color down a notch and also provided a nice, shiny, protective finish.  There is a very detailed step by step tutorial over at Sweet Pickins {click here}.  She uses a similar glazing technique and wrote a wonderful "How To" article.

The original hardware looked great with new color which kept this piece authentic and even more budget friendly then we originally thought.

When a dresser turns out this fabulous, it must have a companion.  Sarah continued her thrifting adventure at the Salvation Army where she found this bookcase.

 It also received the Lime Rickey treatment.  

After the power outage debacle,  Sarah and EJ took vacation time from work, and "Grandma Of The Year" agreed to take the kids for a full week so they could wrap up the bedroom makeover.  This time, nothing could stop them.

Except jury duty.  

These two are my DIY room makeover hero's.  With all of the hoops they had to jump through to pull this room together; jobs, four little ones, power outages and jury duty,
they made it look way too easy.  It is one of my all time favorite furniture transformations.  

Thank you, Sarah and EJ, for letting me share your project.  Thank you,  JulesK Photography for providing the beautiful family portrait.  

For information on my affordable online design service, Please Click Here. 

© Copyright 2013 The Yellow Cape Cod

DIY Mosaic Tile Mirror Shelf

Today I'm taking a short break from my "New Year, New Room" Series to share a special DIY project. As you may already know, last year I had the incredible opportunity to partner with The Home Depot's Do-It-Herself Workshop 2015 Program. In addition to hosting live quarterly workshops in various cities around the mid-west, I also had the honor of designing a DIY project (behind the scenes) for The Home Depot to feature in one of their DIH Workshop's throughout the country!! (Pinch me). The project I created was a "Mosaic Tile Mirror Shelf". 

Take a look…

It was so exciting to watch Do-It-Herselfers around the country attend the Mosaic Tile Mirror Shelf Workshop last year and make one of these for their own home! I loved hearing all the positive feedback on how the project turned out. Every time I look at mine, I'm reminded of all the ladies that attended this workshop, many of them using power tools and learning to tile for the very first time! 

 I hung my shelf in our master bedroom next to the window. It does a great job of bouncing natural light around the space, the texture the tile provides to the space is amazing and the reflection of the candle light in the mirror is uber romantic (*blushes). 

If you would like to make a Mosaic Tile Mirror Shelf for yourself and you missed the in-store DIH Workshop, NO Worries!  CLICK HERE for the step by step instructions.

(The Home Depot DIH Workshop's Mosaic Tiled Mirror)

Creating a project that is featured by The Home Depot DIH Workshop program kind of makes me feel like a proud new Mom. Thanks for stopping by today and letting me brag about my baby! 

If you would like to revisit a few of the other DIH Workshop Projects I participated in, here they are…

(click on the photo to visit the post with a detailed DIY project tutorial for each project)

Cement Paver Planter, Outdoor Serving Station, Rustic Pumpkin Stand and Wooden Stocking Hanger.

To register for the DIH Workshop in your area, please click here. 

Online Design Services are now available. Please click here for details

How To Make Large DIY Christmas Carol Art

Thank you so much for all the kinds words on my holiday home tour! I'm overwhelmed and humbled by the amazing response both here on the blog and on social media over the past few days. I had a lot of fun decorating for my family this year. I can't wait to start sharing all of the tutorials and behind the scenes details for the projects I included in our holiday home decor this year. Starting today! This project tutorial is one of my favorite Holiday Decor projects ever; Extra Large DIY Christmas Carol Art. There are a few reasons why I love this project much. The first is that it's relatively simple (anyone can do this and achieve great results), second, it is extremely budget friendly (especially for the size of the piece) and third, because it is completely customizable. You can make this project in any color palette and size that you need to fit your space.

 The total cost was less than $25. That's a reasonable budget for such a large piece of art, don't you think?  The bold graphic quality of this sign over our mantle is an instant focal point in our living room. It features one of my families favorite Christmas carols so, not only do we appreciate the way it looks, but it has special meaning to us. Bonus!

Here is how I made it…

To start, I downloaded a free printable that I found online. Then, I went to my local office supply store and asked them to print it out on engineering paper. I asked them to blow it up and print it out as large as possible so I could use it as a template for an extra large art piece. 

*The link to the printable I used for this project is no longer available to download. But there are many other options online if you search "free printables". Or, you could purchase one on a site like Etsy. 

Here are the rest of the materials needed for this project: 

1. A Sheet of 1/4 inch MDF, cut to the size you desire. (Your local lumber yard may make the cuts for you if you ask. Mine does!).

2. Latex Paint (I used flat black paint I already had in my stash)

3. One Sheet of Tracing Paper (also called Transfer Paper, available at craft stores).

4. 2-3 Oil Based Sharpie Paint Markers (These are available in many colors and thicknesses. I chose white and the thickest option available). 

5. A pencil

6. Tape 

7. Your Template From The Office Supply Store

The first step is to paint your MDF using the latex paint. Once it has dried, tape your template to the front of your MDF from the top. (Since my piece of wood was so large, I propped it up against the wall then worked on it from a sitting position on the floor). 

 Position your transfer paper in between your template and your MDF and lightly tape it in to place. Using your pencil, trace the outline of the image on your template onto the MDF. Since transfer paper is usually sold in small sheets, you will need to move it around as you work. One sheet of transfer paper will last quite a long time, so no worries that you will need more than one. 

 Once the image from your template is completely traced onto the MDF, you can begin to fill in the outlines using the oil based paint markers. My project required two coats of the paint marker to give it a nice even look. It took about 2 and a half paint markers to complete the project when it was all said and done. I allowed the paint to dry a few hours in between coats. 

That's it!

If you make one of these, I would love to see it! Please feel free to post it to my Facebook page, Instagram feed or send me a pic at TheYellowCapeCod@yahoo.com. For more simple and affordable holiday project ideas, please click here. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Online Design Services are now available. Please click here for details.