You’ve seen it in stores, on Pinterest, and in magazines, and thought to yourself - man, I wonder what I could do with that IKEA RAST dresser. Well friends, look no further!

Using Milk paint + left over wallpaper (or gift wrap) you can create a stunning patterned piece that looks like it was custom made (because it was).

IKEA RAST Decoupage Hack

Using Milk Paint and Bonding Agent

For this IKEA hack, you’ll need to match a shade of Homestead House Milk Paint to the paper of your choice. In this case, I used Maritime Blue to match this Rifle Paper Co. print that I had a bit of a roll left over from. You’ll also need Homestead House’s Hemp Oil, Homestead House’s Bonding Agent, some scissors and a few brushes.

Painting the IKEA RAST

Start by painting the dresser in the colour of your choice. As with all Homestead House milk paint, when preparing it, you’re mixing 1:1 powder and water, but you may need to add a little more water every now and then to get the consistency you want. To give this dresser two coats of paint I needed about 5 tbsps of Milk Paint powder (+ 5 tbsp of water) to get enough paint.

Staining vs. Painting Wood

The first coat of paint will look like a colour stain on the untreated wood, but if you want a darker, richer colour, you’ll need that second coat.

While the second coat dries, it’s time to apply the wallpaper/paper to the front of your dresser drawers. 

Applying Wallpaper as Decoupage

You can pre-cut each piece to the exact dimensions of the drawer fronts, or you can loosely cut them, and then snip after the fact. I tried both, and there’s no merit to one way over another.

Using Bonding Agent instead of Wallpaper Paste

Because I was using wallpaper that needed to be pasted, I treated it as if I was wallpapering to the wall. So using the Homestead House Bonding Agent as paste, I covered the back of each piece and let it soak in for a few minutes. Then I applied a thin coat of bonding agent to the drawer surface, before applying the paper (paste side down) and smoothing with my hand. 

I then coated the paper with another thin layer of bonding agent, and waited for it to dry, before trimming any excess.

Sealing with Hemp Oil

Wallpapered and Painted IKEA RAST 

The finished product would make the perfect addition to any space already wallpapered, or as a perfect pop of life and pattern in an otherwise neutral space.

We'd love to see what you make! Share your completed project with us in the Paint It Beautiful Facebook Group.

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