Project: Upcycling Ikea Tarva Chest of 5 Drawers

Over the past few months I've been trying my hand at a bit of upcycling.  I thought it would be pretty easy just to give this chest of drawers a few licks of paint but it has taken waay longer than I expected!

BEFORE

AFTER

If you fancy giving this a go yourself then here's is a handy rundown of how I got this chest from plain and boring to interesting and unique:

1) Make the drawers as per Ikea instructions - a feat in itself! 
2) Give the whole chest a light sanding so the primer/varish has something to adhese to.
3) I started by painting all the wood stain parts first so this included the main body of the chest and all of the drawers, although I only used wood varnish on the front of two of the drawers. I just used a cheap oak wood stain varnish from Wilkinsons and I gave each area 3 coats. I think next time I would like to try using a wood stain wax as this might be less messy.

4) Next I used a white primer on the front of the remaining three drawers. The reason this process takes so long is because you have to wait a few days days each time you add a new coat of varnish or paint!

5) I used a pale green varnish on the front of two drawers. In the name of keeping this upcycle as budget as possible I just used paint I had left over from painting the front door. Although the paint I used is meant for external surfaces I really don't think it matters too much plus I don't really want to buy lots of new tubs of paint as our flat doesn't have loads of storage space. I think the best thing is to try and use what you have and ad lib if you can!

6) A little experiment for the last drawer front - which I actually don't recommend but fortunately it just about did the job! I decided to add a colour to some white varnish I already had so I bought some Plasti-Kote enamel paint (which I will be using in a future project) and added a few dots into the varnish. Unfortunately, this made the varnish very delicate and a strange texture.
7) Lastly, the fun part is adding colourful and fun drawer handles! I got mine from These Please.

I also upcycled two Ikea Tarva beside tables to match: