Apothecary cabinet from RAST chest of drawers

If you are wondering how to turn your RAST dresser into a handsome apothecary cabinet, I have just the hack for you.

IKEA item used:

• RAST chest of drawers

RAST | IKEA.com

Other materials:

• Plywood (3mm thick)
• Drawer handles
• File label tags
• Wax
• Stain

The dresser has 3 drawers. I changed only the fronts of the drawers.

I used plywood with a thickness of 3mm, drawer handles and file label tags (frames to slot in a piece of paper). And covered the plywood with wax in oak color.

I think you can just score horizontal lines across the drawer fronts with a saw to create a faux apothecary cabinet style but I wanted more it realistic, with more texture. Plywood has a richer pattern too, in my opinion.

I coated the exterior of the chest with wax and stained the inside white. I like to leave it lighter inside.

Instructions for a faux apothecary cabinet:

1. Carefully sand the plywood to prep it.

2. Cut the plywood into strips in the desired width. (Add a few millimetres between the strips. It is necessary to leave gaps, to create a box-like finish).

3. Carefully sand the edges.

4. Cover with wax (stain, varnish….)

5. Prepare the drawer fronts of the RAST chest. It is necessary to paint the edges and also darken the middle sections. This is to ensure it appears to have depth.

As seen in the photo below, at first, I just went with wax, but it looked flat. Then I painted a black line, and the “boxes” were clearly divided.

6. Attach the plywood strips to the drawer fronts. I used nails, nailed in spots where the handles were going to be placed (with this placement you’ll not see the nail heads)

7. Attach the drawer handles and file label tags. For me, this was the most time consuming part of the hack. You need to very accurately measure all distances between the handles and tags and align them before screwing them in.

8. Lastly, build the RAST chest of drawers according to the assembly instructions and stand back to admire your apothecary cabinet!

See more of the apothecary cabinet on my Instagram and follow my house adventures.

~ by Iness @ih_dom

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