Casa Williams: IKEA Hack - The Tarva Dresser Given a "Restoration Hardware Look"

Master Bedroom Bedside Dressers - The Ikea Tarva "makeover."

We took the Ikea Tarva, below:

and turned it into this:

Turning the IKEA Tarva Dresser into a rustic "Restoration Hardware" type bedside table was one of the projects I was most recently excited to take on.

I honestly hadn't looked up any small Restoration Hardware dressers to "copy" for this makeover, but I call any furniture that is neutral vintagey, more expensive than I'm willing to pay, gray-washed, distressed but sturdy, etc., "Restoration Hardware-ish." That's a term, right?
I would even say using a similar transformation has been given the "Arhaus" effect as well.

*I literally just went to the RH website and there are ones in similar colors to our updated dressers, like "antique gray," "light zinc," and "antiqued graphite" - an almost exact color/finish to what ours turned out to be-

Antiqued Graphite, RH finsih, almost identical

Where to start:
I am such a visual person that I really need to see something over and over again to make sure it works, especially when it comes to decorating.

That's why I LOVE the internet for ideas, colors, sizing of furniture, all to get examples and images in my head that I can translate to the physical side of decorating. It takes a lot of the guess work out of putting a house together. And if you're not a decorator, like me, it's nice to have so many reference points that are easily accessible.

For instance, it's so convenient to be able to see a paint color in multiple lights, with different tones, in different spaces, etc. all before even buying the paint. Same goes with furniture. I love Ikea, but you can't buy something there (2 hours away), put it together, decide it doesn't work, then drive (2 hours away) to return it. So that's where Google and Pinterest come in - to get a good idea of sizing and "look" of furniture before ever buying it.

So when it came to putting our bedroom together (one of the last things we've gotten around to), I referred to my Master Bedroom Pinterest Board with Ikea "hacks" - "hacks" meaning examples of how people have taken a plain dresser and transformed it into something fabulous!

Here are a few examples of my pins that I kept going back to to get ideas from -

Tarva

Rast

Koppang

***I knew I would have to go the "hack" route because the IKEA dressers I was looking at range in price from $35-$100.
Hopping over to the RH website again, I spotted 3 drawer dressers in the $1300-$1600+ range... to give you an idea of cost difference... which meant the makeover was a NO-BRAINER!!!

How I chose the Tarva:

After I decided the approximate size of bedside tables I was looking for,
(*Side note - because our bed is the focal point of our room - on the opposite wall of the door - the first thing you'd see walking in), I knew I wanted something pretty substantial in size on either side of our bed, not something that would be dwarfed by our new bed.

I narrowed it down to 3 different options and took a couple months to think about it and kept going back to my Pins before I decided on the right dresser (this process - the waiting - can be the most annoying because sometimes you just want to get a room done!) -

1. The Koppang

The Koppang seemed like the easiest option because it was white and we wouldn't have to do anything to it BUT,
1. it was the most expensive at $100;

2. it was the largest at 36" wide - two of the Koppang dressers would just fit on either side of our bed, and

3. they are white - which I decided wouldn't be good with the WHITE STAIN 8 drawer Hemnes dresser that I wanted to put on the opposite wall from the bed; and then we had the white headboard I made over - too much white in one space even though I LOVE white these days.
The funny thing is, even while we were in Ikea this past March, Bill was leaning towards the Koppang... because it would take the least "doctoring" up - which would be none - just use it as it was... can you blame him? Just buy something and leave it as it is? I've never heard of such a concept!!!

2. Next, I thought about the Rast

The Rast was a good option because
1. it's the cheapest at only $35;
2. it is untouched wood, like the Tarva, so staining or painting it was an option;
3. BUT I decided it was too short at 27.5" tall (our bed is around 30") and it would have been more work for Bill to build a base to make it taller.
I think this is definitely the best option for price and size, though!

3. So lastly, it came down to the Tarva - THE WINNER (and VERY popular - there are lots of people on the Tarva "hack" craze I came to find out... I guess their Pinterest boards were loaded with this too)!

*I forgot to check to see if it was in stock before we packed up the girls and drove 2 hours to the Cincinnati store! DOPE! Luckily we were able to get the girls' dresser and our main dresser BUT these were pretty big ticket items that I totally spaced on checking online for FIRST.

Note to self - check big items online at IKEA if you don't live near one!

I ended up ordering them 2 weeks later (paying a hefty fee for shipping of course) because I didn't know when we'd get back over there.

I'd waited so long, I couldn't be patient any longer!

But the good news is, that after Bill put them together, I was able to transform them in one night - surprisingly faster than I anticipated - from about 8pm - 12am - and then just a quick coat of waxing paste to finish up the next day.

*I will include the STEPS for any of you interested in the makeover process in the near future!

Until then, here are the dressers after getting their hack job:

Bill's bedside table - I used some extra kitchen drawer pulls we had leftover from our kitchen reno.

Addie picked out the plant at Lowes (prickly cactus - has Bill Bill written all over it). I had the pot and tray it sits on. Bill picked out his lamp from Ikea. I bought the lantern used for $3, and the artwork was loaned to us from my mom a few years back - it's from New Mexico or Mexico - I have to check on that.

I did the same process with my bedside dresser but the touches are a little more feminine -

The knobs I've had forever but I think are from Homegoods. The lamp base is from Goodwill ($3), lamp shade I had. The topiary is from Marshalls (clearance for $8), and the rocks inside the plant pot are collected from the beach in Michigan. The little glass candle votive is from Marshalls ($4 on sale); and the white and silver tray is from Homegoods ($10) - worth it because I set the kids' emergency nighttime medicine (well, last night I did), my water, lotion, etc. in it! *It's a good way to protect the top of the dresser, which I finished with wax.