more fira mini chest hacks

the ikea fira mini chest should get a page of its own as it is fast becoming the most hacked item on ikeahacker. here are 3 more.

wall of fira storage
melissa has this handsome storage cabinet made out of fira drawers: "i painted the fira mini chests red, white, and black with glossy craft paint. the black and white patterned drawers are covered with wrapping paper that i bought at ikea and then sprayed with glossy clear spray paint. the label holders were from an online bead supply company, and the random bits of decor were picked up here and there."

fira wall display
an unusual use of a fira drawer. kyle turned it into a wall mounted display shelf. each box is connected with 2" metal spacers from home depot.

fira in oils
one more from zan (who previously gave us the monogrammed version): "firstly it was lightly stained in a mixture of water and acrylic paints, then the front was painted in oils, i may give it a spray with some sealer at some point."

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updated on 27/2/2008
paige's version
"i spruced up the the fira mini storage chests with some beautiful chiyogami paper that i had picked up while traveling. i used it as the basis for my color combination - covering most of the drawers and a skimra lampshade. i got two sheets of coordinating paper to cover the remainder of the drawers, and trimmed everything to size.

i am a metalsmith and these little drawers are just perfect to organize all the little tools and findings for jewelry making. i print small labels and affix them to the top edge of each drawer front. when fully-loaded the drawers get quite heavy, so i opted to move mine to my heavy maple desk for support instead of the particleboard bookcases that had been their home."

glass pulls for the fira
fleurette makes glass beads and accessories for a living and needed something to bring them to shows. she says, "i took the fira mini chest, drilled holes in the center of the drawers and added drawer pulls that i made. a great way for customers to access the beads and to show off the pulls."

see more of fleurette's glass pulls.

rhonda's version
"i bought two of these… one with 9 small drawers and one with 3 small and 2 large drawers. i made these two boxes using various patterns of scrapbook paper, color coordinated paint, varnish, knobs, feet, felt on the inside of the drawers, and finished them off with a cute little tassel. it took me one full day each to complete them from start to finish plus lots of drying time.


lindsay's version
"basically i painted the outside cabinet and then used my xyron to turn the wrapping paper into a big sticker. before applying it to the drawers i cut it to fit the whole front of the drawers, marked where the 'gaps' between the drawers were and cut the pieces for each drawer and the shelves out. then i applied each sticker and sealed it with clear acrylic medium. i love the way it turned out."

see more of lindsay's fira mini chest.

[added 27 May 2008]

meredith's chrome finished fira
she turned her $13 pine fira mini-chest into her "very own sparkley-disco-drawers".

see instructions and more pictures on her blog.

Updated! February 25, 2009
Decoupaged Fira
Sirah85 from Spain shares her Fira, made with decoupage. She uses it to store her make-up.

Alicia's Fira craft cabinet
She says, "We took six Fira small storage boxes and attached them to each other to make a faux-apothecary type chest. We use it to store our craft supplies (paper, markers, tape, etc.)

See more of Alicia's faux-apothecary craft cabinet. More pictures here.