IKEA Chest of Drawers make an excellent DIY Campaign Dresser

I love a campaign dresser but the antique pieces are so hard to come by!

I decided to hack the IKEA Rast chest of drawers, giving it the campaign furniture style with a modern, bright-colored twist!

Follow the steps below to DIY your own campaign dresser.

DIY campaign dresser IKEA hack

Materials:

  • IKEA RAST 3 Drawer Chest
  • Behr High Gloss Paint in Sugar Plum
  • 3 Campaign Pulls for drawers (similar on Amazon)
  • 3 Packages of 2″ Brass Flat Corners
  • Paint Brush
  • Tube of Elmer’s Wood Filler Max
  • Sanding Sponge
  • Drill
Materials for hack

Here’s a quick before-after of the IKEA RAST dresser and how it looks after the hack.

IKEA RAST DIY campaign dresser hack

Steps to create a DIY campaign dresser

Step One: Assemble RAST chest according to IKEA’s instructions. (Do not install drawer pull knobs, you won’t be using them.)

Step Two: Fill in the pre-drilled holes (on the drawers) with wood filler. Once filler dries, sand it down so it’s nice and smooth.

Step Three: Paint the entire chest with a roller. Use a paint brush for hard to reach areas. I had to use 3 coats of paint and let it dry completely between coats. (You can pick any color you want for this step. But I wanted a pop of color of my bedroom and pink was it.)

Step Four: Install corner brackets using drill. One on each corner of each drawer.

campaign pulls details

Step Five: Install drawer handles using a drill. (You will have to drill new holes with your 1/4″ bit for the new drawer pulls.)

~ by Louisa, Madison, AL

What is a campaign dresser?

Campaign furniture is described as portable pieces that can be easily broken down or folded for travel. It has been around since Roman times but grew in popularity with the expansion of the British Empire in the 19th and 20th centuries. The most common item of campaign furniture is the chest of drawers. They were often constructed in two sections — the drawers and removable feet which are reinstalled when setting up base. Unlike the brass details in most DIY campaign dresser, the hardware were included to protect the furniture edges from the frequent move and bumping around. These details, however, provide the distinctive campaign furniture look which so many try to recreate in their IKEA dresser hacks. (Source)


DIY campaign dresser with IKEA RAST

DIY campaign dresser hack

I love the look of the mission style dressers. Complete with recessed pulls and lovely brass hardware. So I turned an IKEA RAST dresser into my own version of campaign chest!

The hack was not too hard to do.

First I lightly sanded the IKEA dresser. Then used a chalkpaint and painted the frame white. For the drawer fronts, I filled up the holes with wood putty and when they were dry, I sanded them down. Then, I stained the 3 drawer fronts with a dark walnut wood stain.

The last bit was the fun part. I added campaign dresser hardware like these brass corner braces and campaign drawer pulls with a cute label.

Best thing? Didn’t come with the $$$$ price tag!

~ by Carissamiss


IKEA dresser in Campaign look

DIY campaign dresser hack IKEA HEMNES

This super easy IKEA hack involved painting the drawer fronts and adding new decorative hardware for a quick aesthetic update.

Materials: 

  • IKEA HEMNES chest of 3 drawers
  • Sand paper
  • White semi-gloss paint
  • Flat corner braces
  • Screws
  • Knobs or pulls

After lightly sanding the drawer fronts and wiping them clean, apply a few coats of semi-gloss paint. Once they are completely dry, screw in the corner braces on each corner. Then simply attach the knobs or drawer pulls and you’re done!

~ by Lacquer & Linen


Painted on Campaign style dresser

Inspired by the Campaign Furniture look on Jenny Komenda’s blog, I redid my plain 4-year old black 8-drawer IKEA HEMNES dresser into a Campaign style winner. As you know, vintage furniture can be ridiculously overpriced. I did this makeover on a budget and hope it inspires you to have some fun with your old, boring dresser too.

At first I wanted to buy the metal brackets at Home Depot but the register rang up to $40 which isn’t a lot of money but wasn’t the budget I had in mind. So the brain kicked in and I figured I could paint it to look Campaign-ish. I used 3 different size paint brushes, a handmade stencil, a Sharpie and Liquid Leaf craft paint.

If you have the budget for real hardware, by all means. The advantage of the faux hardware is I can hack the dresser again, anytime.

Materials: 

First thing was to remove all the knobs. Then I used a pencil, my stencil template and corner bracket to trace where the faux metal plates should go. Next, I used liquid leaf brass paint and painted in the stenciled areas. I did 2 coats, letting them completely dry in between.

When dry, I went back in with black paint and Sharpie. I drew what looked like screws for the brackets to look more realistic.

After everything dried, I reinstalled the knobs and voila! my Campaign dresser with faux hardware.

~ by Colleen H. O’Krey, United States


IKEA Drawer Unit given the Campaign treatment

Was getting a little bored with the old IKEA EFFEKTIV office furniture (discontinued) I had so thought I would try and make it a little more interesting.

I decided a Campaign style would work quite well, so after hunting through eBay and buying various brass corners, buckles, mending brackets and leather bits I set about improving the drawers from the dull starting point below.

IKEA effektiv drawer units
before

Nothing hard about the project just screwing on the various bits and making some simple leather straps. And here is how it looks after the hack. Definitely added a lot of old world charm to the boring drawers.

DIY campaign furniture hack

As for the box above the chest, I picked that up at an auction in Chiswick London. It was the purchase of the Hamper that inspired me to make the other furniture in a Campaign style.

~ by Spookycat