Barnwood-Faced IKEA Dresser Dream

If the MALM dresser and a barn married, this dresser would be their adorable child.

barnwood-malm-6

A friend had this awesome barn wood from her uncle’s cabin in beautiful Moab, Utah she gave to me. No joke. And from there it just all fell together. It’s like the stars aligned on this project and it is perfect in my son’s room.​

barnwood stash

Here are the steps:

This is the MALM dresser.

malm-6-drawer-dresser
Photo: IKEA.com

Remove 1/4 inch from the front of the drawers. I used a planer, which worked like a charm. If you don’t have a planer option you can cut it with a band saw, use a fence to guide a straight cut.

remove 1/4 inch from the front of the drawers

If you don’t have a planer or a band saw, glue the barn wood directly to the face, it just won’t be flush with the dresser and will stick out a little bit.

Prepare the barn wood: Start by cutting the front of the barn wood to 1/4 inch.

Prepare the drawer faces. For the West Elm look, use two boards on each drawer face. If there are holes you can see the pressed board through, spray paint the face before gluing the barn wood.

Glue barn wood to the drawer face, use a fine finishing brad nail to secure board to the face.

Glue and secure with brad nails

Use a router to trim any extra edges and add a lacquer or finish spray.

Finish with lacquer

Assemble the IKEA dresser and then stand back and feel super rad because this project is AMAZING!

Barnwood-Faced Ikea Dresser Dream Barnwood-Faced Ikea Dresser Dream

See the full step-by-step tutorial.

~ by Sarah Riding (but friends call me Hardware)