IKEA IVAR grows up into gorgeous red cabinet

This IKEA IVAR cabinet spent some time as a plain IVAR cabinet with white paint and two knobs. It was finally time to give it a makeover and turn it into the red cabinet I’ve always wanted.

Before
DIY Ikea Ivar red cabinet makeover
After!
Materials needed:
  • 1″ x 2″ boards
  • 2″ x 2″ boards
  • 1 x 3″ boards
  • Screen molding
  • 3/4″ plywood
  • Paint
  • Cabinet Pulls
  • Gold spray paint

IKEA IVAR Red Cabinet makeover

I started by building the frame out of 2×2 boards and painted it gold.

IVAR Cabinet makeover

Then, I attached the screen molding on the front to create the faux drawers and door. I also attached some boards on the sides to give the cabinet a finished look.

DIY Ikea Ivar cabinet Hack - attaching trim

Next, I attached a top made of plywood and 1 x 3 boards.

IVAR Cabinet makeover - top

The entire piece got my favorite red paint. I decided to use the following painting sequence.

First, clean with TSP as the IVAR was previously painted. If you bought it new, you may skip this step.

Then, lightly rough up the surface with sandpaper. And clean the sawdust off.

Paint with oil based primer and follow with latex paint.

As a finishing touch, I added pretty gold knobs.

DIY Ikea Ivar cabinet Hack painted

Full step by step details of the IKEA IVAR red cabinet makeover are on my blog.

I love how it turned out and the gorgeous red cabinet fits right in with my color scheme in the dining and kitchen!

~ by Anika


You may also like these IVAR storage hacks

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full height built-in bookcase

I would like to share my hack of IKEA IVAR shelving system into a built-in bookcase. It all started with the wish to have a bookcase that could store all the books we still had in the moving boxes. Read more on the IVAR built-in bookcase.

#2 IVAR goes chinoiserie

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I recently made an IVAR cabinet go chinoiserie. What I used was the 20″ deep IVAR cabinet, two 20″x49″ IVAR side units, and an extra 20″ deep shelf (in addition to the two that come in the cabinet.) Read more about the IVAR chinoiserie cabinet.

#3 Quick and easy IVAR box shelves

box shelves IKEA IVAR hack

I wanted to have stackable box shelves which are more flexible and easier to moving around. They also save space. The hack wasn’t very hard to do and it took me just half a day, approximately 4 hours. Read more about the IKEA IVAR box shelves.