Sunday, December 18, 2011

Hemnes hack.

One of my New Year's resolutions from last year was to finish the house. It's not even close to done. Fail. Projects pretty much came to a halt, like, back in June. Life is so busy! Anyway, we are finally getting back to work on the spare room. The first project I did was my filing cabinet. Then I tackled this Hemnes dresser from Ikea.

I really wanted to get rid of my Hemnes and pick up a vintage piece with some interesting details, but anyone that owns a Hemnes knows they are pretty solid pieces of furniture (for Ikea furniture, I mean), so I decided to hold onto it and add some details myself. 

My Hemnes before:
IMG_1359


My Hemnes now:
IMG_0079

I didn't take any progress pictures, because I was l-a-z-y. Matt kept asking, aren't you going to take any pictures? I just shook my head no. Sorry, folks. I'll be better next time. I will give you a run down of what we did though and if you have any questions please ask!

So, I completely took apart the dresser because the inside has super cute yellow striped drawer liners, see:
IMG_0087

and I didn't want to chance messing them up at all. And I didn't want to deal with tape. Tape is the worst. 

I used a coat of Zinsser Cover Stain. Then two coats of paint. On the drawers is Allen and Roth paintable wallpaper from Lowes. I attached it with light spray adhesive, and the wallpaper needed two coats of paint because it was absoooorbent. Then we attached the molding (that I primed and spray painted white) that we bought from a local woodworking shop with Gorilla super glue (make sure you don't get the one that dries white). Then I added two coats of this Minwax Polycrylic to the whole piece. Since it's water based it's easy to use and clean up. And I used satin finish because I didn't want this piece too shiny. The Anthro-esque nobs I got off eBay for a lot less cheese than they're sold for at Anthro. 

IMG_0082


Here's a side by side:

Hemnes

We want to find some wood appliques for the top drawers that mimic the pattern in the wallpaper but as of now I'm pretty stoked about it. What do you guys think?
Posted by at 12:34 PM
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92 comments:

  1. I love it and I think it turned out great! I understand about house projects...wonder sometimes if we will EVER get them all done.

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  2. Looks great! I need to get more creative with our furniture. Maybe I'll add that to the deployment goal list.....

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  4. Thanks Judy, Natalia, and Pam!! :) Natalia - when Matt was on deployments, I was SO productive. One of the only benefits of a deployment (that certainly does not outweigh the cons!). Hope you're hanging in there!

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  5. I love this..you made a whole new piece and for a whole lot less than you could have bought one like it..I did a similar redo..but not as intricate..come by and check it out if you like at www.budgetfriendlydecorating.com

    Sarah

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  6. OUTSTANDING!!!!LOVE THIS! Deidre~ http://simplysimplisticated4.blogspot.com

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  7. Holy cow, I pinned this so fast I think I sprained something. :) That is gorgeous! I love the texture the wallpaper gives those drawers and the white borders were sheer genius! I'm definitely going to have to use this as inspiration. I have a small end table I've been wanting to touch up for some time now. :)

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  8. Hello, I am your new follower via Mingle Monday!

    http://www.sjb-myphotopage.com

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  9. This turned out absolutely gorgeous! I love the wallpaper idea and those knobs are adorable! What color paint did you use or am I missing that in the post?
    TAbbey

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  10. first i just thought you painted it with the trim, but i see a whole interesting insert and fancy knobs. it looks great!

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  11. The turned out gorgeous!! I know what it's like to have big plans to finish around the house projects and failing!

    New from the Mingle Monday! :)

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  12. Thanks so much everyone! The paint color is Rugged Suede by Valspar :)

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  13. LOVE THE REDO, THE DRESSER TURNED OUT BEAUTIFUL. I'D LOVE TO FEATURE IT, IF THIS IS OK WITH YOU PLEASE LET ME KNOW.
    LAUREN

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  14. I LOVE the textured drawer fronts and the liners inside! This turned out great!

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  15. Oh, my gosh! This turned out sooo amazing! I haven't ever thought of putting wall paper on a dresser but this looks so good, almost like the vingtage tin backsplashes and ceilings I've seen. You really made it look vintage. I am pinning this idea :) Thanks for the inspiration!

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  16. I am so into gray right now and I really love what you did with this dresser! It's so classic and chic! Would you link it up to my party??

    http://daysofchalkandchocolate.blogspot.com/2011/12/latest-and-greatest-friday-10-christmas.html

    You've given me some ideas for an old hutch I have in my garage!

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  18. Beautiful! Love everything about it! I have those knobs too! I got mine at Pier 1.

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  19. That looks amazing!! I love the yellow inside. glad you left it. I love your blog. I'm your newest follower. Would love you to stop by DIY Home Sweet Home

    Jamie
    http://diyhshp.blogspot.com/
    P.S. I have a linky every Monday would love you to stop by Monday and link up.

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  20. Eu achei o maximo essa ideia! adoro comodas e armarios. abraço

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  22. This is one of the best transformations I've seen! Love it!

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  23. I recently looked back at my house goals for 2011, and I only crossed a couple of the things off my list. Good thing we can roll those house goals over to the new year. ;-)

    Love the dresser! Gorgeous transformation! I love the texture that the wallpaper adds to the piece! Thanks for sharing.

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  24. This dresser looks amazing!! I have been wanting to re-vamp some of my old dressers and I had a question. Do you have any tips for repainting a wood dresser (not from Ikea)?? Basically, I am trying to figure out a way to repaint it without going through the hassle of SANDING it all down first. Have you done anything like this before? Thanks!!

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  25. That is beautiful - I love the texture, color, knobs, lining in the drawers... well - Everything! I am your newest follower, I found you on Better After... Please stop by my little blog and join me if you like.

    Summer

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  27. That is crazy awesome! Well done! And very inspirational for me too, because you just can't beat the price of Ikea furniture.

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  28. This is super inside and out! A nice improvement. I'm looking forward to getting back to furniture after the holidays.
    Dropping in from SNS at Funky Junk.

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  29. Lovin' the dresser make over and adore the knobs too!

    Smiles and Merry Christmas to you and yours from me and mine,
    ~Suzanne at WhyCuzICan in NW IL
    Visiting from FJI SNS linky party

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  30. Great job. You made a very ordinary dresser look so special.

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  31. beautiful transformation! Could you cut out motifs of the wallpaper and glue them to the top of the dresser and go from there...just thinking.

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  32. Beyond Fantstic! I am in LOVE with textured, paintable wallpaper! I would also just LOVE if you'd share this by linking up over at Trash 2 Treasure Tuesdays on Kammy's Korner: http://kammyskorner.blogspot.com/2011/12/trash-2-treasure-tuesday-12.html

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  33. I have a dresser from this same collection (and the vanity) and I've been wanting to re-do both. . .now I know how, thanks!

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  34. What a great hack! Did you submit this to Ikea Hackers. It looks amazing! Visiting from Skip to my Lou.
    :) Samantha

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  35. This is great! Thanks to you I now have to drive to Lowes for wallpaper :-) Thanks and I have to run!

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  36. I own this boring dresser and can't wait to trick it up!! Thanks for the inspiration...

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  37. This is fantastic! I would never have guessed that came from Ikea. Visiting from MMS.

    Ps I host a linky party every Friday - Sunday, this party is best of 2011, I would love if you came by to link up this fantastic project. Happy New Year!

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  38. Thanks so much everyone! TRodrigues0913 - I wanted to email you but you have no link to your email in your profile! Centsational Girl and Young House Love have great tutorials for painting all kinds of furniture. I recommend checking those blogs out!

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  39. That looks great, love the wallpaper on the drawers!

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  40. Love this dresser-Following you from Thrifty Decor Chick-stop by for a visit!!

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  41. This looks fabulous, I love the paintable wallpaper and the fun drawer liners -- amazing work! :)

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  42. I very much LOVE your hack!! It's beautiful!
    Shannon
    www.akadesign.ca

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  43. OMGoodness! I have this SAME dresser! I've been trying to figure out what to do with it (hubby's bachelor furniture :), because it doesn't match anything I have. I now know what my next project will be! Thanks for posting!! :)

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  44. The dresser looks amazing. I love the textured wallpaper. What a great idea to transform it into something amazing.
    Ruth

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  45. this is TRES cool!!!!

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  46. I've come to see your dresser before but when I saw it at Thrifty Decor Chick I wanted to come and see it again, it's that beautiful!! I'm your newest member :) If you have a moment come visit me at AllThatBringsJoy.blogspot.com

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  47. Question: how long did this take? Thanks, because I am truly considering doing this.

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  48. Love thiS! What color did you use?

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  50. wow that is uh-mazing! It really is too bad you didn't get to take more progress pics =)

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  51. This is lovely. We have one of the smaller Hemnes chests and I've been thinking about something to make it look a little better... This is fantastic inspiration, thank you! :-)

    Take care,
    Chantelle

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  52. Pleaseeee tell me what color paint you used!! I looove love love the color!

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  53. 百度
    [url=http://www.sina.com]sina[/url]

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  54. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  55. I would also love to know what color that is. I have been searching for the right color for some old bedroom furniture and this is IT!

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  56. This is my absolute favorite dresser re-do that I've ever seen. My master bedroom dresser is almost the exact same structurally and the stain and hardware on it are so manly it kills me. Just got permission from my husband to re-do it and I am almost positive I'm going to attempt this. Thanks for the instructions and supplies list, I learned so much just from your short description! i.e. paintable textured wallpaper. I had no idea it even existed! Life changed.

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  57. Hi :) How do you paint it so you don't see brush strokes? That's always my fear with refinishing.

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  58. I can't wait to try this! Thanks so much for posting! And I would also like to know about the brush strokes the commentor before me mentioned.

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  59. I love this! Can you send me the instructions and supplies list too? Love it and can't wait to try this myself!

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  60. Here's how mine turned out! The wallpaper ended up a bit bubbly but still such a fun project. Thank you for the fantastic idea!! :D

    http://i49.tinypic.com/6t1hr5.jpg

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  61. This looks great, I am looking for ideas to turn an old dresser into a way to store my chins in the dining room and I think this may be what I do. Very nice job.

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  62. I love this! And I have this very same chest in the lighter wood! Not being very creative myself, my first thought, in wanting to change my decor, was to just get rid of it and buy new, but now you have inspired me to refinish it and be cost effective! Thank you so much!

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    1. Same here. I was going to buy this dresser again in black so that it matched my decor but this is even bettr.

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  64. Love your dresser! Question...can you use laxtex paint with Zinssers stain cover since it's oil based? Thanks!

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    1. hey anonymous! I was reading through all the comments to get more idea and I saw yours. I love hacking ikea furniture and Zinnser primers have become my best friend! I wouldn't use latex though, I used latex on the billy bookshelf from Ikea and it constantly scratches. It doesn't scratch off the paint, but the scratch marks are very noticeable! I also let the paint dry for 3-4 weeks before even using it! :)

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  65. I am so in love with this. Gorgeous!

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  66. Absolutely beautiful!! Well done!

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  67. Thanks for the Pinspiration! Look what I did with a plain oak changing table/dresser I got on Craig's List!

    http://pinterest.com/pin/59391288807402492/

    I'm glad I came back here - I'm going to get some minwax polycrylic to finish it off.

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    1. It looks great! I'm glad I could provide some inspiration :)

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  68. What paint color did you use?

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  69. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  70. I'm in the process of doing this little chest of drawers. You inspired me. The chest I have has at least three coats of paint(plus decals 1940'a/1950's). I'm using a hand-sander to smooth out the finish. Using Fleur-DeLis wallpaper left over from my hall and the same color paint/trim as in the sample. Can't wait to finish it, think I'll give it to my granddaughter who is newly married. Thank you for the great idea.

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    1. Thank you! I'm so glad I could provide some inspiration!

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    2. I should have completed this project by now but I ran into a couple of problems. Pinterest suggested using Modge Podge on the wallpaper. I used your suggested and and went with the spray adhesive which did not work. Had to removed the wallpaper twice and pretty much start from scratch each time, sanding etc:
      This time it appears it is working using the Modge Podge. I'm not in the least bit discouragted, this is the neated idea I seen in a long time. Thank you so much for sharing this, I'm praying mine will look half as good as yours.

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  71. I found your dresser hack via pinterest and I love Love LOVE it!! So much so, that I'm featuring you as my DIY pick of the week on my blog! I love the idea of adding paintable wallpaper. Such a great look!

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    1. Thank you so much Natalie! How sweet of you!

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  72. I, too, found you via pinterest (isn't it such a lovely thing?). I was wondering if you remember the specifications of the molding you used, or might have suggestions on what to look for. I'm moving soon, and my dresser is the one thing that doesn't match any of the other things in my bedroom, so I figure a new start will be the perfect time to re-do it.

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    1. Hey Michelle! I used French Provincial trim that is 1/2" wide and 1/4" deep. The pieces were 4 feet long so I measured out approximately how much I'd need for borders on all the drawers and then cut it all to size. Hope that helps!

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    2. That is super helpful! Thanks!!

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  73. Hi, I found you on pintrest as well. I had a question for you: did you apply the minwax polycrylic to the painted wall paper?

    Thank you so much!

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  75. Did you cut the edges on the wood trim by yourself? Or did you have that done for you?

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  76. Does the top coat make it pretty hard? I love this idea but I was thinking this for the top of a boring TV stand we have. I didn't know if this would be a surface you could set things on?

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    1. No, mine is still pretty soft! There may be a product you could use to harden it though. You could ask at the hardware store!

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