IKEA Tarva Hack 2021

Hello Heroes,

So after receiving so many DM’s over on Instagram about our IKEA Play Kitchen hack, I decided to share the deets on yet another IKEA hack. This one involves the IKEA Tarva series, specifically that 6-drawer chest.

When we moved into our new home we knew the look and feel we wanted for our master bedroom, but good furniture was so damn expensive. Sure, you get what you pay for, but with a little one draining our account a fancy chest of draws just wasn’t in the budget.

We came across some amazing Tarva hacks on, of course, Pinterest and just had to give it a go.

Preparation

Preparation is key, especially with a big piece of furniture like this. I started by laying out all the pieces in the garage and giving them a good sand with my trusty orbital sander. Using a 100 grit sand paper, it worked like a charm, smooth as a babies butt. We opted to change the pulls on the drawers and since they wouldn’t work with the pre-drilled holes, we had to fill them. I just used a wood filler (natural), let that dry and sand.

Stain

For the look we wanted to achieve, we opted to go for stain. Now this isn’t the only option. You can paint, wax, basically whatever your heart desires. The pine wood has great dimension, so stain was a no brainer for us. Especially when we wanted the wood feel and look. We went with the Varathane Classic Oil-based stain in Early American. You can find that here. It went on like a dream, but make sure you clean all the pieces with a damp cloth before applying. The last thing you want is all the sanding dust clumping up on you. I applied the stain with a brush, let it sit for 1-2 mins, then wiped off. This method brought out the rich, deep curves of the wood, while keeping the stain quite light. Once complete, let your wood rest. I waited about a day to assemble.

Assembly

Assembly is as easy as calculus lol. I mean if you’ve ever built IKEA furniture before, you know what I’m talking about. A real test on your relationship, for sure! Here’s a little tip, assemble the chest where you want it to live, the last thing you want to do is move this beast.

Accessories

As mentioned earlier, we wanted to switch up the drawer pulls. So after everything was assembled (minus the IKEA pulls), I got to work on the new pulls. We went with the Richelier Washington collection matte black drawer pull. I’ve linked that here. Going with one per drawer, we had to get everything level. I used green painters tape and drew the center line and the height on each drawer. Once I measured twice, I used a drill bit and drill to make the holes. Then install each drawer pull, simple!

Final look

Once everything was done, Filipa did what she does best, make everything look better! She went to styling and made this Tarva chest look amazing. I mean take a look, what do you think? We love it. It fits perfectly.

If you guys have any questions or comments leave them below or send us a DM over on Instagram. Chat soon guys! Have fun.

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1 Comment

  1. Chelsea
    May 10, 2021 / 4:41 pm

    Did you have to use wood filler or something else to cover the holes for the original hardware that it came with?

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