From plain to spectacular

via

I have been spending a lot of time at Ikea lately. It is my "go to" place for frames (Ribba), shelves (Lack), cabinet handles (Vinna) and dressers (the Malm).

Malm dresser from Ikea

This dresser is a favorite of mine. It comes in several sizes and I have used them as nightstands, in closets, as living room consoles and dining room sideboards. At $69.99 for the 3 drawer chest or $169 for the 6 drawer dresser, it is an affordable option for most. Ikea now offers glass tops to fit which adds a really nice touch and you can easily dress it up by adding handles.
Like these for example:

via

But I thought I would show you some other ways to change the Malm dresser from simple to spectacular (just in case you have not seen them before!).

Amanda Carol at Home

Amanda used these overlays:

To turn her Malm into this!

The overlays are the brainstorm of Danika & Cheryle, a couple of friends who saw the need and came up with this ingenious idea. I found more great examples of how these simple overlays, can transform the Malm dresser on the O'verlays' website:

I love the white on white. 

And while I also enjoy the simplicity of the plain Malm dresser - there is something irresistible to me about these with the overlays.

It is hard to believe this started as a simple Malm dresser.

Ikea's Rast dresser is another common dresser to "hack." 

Here it is in it's natural state which sells for a mere $34.99:

Are you ready to see some crazy transformations?

via | directions here

My all time favorite is Nancy Marcus' Dorothy Draper inspired chest. Here is the $3,200 version:

Dorothy Draper Espana Chest

And here is Nancy's:

See Nancy's tutorial here

This one is pretty great too:

via | directions here

And finally, Naomi's campaign cabinet:

You can see her step-by-step instructions here. 

Pretty incredible transformations, right? But if you are like me (I am not crafty nor do I love DIY projects) it might feel a little overwhelming. So let me show you something that I know I can do (which means you can too!). It just involves a little spray painting ...

This ...

Ikea's Vittsjo shelving unit - $70.00

+ gold Rust-oleum spray paint ... turns into THIS:

via Cottage and Vine

Now I just need to find an empty wall!

Happy Monday Everyone!