Ikea Malm Dresser Hack {Bobbin Furniture Inspiration}

With so many moves over the last 17 years, Ikea has always given me quick and inexpensive solutions for the particular needs of every new home. Both here in the USA and in Europe, I’ve bought multiple basic items from Ikea but after a while I’ve transformed each and every one of them into something that would fit the style of my home. You can find a list of some of these projects and their links at the end of this blog post. 

Well, this time around, I worked on two basic Ikea dressers…and I think this may be my most impressive Ikea hack so far, although definitely not the most difficult one.

I started with two four-drawer Ikea Malm dressers that I had bought six years ago (i.e. three houses back). Their black-brown finish was right at that time, but not so much any more.

Ever since we moved into our current house, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with them. I debated totally replacing them (but they were in such a great condition!), simply painting them or maybe doing something much fancier. If I was to give them any type of a remake, there was a wide range of materials, colors and styles to go with, but I ended up doing this:

Two dressers that now look like one, with a rich ornamental design, inspired by bobbin furniture, but still modern and fresh!

“Bobbin furniture” {also called spool furniture} is very popular lately, but the technique dates back to the 17th century. It’s basically a heavy ornament consisting of repeating small knobs or bobbins used mostly on chairs and tables.

I kind of replicated the bobbin furniture technique by using wooden flat ball knobs (i.e. wooden doll heads) and gluing them one after the other directly onto the drawers.

The project itself was extremely easy and very inexpensive. Gluing all the ball knobs was an effortless task that even a toddler could tackle, however painting them was a process that required both time and patience. I had plenty of both because I could envision the result! With some good music and with a captivating podcast, I actually enjoyed myself.

The ball knobs are decorative, not so much to use as a drawer handle, although they’re glued very well onto the drawers.

The Malm drawer top part does have a slight inclination inwards to facilitate the opening of the drawer, so there’s no reason to pull open the drawers by the knobs.

I painted only the external sides of the dressers ~ no need to paint the drawers’ interior & side parts.

Just for today’s photos, I spent some time to style the dressers with decorative objects that I already had around the house. It all looks so beautiful that I now have to make some big decisions about that tv in the master bedroom…

The black lacquered box was a gift from Zara Home years ago, while the white lacquered boxes are two easy do-it-yourself projects of the past. Here’s the link for the Scottish terrier lacquered box.

As for the second white lacquered box, I simply drilled holes on the lid and attached a serpent drawer/door handle from Anthropologie.

The wall art is also a do-it-yourself project. The original “painting” was $5 and I transformed it into this modern piece of art, instructions here.

Unlike my usual do-it-yourself projects, I don’t have instructions and photos for this one. There’s really nothing more to do than priming the surfaces that need to be painted, gluing the knobs on the drawers and then painting the entire thing. However, here are a few details:

1. I first removed the drawers and placed them on their back side, onto protected floors. Having them in an upwards position makes gluing the knobs and painting the drawers easier.
2. I used this primer on all of the dressers’ and drawers’ external dark surfaces – I’ve used it before on other furniture and it proved to work great for priming non-wood materials.
3. To attach the knobs, I worked with one drawer at a time: I first positioned the knobs in place, and then glued each one making sure that they were perfectly aligned. Wood glue is very easy to work with and it gives plenty of time to reposition, if needed. I used this wood glue and I applied just a little on the ball knob flat surface.

You can find wood ball knobs in most craft stores, but because I needed a large quantity, I purchased them online, here. They ranged from $ 0.15 – $ 0.18 per piece and were sold in 100/piece bags. For this project, I used large balls knobs, 1-1/4″.

4. I then painted all the external surfaces (dressers, drawers & knobs) ~ I used a paint roller to paint the dressers, a 2″ short angle sash brush like this one for the drawers and in between the knobs, and a small water color brush (like the one I used above for the glue) to paint each and every knob, ensuring that all knobs were nicely covered from all angles. I did three coats of paint to cover the old dark color of the dressers, while the knobs looked fine after only two coats of paint.

5.That was it!

Apart from the original dark color of the dressers that didn’t suit the style of the master bedroom anymore, I also didn’t like the fact that I had two separate pieces; it looked like a cheap, temporary solution. To make them look like one dresser, I decided to keep the center free of any knobs, and instead outlined the perimeter of my new, longer drawers.

So, what do you think? Does this dresser still look like an Ikea Malm dresser?

*** As recommended by Ikea, make sure to attach your Malm dresser(s) to the wall***

Check out these links to see more of my Ikea hacks:

I made the most glamorous storage boxes with the clear plastic Ikea Samla boxes.

An easy sewing project transformed a basic white Ikea Dvala duvet cover into a duvet cover with an elegant detail.

And a no-sew project turned another Ikea Dvala duvet cover into a cozy coverlet for the boy’s room.

I don’t think you’ll find a less expensive laundry bag on this planet than the Ikea Jall laundry bag, yet I took it apart and made it look much more interesting, beautiful and unique. Here’s the link.

Instead of spending a lot on a roll of wallpaper, I used a few sheets of scrapbook paper to cover a white IKEA Malm dresser for my daughter’s room. Five years later, it’s still in almost perfect condition.

Here are a few tips that will help you refresh your Ikea furniture.

In the early days of this blog, I made very very easy projects by adding just a special little detail to:

an Ikea Proppmatt cutting board 

a basic Ikea desk

an Ikea Spontan magnetic board

basic Ikea chair cushions (those held up very well for many years)

And I’ve also made more complex projects like my amazing bedside tables using two LACK tables (which I’ve now painted white).

*** this is not a sponsored post ***