This IKEA Hack That Flips a Dresser Upside Down Is One of My All-Time Favorites (It Creates Bonus Storage!)

One of my biggest furniture regrets thus far is buying pedestal-style nightstands without any drawer storage. I know it sounds dramatic, and I love the way my fluted nightstands from West Elm look, of course. I honestly thought it was my dream nightstand — until I realized how much clutter my bedroom has and how often (read: every day) I wish I had just a couple of extra drawers to tuck things away into. 

From now on, my furniture shopping “hot take” is that you should always buy a nightstand with drawers, which is why I love this previously published IKEA hack from Kara Estes (@beglorifiedhome) so much. 

Kara uses a full-fledged dresser (forget just one or two drawers!) for her nightstand to max out on storage. I also love the hack because Kara actually assembled the piece a little differently than the big-box instructions indicated — you can’t beat an ingenious twist on an old classic.

The classic piece in question here is IKEA’s RAST dresser, a three-drawer pine piece with wooden knobs. Kara didn’t love the inset top (or the knobs) of the RAST dresser as-is. (You can see how the top is slightly lower than the sides in the before image above.) Instead, she trimmed the sides of the dresser, flipped it upside down, and built a new overhanging top for the dresser out of plywood because she was going for a look similar to this Magnolia nightstand from Target.

You can read Kara’s full DIY process here, but the short story is that it required some sawing, using some of the leftover pieces from IKEA as support for the new plywood top, and trusting her vision. The drawers still slide in and out because the drawer slides are in their same position on the original panels, and the nightstand came out beautifully — and all for about $80 because Kara already owned the RAST and some of the supplies. 

“I love that we were able to DIY a nightstand for less than half the cost of our inspiration nightstand!” Kara told Apartment Therapy. Even better, her new and improved piece offers one more drawer than the original, which firmly cements it as one of my all-time favorites. After all, you know how I feel about nightstand storage. 

What’s your favorite IKEA hack on Apartment Therapy? Let us know in the comments!