I love a good IKEA hack, so when the folks at Plaid® challenged me to make over an IKEA TARVA nightstand, I was all over it. Today I’ll show you what I did to it and share a tutorial so you can do it too! Plus, I’m also sharing some DIY stenciled string art.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Plaid. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

IKEA TARVA NIGHTSTAND HACK

Supply list:

IKEA TARVA Nighstand
FolkArt® Home Decor Chalk in Parisian Grey
FolkArt® Home Decor Wax
FolkArt® Home Decor Chalk Brush & Wax Brush
4 Turned furniture feet (you can find these online or at the hardware store)
4 metal top plates to attach the furniture feet
Saw
Nail gun or hammer and nails
Thin 2″ wide strip of wood
Sanding block
Drawer knob of your choice
Wallpaper or patterned paper of your choice

IKEA TARVA Nightstand Hack Tutorial:

Step 1

First, I assembled the nightstand by following the IKEA instructions. Then, I flipped it upside down and marked the spot where the leg meets the base.

Step 2

I removed the legs and cut them down to where I made my mark, and then reattached it. At this point, the leg was flush with the base.

Step 3

Attach the metal top plate where the legs will go, and screw on the new furniture legs.

Step 4

Use a nail gun (or hammer and nails) to attach a strip of 2″ wide wood to the bottom of the nightstand below the drawer, and around the front border of the drawer. Patch any holes with wood filler and sand smooth.

Step 5

Paint the nightstand. I used FolkArt Home Decor Chalk in Parisian Grey. This paint is a no prep acrylic paint that dries in minutes and can be layered and sanded to create a distressed look if you are into that, or you can get a more modern look (which is more my speed) by skipping the distressing step. It’s an ultra matte paint and can be applied to furniture, cabinets, walls, decorative glass, metal, and more. They’re made in the USA and are water-based for easy cleanup, which I love. There are 8 new colors available now on Plaid’s website too. They also make a Texture Chalk which is thicker and adds dimension to your project surface. It can be layered, distressed, glazed, and waxed to get a time-worn look. (It’s for indoor use only, is water-based and nontoxic.)

Here’s the Texture Chalk:

And here’s what I used:

Step 6

Apply a thin layer of FolkArt Home Decor Wax using the Wax brush.

Step 7

Cover the shelf backing with wallpaper of your choice (I had some left over from a previous project), and attach the knob to the drawer. Then you’re done! Here’s a before and after.

DIY Stenciled Georgia String Art

Supplies:

FolkArt Home Decor Chalk in Black
FolkArt honeycomb stencil
Wooden canvas
Scissors
Hammer
Printed photo of your home state
White embroidery floss
Brass escutcheon pins

For the art, you can use a premade wooden canvas, but I assembled mine using a segment of a project panel I had left over and framing it with pieces of 1×2. I attached them with glue and a brad nailer.

In hindsight, I should have stenciled the art before attaching the frame, but I ended up taping it off and painting a border later, and I painted the inside portion of the frame. For this project, I used FolkArt Home Decor Chalk in Black and a FolkArt stencil.

I offloaded my stencil brush onto a paper towel and then used circular motions to paint over the stencil.

After you’ve stenciled your wooden canvas, center your state photo and hammer your little nails around the perimeter of it, and then rip the paper away. Randomly string your embroidery floss around and across the nails, tying off a knot at the beginning and the end.