This is what happens when bobbin furniture meets IKEA

All I need were basic painting materials, wood glue and an unexpected craft item (wooden doll heads purchased in bulk), to transform two dark IKEA MALM dressers owned for years into one stylish and unique bobbin furniture inspired dresser.

before

Materials

• IKEA MALM dresser x 2
• Wood ball knobs / wooden doll heads
• Wood glue
• Primer
• Paint
• Paint roller
• Angle sash brush

“Bobbin furniture” {also called spool furniture, see my Pinterest board on it} 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.

For my dressers, the process was extremely easy: first priming, then gluing the wood ball knobs/ doll heads around the drawers, and finally, painting which was the most time-consuming part as the doll heads had to be painted one by one.

Here are a few details of my bobbin furniture inspired MALM dresser:

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.

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.

To attach the knobs, I worked with one drawer at a time. First, I 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.

Then, I painted all the external surfaces (dressers, drawers & knobs), 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.

And that’s it!

The total cost for the remake of one dresser did not exceed the amount of $65 and that includes all supplies.

You can also have a look at my other IKEA hacks. I turned the IKEA LACK coffee table into the perfect nightstand, upgraded the transparent SAMLA boxes into classy storage boxes and used scrapbook paper to cover up MALM drawer fronts. It was so affordable and took less than an hour.

Find more photos and the full tutorial of the bobbin furniture inspired MALM dresser on my blog, Once Again, My Dear Irene.

~ by Angelica

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