We rescued an IKEA Regissor Cabinet and decided to give it hack it – give it a makeover by redesigning the doors and paint color. We wanted to use cane as the front covering, but cane is costly and we were looking for a less expensive alternative. Here is our hack for how we transformed this IKEA Regissor cabinet into a great piece of furniture with a simple burlap hack. This approach would also work as a rattan or cane cabinet DIY hack. If you don’t have a Regissor, this cabinet here or here would work too! Here’s an option similar to our finished hack: here.
Here is how we did it and some of the tools you’ll need:
Tools
- Miter saw
- Try-Square
- Plunge Router and flush trim router bit
- Wood Glue
- Quick clamps, self-standing clamps, and F-clamps (never enough clamps)
- Orbital Sander
- Basics: pencil, blue tape, tape measure
- HomeRight Super Fine Finish Max Sprayer HVLP (on Amazon)
- Cordless Drill
- Eye, ear, and hand protection
1. Remove Hardware and Repair
We removed all hardware from the doors, shelves, and took the back off. The back was the folding backer board typical of these pieces. If it’s damaged – you can try to trim parts of this away to see if it will fit again or cut down some new 1/8 inch hardboard panel (see what fits the groove).
2. Cut Design For Doors
Our design was to cover the door with burlap and frame it. To achieve this look and make it blend into the original design, we created a new face frame. We had some 1/4-inch baltic birch that we cut to 2-1/2 inch widths and cut a 3/4-inch dado groove on one side. The great thing about baltic birch is that there are no voids in the wood which makes it great to work with. We added the dado groove to provide an area to cover the burlap.If using rattan, you can buy thicker material and cut a deeper dado to achieve the same result.
To match the dresser design the door frames we added were cut with a 45-degree miter. We set these slightly in from the edge detail to make it look like it was part of the original design. We dry-fitted the wood frame to make sure it fitted and each was piece was trimmer properly (don’t install yet).
3. Prepare for Paint
We set up a paint booth in the garage as we were going to try our hand at spraying it — again. Because this is an IKEA piece, which typically comes veneered or laminated, you’ll need a high grab paint (good quality). We cleaned the surface with an all purpose cleaner: lately, I’ve been using Holy Cow which seems to do the trick. We painted everything, including both sides of the doors as some of that underlying color would show through the burlap.
4. Install Door Frame
We cut the burlap to size so that it would tuck into the dado grooves. To prepare for install, we sprayed the burlap to dampen it lightly and then used a low heat and high steam setting on the iron to smooth it out. We sprayed the door face with a 3M General Purpose 45 Spray Adhesive and pressed the burlap into place. We then ran a respectable amount of Titebond Ultimate Wood Glue around the frame and clamped the boards into place.
5. Finish
Once dry, we took a Plunge Router and flush trim router bit to cut the newly installed frame to match the door groove. We touched up the paint where we cut and other areas where needed. We then re-installed all hardware and reassembled the piece.
That’s it! An easy way to enhance your IKEA cabinet.
Like we said above, if you don’t have an IKEA nearby, or can’t find the Regissor, this cabinet here or here would work too! Here’s an option similar to our finished hack: here.
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