Ikea Malm Hack

My brother and his wife and their 2 1/2 year old twins just moved into a new home.  I am decorating both of the kids bedrooms (they have a boy and a girl).  They had an Ikea Malm dresser that they wanted to use in one of the kids rooms.  They gave it to me and told me I could do whatever I wanted to do with it.  I decided I would use it in their son's room.

I started by lightly sanding the entire thing just to rough it up to make the paint adhere better.

I chose the color Newburyport Blue by Benjamin Moore in their Ben formulation which is low VOC.  

I removed the drawers and painted them with two coats.

I did the same with the body of the dresser.

Then I drilled two holes in each draw 6 1/2" in from each edge and centered from top to bottom.

I wanted to come up with a fun design for a 2 1/2 year old that would grow with him for a while.  I also knew I wanted to incorporate his favorite color - red.  So using my Silhouette machine I created three stencils (one, two and three).  I installed the bottom knobs only so that I could get a frame of reference as to where I wanted the stencils.

Then using red paint I stenciled the words onto the dresser.

Then I added two coats of clear polyurethane to protect the piece.

What do you think?  I can't wait to get started on his room.  We are going there on Sunday and both rooms will be worked on then.  By next week I should have some photos to share with you of the finished (hopefully) rooms.

Also, you can click here to enter my Ugly Sofa slipcover giveaway.  Today is the last day to enter.
The winner will be announced tomorrow.

-Judy