I originally saw this DIY Card Catalog Ikea Dresser Hack idea on Love and Renovations and after making 2 of these dressers myself and doing things a bit differently, I thought I would share a few tips and how I used this dresser in our home. You can find the full tutorial over on Amanda’s blog, Love and Renovations, however, I’m sharing what I did differently below.

If you love Ikea hacks and those old-school Library Card Catalog Cabinets, you are going to love this Ikea dresser hack using the Tarva dresser and wood stain.

✅ This is the Ikea Dresser that I used although I wish I went with this bigger version since I ended up using mine as a TV console.

How to make the DIY Card Catalog Ikea Dresser Hack:

Supplies:

Ikea Tarva 3-Drawer Dresser OR Ikea Tarva 6-Drawer Dresser
White Linen Chalked Paint
Paint Rollers, Brushes, sponges
Rags
Gloves
Gorilla Glue
Small screwdriver
(go to Amanda’s tutorial to find the rest of the supplies needed)

Directions:

I did things a bit differently than Amanda over on Love and Renovations and I want to make sure you know that it’s okay to cut corners too, lol. Instead of painting all of the Ikea Tarva dresser pieces first, I just built the thing. I’ve probably built 20+ Ikea furniture pieces in my lifetime so this went pretty smoothly. Just follow their instructions. If you found an Ikea Tarva dresser on Craigslist or Ikea’s As-Is section already built, you can skip this step 🙂
After building the dresser I took it outside on a nice hot day to paint the entire outside (minus the legs) using White Linen Chalked Paint. I used a paint roller and brush to make things move quickly.
I stained the legs and the rectangle (faux drawer) pieces using Briar Smoke stain and a sponge brush. Make sure you wipe the pieces clean with a rag to remove the extra stain (this also helps create a natural wood look). Wear gloves when staining- that stuff sinks into your skin and is hard to remove!
I let the dresser dry in the sun for about 15 minutes before applying the second coat of chalk paint. P.S. I painted the entire front of the drawers since I was using Chalk Paint… Gorilla Glue has no problem sticking to Chalk Paint 🙂 Oh… I also skipped filling the holes for the knobs with wood filler because I didn’t have any on-hand. Call me lazy but you don’t even notice the holes in my dressers!
Once the dresser was completely dry, I moved it into my house (the hubby helped because that dresser is heavy!) and laid it on its backside. I laid it down so gravity could help me glue down each of those rectangle wood pieced with no issues and without having to use a hot glue gun.
I arranged all 24 rectangles on the front of the drawers, making sure I covered those knob holes since I didn’t fill them with wood filler.
I used Gorilla Glue to glue them down… You don’t need a lot of glue for this at all.
Then I arranged all those card catalog hardware pieces and used a small screwdriver to screw them all in by hand. This was probably the most time-consuming part.
After that, I sat the 2 dressers under our TV in the den and I use them to store DVD’s and workout equipment.

One more thing – if you plan to make this DIY Ikea Hack Card Catalog Cabinet and use as a TV console as I did, you should get the 6-drawer Tarva dresser. The only reason why I purchased 2 small Tava dressers was so I wasn’t stuck with a long dresser if we moved again in the near future. This way I could split them up and place in different rooms if I wanted.

This Ikea Dresser Hack was so fun and unique, I just want to so Thanks to Amanda at Love and Renovations for sharing her tutorial! I get so many compliments and questions about this dresser!

✅ Don’t forget to grab the Ikea Tarva Dresser to make this project!

Did you make this Ikea Hack or a similar one? I would love to see yours! Send me a picture on Facebook, Instagram, or email and I’ll share with my followers 🙂

Watch the how-to video on my Instagram Highlights…

–>>Go here to watch me make these dressers 🙂

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