Hack a trendy DIY Drinks Bar cabinet in bold colors

I turned the IKEA TARVA 3-drawer chest into a DIY bar cabinet. It is probably easier to use an IVAR cabinet to hack into a bar cabinet. But I was gifted the TARVA dresser and I really wanted a bar cabinet.

So with some IKEA hacking, elbow grease, and a lot of figuring it out as I go, I transformed the dresser into a drinks cabinet. And I wanted it in green. Now it works and looks good.

DIY Bar Cabinet step-by-step

1. I assembled the TARVA chest of drawers according to IKEA instructions. The exception were the drawers and slides which I didn’t need. The reason is, in order for the TARVA chest to hold bottles of drinks I needed shelves instead of drawers. (Save the drawers for the next step!) What I ended up with was an empty frame, without drawers.
2. Next, I built the doors. I used all 3 of the TARVA drawer fronts to make the two doors. I lined up the three drawer fronts and clamped them, then cut them down the middle. That gave me 6 pieces of wood. I then used some scrap pieces of wood to hold three half-pieces together to form one door, attached with wood glue.
3. I filled the gaps between the drawer fronts with wood putty for a smooth finish. After the putty dried, I sanded it down.
4. After this, I turned to the shelves. For the bottom shelf, I measured the inside bottom of the frame and cut a piece of MDF to size. I left about 1/2 inch clearance in the front to accommodate the wood pieces on the door.
5. I used the wood from the sides of the drawer to make new supports for the top shelf. For the top shelf, I used the same method of measuring the inside of the frame and cutting MDF to fit.
6. I used simple utility hinges to attach the doors to the frame to fit the doors.
7. Next, I primed and painted the entire bar cabinet green, except for the insides.
8. Lastly, I added hardware. I sprayed the two knobs supplied with the chest a pretty shade of gold and added flat L-corner braces to each corner of the door.

All done! See the full tutorial for my IKEA TARVA bar cabinet hack here.

See Also

IKEA GRANÅS chair hacks – breathe new life into old chairs

~ by Rain On A Tin Roof

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Jules Yap

Jules Yap started IKEAHackers.net in 2006 as a personal blog to showcase the most impressive IKEA hacks from all over the world. Since then, she has learned a lot more about power tools and DIY. Her site has helped thousands modify IKEA furniture with step-by-step tutorials, craft projects and home styling.

Jules is the author of IKEAHackers.net: 25 Biggest and Best Projects".

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