Before and Afters (by JAX does design)

It’s amazing how blogging connects people from all over the world – Olga is in Greece and found my 
Canadian blog when I wrote about a makeover I did on a RAST cabinet from Swedish Ikea using 
Greek Key O’verlays from the USA. Interior design is definitely an international language! So of 
course I said YES when Olga asked me to share my RAST hack and some other makeovers with 
you – it’s a wonderful opportunity to “meet” some new bloggers and make new blog friends :-)
If you aren’t familiar with the RAST cabinet, it’s a pretty basic piece of pine furniture with three
drawers and pine knobs.



I used a faux zinc technique and attached brass drawer pulls to transform it into something a little
more interesting…


It was really quite easy to do – the hardest part was figuring out the instructions and putting the cabinet together! Once the cabinet was assembled, this is what I did.

1. Stained the body of the cabinet with a dark brown stain.
2. Attached Greek Key O’verlays to the drawer fronts. I measured in 1” from each side of each drawer to center the O’verlays, and then I attached them with Krazy Glue. You could use any glue that bonds plastic & wood.
3. Primed the drawers with two coats of grey-tinted primer.
4. Painted the drawers with two coats of black paint in a matte/flat finish.
5. Used a cloth to apply pewter Rub N Buff to the drawer fronts and edges. *
6. Used a pouncing brush to apply metallic silver paint on top of the Rub N Buff. This softens the look of the faux zinc and adds some depth. Don’t go for even coverage, you want the finish to be random with some lighter and darker areas.
7. Drilled holes for the drawer pulls and attached them to the drawer fronts.
8. Voila! A RAST cabinet with some international flair!

* Rub N Buff is a metallic wax. If you can’t find it, you can skip step 5 and use just metallic silver
paint  to achieve the faux zinc look. Apply a coat of clear paste wax over the silver paint to give it 
some lustre and protect the finish. I wrote a tutorial on how to create faux zinc without using 
Rub N Buff – you can check it out here. 

 I love doing DIY projects – it’s fun to take something and totally transform it into something else. Here
are a few of my favourite DIYs… I transformed an old brass chandelier with faux capiz shells made
from wax paper and created a capiz chandelier.

 I bought four old chairs, repaired & refinished them, and replaced the seats. 
You can read about the chair makeover here. 

Before

After

The best thing about these DIY projects is that they cost a fraction of the price it would have cost to
buy the items new. And some of these pieces were saved from the landfill, which is good for 
the environment. I love a good room makeover too.  This is how our dining room looked before 
we moved in – totally not my style!

Before

After

 We added the wainscoting, and I painted the ceiling dark brown and the upper walls lavender. We 
replaced the chandelier, and my husband and I created the layered mirrors. You can read about my 
dining room makeover here and the layered mirror project here.

  And our biggest makeover so far, our kitchen. We left the layout the same, but painted all the cabinetry 
and replaced the countertop, backsplash, sink, and faucet.  You can read about my 
kitchen makeover here. (Originally posted at my first blog, DesignTies).

Before

 After

 Olga, thank you so much for asking me to share my makeovers with you and your readers. And thanks
 to everyone for checking out my makeovers. I’d love to “see” you over at JAX does design, and I’ll 
be sure to drop by your blogs to check out what projects you’ve been up to :-)


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Kelly has performed miracles all over her house, but I must say that I'm mostly drawn to this 
great dresser makeover. I mean it doesn't even look like it's the same dresser anyway!  And 
why I was never informed before about this O'verlays thingy, which now thanks to Kelly, I've 
visited their site and I'm already obsessed with them! Wondering which piece of furniture I 
could transform... 
 

Thanks for Making This Possible! Spread The Word!