Furniture Flipper Turns a Basic Dresser From IKEA Into a Vintage-Inspired Custom Piece
The TARVA six-drawer dresser is a classic IKEA item - not only for its function, but also for its potential.
The TARVA is made of untreated solid pinewood, and IKEA even tells customers: "It's beautiful as it is or you can stain, paint or wax it the way you like to create a personal chest of drawers with legs."
One DIY creator recently took that advice to heart and gave her TARVA dresser a makeover, flipping it into an absolutely stunning vintage-inspired dresser with dainty hardware and other thoughtful upgrades. Read on to learn more.
A Furniture Flipper Turned the TARVA Dresser From IKEA Into a Unique, Vintage-Inspired Piece of Furniture
"I turned a plain IKEA Tarva dresser into a vintage-inspired beauty with tons of character!" creator Jenna Townsend (@touch.of.townsend) captioned a recent TikTok video. "Don't sleep on IKEA furniture because they're a blank canvas waiting for you to turn them into one of a kind pieces!"
Townsend starts out her makeover by knocking each of the TARVA's 12 wooden drawer pulls off with a hammer. Next, she cuts numerous pinewood laths. She then arranges them in a pattern on the fronts of all six drawers, and attaches them using wood glue and nails from an electric nailer. This is a very trust-the-process moment, but it soon creates the illusion of four mini drawers on each large drawer.
Once that's done, Townsend drills new holes for drawer pulls in each drawer. She then attaches two decorative pine corbels to hide the dresser's plain front feet, also using wood glue and a nail gun. Next, she wipes on a light wood stain to the entire dresser, and then sprays a clear top coat to protect the piece. For the final step, she attaches 24 delicate dark brass drawer pulls - one for each apparent drawer.
@touch.of.townsend The dainty hardware was the right choice! I turned a plain IKEA Tarva dresser into a vintage-inspired beauty with tons of character! From adding on trim to the drawer fronts to layering a warm custom stain, this dresser got a full makeover! Don't sleep on IKEA furniture because they're a blank canvas waiting for you to turn them into one of a kind pieces! #ikea#furnitureflip#furnituremakeover#woodstain#ikeahack
strawberry chocolate - nanaacom
The Updated TARVA Dresser Turned Out Beautiful
The final reveal of the dresser is incredible. Townsend took something that was plain yet modern, and transformed it into a piece that looks like it could have been passed down for generations - in a good way.
"Amazing transformation!" someone commented on Townsend's video. "Ohhhhhh…. it's amazing! ," someone else wrote. "Whaaaaaaat?!! This is witchcraft! ," another commenter added.
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 10:15 AM.