IKEA is no stranger to those of us furnishing small or temporary spaces – the Swedish supermarket’s wide selection and budget-friendly prices have enhanced many a rental apartment.
But because IKEA’s furniture is designed to have a broad appeal, it doesn’t always feel particularly characterful or unique. While the build-to-order furniture and pared-down basics are a good start, they don’t complete a home. That’s where Lone Fox comes in.
Lone Fox, run by interior designer Drew Michael Scott, began as a YouTube channel in 2018 and has steadily grown into a constant stream of renovation inspiration. With a warm, inviting transitional style, Drew consistently transforms simple spaces into rich, inviting oases. And small details, like this standout DIY project, add character and charm to every room he decorates.
Drew recently shared his super simple but super effective IKEA hack on Instagram to revive the beloved MOPPE drawers and turn them into a conversation-starting, functional focal point of his home.
How Lone Fox transformed this IKEA closet
“I officially built the cutest closet out of some IKEA storage boxes,” Drew says in a Lone Fox video where he walks us through the decorating project. He shows off IKEA’s MOPPE mini storage chest, a simple and elegant piece of furniture made from birch plywood with six pull-out drawers of various sizes. “I got three of them and glued them together with some wood glue,” he continues.
After gluing the cabinets together, he flips the drawers over so the cut-out tab faces the back of the cabinet. This allows him to coat the front of the set with a charming striped pattern—all accomplished with a can of wood stain.
To perfect the stripe pattern, which also circles the sides of the drawers, Drew placed evenly spaced pieces of tape across the entire piece. To make sure he measured evenly, he used an extra piece of tape as a template, peeling it off before applying the next stripe and working his way along the surface.
“Then I stained it with this oak stain – that probably took me about an hour,” he continues. “It really wasn’t that bad. And of course the most satisfying part is peeling off all those tape strips and revealing the beautiful stained piece.”
Although the striped chest of drawers already had a lot more character and life than the original piece, Drew wanted to take it a step further and dyed some wooden beads a darker shade. “Then I tied a jute cord with a few knots and threaded both ends through the bead,” he said.
He used a paper template to measure, drilled even holes through each drawer and pulled the cords through to form knobs. “I’m just thrilled with how this cabinet turned out,” he concludes.
The end result brings life and excitement to an overlooked corner of Drew’s home by using a natural color palette and whimsical stripes. Perfect for anyone on a tight budget or looking for a fun (and fruitful) weekend project, this hack is one of many genius hacks that can be discovered on Lone Fox.
