Newsletters

Before & After: From IKEA Basic to a Vintage-Look Card Catalog

Written by

Rachel Wray Thompson
Rachel Wray Thompson
Rachel is an Chicago-based architect and LEED Accredited Professional. When she's not designing homes, she enjoys spending her free time traveling, gardening, and playing with her french bulldog.
published May 4, 2012
comments
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Post Image
See More Images
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Vintage card catalogs can be found for a pretty penny, but Kristen from The Painted Hive devised an amazing, inexpensive DIY using — you guessed it — an IKEA product.

See More Images
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

Kristine wanted an old card catalog, but didn’t want to fork over the large amount of cash that they often sell for. So she got creative, and used IKEA’s MOPPE mini chest of drawers (which replaced the ‘FIRA‘ and for some reason can only currently be found at the UK site). To get the authentic vintage look she rounded and sanded the corners of the drawers, stained the wood a dark teak color, and finished it with Danish Oil. To get the card catalog look, she installed authentic brass card file pulls (from eBay) and created old timey looking labels in Photoshop using a handwritten script front with a distressed background texture.

See More Images
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

MORE DETAILS & PHOTOS: IKEA Hack…Card File Drawers at The Painted Hive

MORE CARD CATALOGS ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• Before & After: Stunning Card Catalog Makeover
• Inspiration: Using An Old Card Catalog as A Bar
• Organizing Tool: Card Catalog Table
• Before & After: Cast Away Card Catalog Turned into a Marvelous Media Stand

(Images: The Painted Hive)

Filed in:
Before & After
DIY
Furniture
Money
Vintage