Ikea Hack: Ikea Moppe drawers

I bought this five drawer Ikea Moppe unit at a charity shop. As you can see below, it probably belonged to a fellow craft-enthusiast... let's just say, I hope my revamp will stand the test of time better than this...

I had purchased the drawers about six months ago but could not decide on how to revamp it or what to use it for. Then my elder son showed me a plan he had jotted down about the topics he wanted to blog about (scouting, archeology, drawing ect) He drew boxes around each of the topics, in a way compartmentalizing them. It occurred to me that he could make good use of the moppe drawers- especially as his desk is usually a bit cluttered. 
I did not want it to be too cute, as he is nearly 9 years old.After some deliberation, I decided on Victorian specimen drawers, remembering how people in the Victorian era enjoyed collecting bugs, fossils, curiosities and discovering the world around them.

I used by Black'n' Decker mouse to sand the wood and  some blue acrylic paint.

Because the Moppe drawers are a bit tight to begin with, I sanded all sides of some of the individual boxes so they would side better. I only painted the front of the drawers for the same reason.

I traced the front of the box onto

graph paper and drew the shape of the faux identification label.

I cut out the identification label while keeping the drawer shape I traced intact.

I used this as a stencil on the wooden drawers. I think using a customized stencil made positioning the label in just the right place easier.

Then I cut out the rectangle from  the middle of the identification label and traced around it at the center of the label.

This would be the white (faux paper) bit of the label.

I first painted the white bit with acrylic paint.

I then used bronze acrylic paint for the card frame.

Once dried, I also painted faux screws onto the frame, and painted words on the labels.

I used a matt finish to protect the paint.

Ikea Hack: Malma Mirror for young Pirates

 I upcycled this Ikea Malma mirror for my younger son. He had been sick with the chicken pox for a few days, and we used the time we had today to work on a project together.

Because this is a more elaborate design I made a blueprint. I traced the frame:

 And I traced around the mirror bit as well, so I knew exactly how much space I had to work with,

 While I made the sketch of what I wanted S used some sand paper to sand the surface of the frame. This was both to give him a job and to help the paint stick better.

 I used acrylic paints and a matt acrylic finish.

There is even a tiny pirate peeking out of a cabin hole.