I bought my IKEA Malm dresser back in 2012 when I first moved to my new house. It fit perfectly, the color was just right, and the sizing was exactly what I needed. Now it's 2022 and I hated the dark brown, it looked frumpy, and overall: it made me unhappy. However, it still worked perfectly fine, and I hate the thought of throwing something out that's still in roughly good shape.
I've seen people add legs to the RAST and the TARVA, but not too many on the Malm. The one video I did find it was for the newer model which is different than the original model. So, what do I do? Overthink and analyze and put myself into a state of perpetual anxiety before I actually did anything productive.
OK: jokes aside, but in reality that really did happen. After much debilitating, I finally went and cut it. I was on such a high after visiting Rachel Metz' DIY corner in the desert, that I was determined I could do this. So I did.
The first step was getting the dresser out in an area I could work on because I needed it flipped on its side to measure. Once I got the measurements, I went to cutting. I don't want to go through every step by step on here when I did a whole youtube video explaining everything doing just that. If you have questions, You're more than welcome to ask and I'm happy to answer any and all questions you may have!
Materials used:
3/4" leftover plywood
2x6 leftover cedar - 2x4's or 2x3's would be better.
1 1/2" #8 Spax Screws
Kregjig pocket hole jig
Liquid Nails
Brad Nailer
Orbital Sander (optional)
120 grit sandpaper
220 grit sandpaper
Binz Primer
Behr Indoor Paint