The dresser in all it's black & white glory. Packing tape had been wrapped around it to prevent the drawers
from opening during our travels. Some of the paint didn't survive the removal of the tape.
Please excuse the poor quality of the picture. Our garage is dark.
When I began planning the nursery for Baby H, I had grand visions of turning this dresser into a beautiful turquoise changing table (check out this post for the image of my original source for this vision). I set my mom on the task of measuring the dresser while I was creating a scaled floor plan of the nursery, but unfortunately, my memory of the size and dimensions of the dresser turned out to be much grander than it actually was. It was too narrow for a changing pad, too tall for comfortable diaper changing, and not quite long enough to fit other diapering necessities. Despite my stubborn insistence of not using a certain console table (that we had purchased from Walmart years ago and was already in the room) in the baby's nursery, it appeared to be my best option for a changing table. Especially since we wanted to use as much already owned or hand-me-down furniture as possible in the room. Plus, that thing was heavy and not only would it have required a lot to relocate it, we really didn't have any other place in the house to relocate it to, except for the garage, which already houses quite a bit of
Despite knowing that I wouldn't be using the dresser as a changing table, and knowing that the odds of us having room for the dresser as a dresser in the tiny nursery were not good, my stubbornness insisted that we still pick it up in New York. I'm so glad we did too. As it turned out, with some slight floor plan rearranging, the dresser was going to fit in the room! And I still maintained my grand plans for a turquoise piece of furniture. Until, that is, I spotted a funky avocado green paint underneath the wretched, shiny, black paint (click on the image above to zoom in on it and you can see the green on one of the corners). It just so happens I'm in love with avocado green, and after noticing how easily the tape pulled off the black paint, I was convinced I could scrape away the black and save the green layer underneath (I had previously been informed that I would have to strip the entire dresser with a chemical paint stripper prior to painting it, and that I wouldn't be able to refinish the dresser until after the baby was born because of the chemicals. Yeah right. Like that was going to happen).
So without further ado, my dresser redo...
Supplies:
Dresser (hand-me-down- $0)
Paint scrapers (already owned misc. clay tools- $0 Allway Tools wood scraper- $6.97)
220-Grit sanding sponge (I used 3M from Home Depot- $3.97)
Tack cloth (EZ Tack Cloth- $2.68)
Primer (1 Qt. Killz Odorless Water-Based White Primer- $10.98)
White spray paint for dresser (Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch Ultra Cover 2X- about $4)
White spray paint for hardware (Krylon Short Cuts- $2.98)
Deep Teal chalkboard paint (Rust-Oleum Tintable Chalkboard Paint- $12.98)
Painter's tape (ScotchBlue- $2.97)
Paint tray and high density foam roller with extra cover ($6.97)
2 foam brushes ($1.34)
Paint stirrers ($0)
Dust mask (3M Paint Odor Respirator- $4.47)
Rags and drop cloths (already owned misc. sheets and towels- $0)
Total Cost: about $60*
*These prices were taken from the internet since I no longer have my receipts and may not accurately represent my actual costs.
The dresser after removing the hardware and legs and scraping off most of the nasty black paint. I LOVE the green!
Taping off a border for priming. I had decided that the green color, while I loved it, needed to be broken up a bit.
Primed and almost ready for spray paint.
Ready for some spray paint!
Sprayed and drying. Notice I didn't take the time to do anything on the inside of the dresser?
It's not like anyone is going to see that part, right?
Drawers with their first coat of chalkboard paint. I put a couple layers of primer on first.
I don't know which coat this is (I needed a total of four for complete coverage), but the color is looking good!
It's not like anyone is going to see that part, right?
I was utterly terrified after completing all the painting that 1) the colors were going to be awful once the dresser was moved from the garage, 2) my vision wouldn't come to fruition, and 3) that this would be the ugliest dresser ever and I would have to redo the whole thing. I was actually quite frightened about the end result. I was really, truly prepared to hate this dresser. I wasn't sure, after living with it for a few days, if the green was too army colored for me, and I was sure that adding a white border on the sides was a mistake. I even took a trip out to Michael's to pick up some wooden trim and do-dads to decorate the dresser with in order to sweeten it up a bit. Really, I can't quite explain how convinced I was that this was going to be a garish, epic disaster.
And then I moved the dresser upstairs to the (very naturally well-lit) nursery. You know, just to see, and whoa, was I ever surprised! I LOVED it. I think it's the greatest piece of furniture ever and after assembling the entire thing, I was convinced that there's no other dresser more perfect for my nursery. Seriously, I cannot stop looking at it. And smiling! The dresser makes me smiley and happy! Talk about relieved! Here's a little preview of the dresser, minus the hardware, and not in it's proper location yet. I'm not going to reveal the final look until I reveal the entire nursery in a future post.
And then I moved the dresser upstairs to the (very naturally well-lit) nursery. You know, just to see, and whoa, was I ever surprised! I LOVED it. I think it's the greatest piece of furniture ever and after assembling the entire thing, I was convinced that there's no other dresser more perfect for my nursery. Seriously, I cannot stop looking at it. And smiling! The dresser makes me smiley and happy! Talk about relieved! Here's a little preview of the dresser, minus the hardware, and not in it's proper location yet. I'm not going to reveal the final look until I reveal the entire nursery in a future post.
Pretty promising, right?
As you can see, I went with yellow curtains in the nursery, as I had planned all along, although these were a bit darker than I originally intended. But we'll save that discussion for another day.
Other nursery project posts:
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