Simply Beautiful By Angela

creating simple beauty on a budget

The Ugly Dresser Transformation

I have a confession to make. I have recently developed a new obsession–curb furniture. I find myself eyeing curb furniture everywhere I go! It’s kind of like seeing a stray pet that I want to pick up and take home haha. Unfortunately I don’t have the space to bring them all home or the time to work on all of them, so I have to pick and choose. But almost everything I see sitting out on the curb I find myself slowing down and thinking “wow, what could I do with that???”

A few weeks ago I spotted this poor abused dresser.

I immediately thought, “that would look awesome in a kids room!” I’m pretty sure the hubby had a hard time seeing past the marker and duct tape damage, but he loaded it up for me anyways.

It’s really sturdy and the inside of the drawers are near pristine. But I think it had been left outside because one side was truly disgusting. Besides being somewhat warped from water damage, it had hard black spots that were as hard as rocks. I’m also paranoid about mold, so I didn’t want to take any chances.

Ick!!

So Anthony ripped that piece out and we replaced it with a new piece of MDF from Lowes. We got a 2′ x 4′ sheet for less than $7 and had them cut it to size in the store.

(Oh, can you see my next project peeking out on the left? It’s a cute little night stand that I couldn’t pass up! Found curb side of course…)

With chalk paint you don’t really need to sand, but since it had all of that yucky duct tape residue I gave the entire thing a light sanding.

I then applied 3 coats of my DIY chalk paint using a foam roller and sanding lightly between coats. It probably would have been good with 2, but since it was such an easy piece to roll paint on (very few tricky spots) I did a third for good measure.

Here are the pretty new drawers.

 
And here is what the dresser looks like today!
 
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Most of the old knobs were either missing or broken, so I purchased some new wooden ones from Walmart and spray painted them white. I also felt like the dresser needed something extra, so I framed each drawer with some inexpensive molding (around $2 for 8′ at Lowes).

I used some caulk in spots that had little gaps, including where the molding pieces met and I gave the entire dresser 2 coats of Miniwax polycrylic. For the knobs I used spray acrylic sealer.

I was originally going to use it as a changing table for the new baby, but it’s a little short.  And with the pretty rounded sides, I couldn’t really envision adding feet. So instead I gave it to Tristan while I use his current one for his little brother.  I like that it has more storage for his clothes that seem to be getting bigger and bigger each season (*tear!*)

We’re getting closer and closer to getting his big boy room set up.  We got most of the bed built  last weekend and I am now working on sanding it down and painting it (fun times I tell ya!)  I’m a little sad but also excited to be letting his baby room go!

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Linking up to these awesome parties!

Comments

    • Thanks Samantha, I couldn't agree more on the molding! I couldn't stop admiring it when I first put the molding on because it made such a huge difference πŸ™‚

  13. That is an amazing transformation. I too, eye furniture on the side of the road. However, my driving paths apparently don't take me past very many rich sources. Recently I found a desk in my neighborhood, which is now installed in my son's room.

    Thanks for sharing!

  14. Absolutely stunning transformation. It is surprising how much a lick of paint can do! Thank you for sharing with OMHG Wordless Wednesday Link Party. Co-host Evija, From Evija with Love xx

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