DIY Furniture Makeover: Changing Table

When we were working on setting up the nursery, we knew that we wanted to refinish a dresser ourselves to use as a changing table. We kept looking and looking on Craigslist, and also hit a few estate sales with absolutely no luck.

Then I saw THIS post on Censational Girl and realized that we had almost the same exact Chippendale-style dresser in the house, sitting unused. We just needed to see an example to see its potential. Not only was it awesome to be able to repurpose something we already had, but the bonus was that it is a quality piece...solid cherry with dovetailed drawers.

I didn't get around to taking a "Before" shot, but as I mentioned, it was nearly identical to CG's, so here's her "Before":

We sanded, primed, and painted it a soft grey color called Cumulus Cloud. We also swapped out the original pulls for some polished nickel bin pulls from Van Dyke's. As a final touch, Steven stenciled on some playful circles in white & 2 shades of green that complement the wall color.

The circles (I think of them as "bubbles" for some reason...) are also on the top and sides, in addition to the front drawers.

We're really pleased with the final product and definitely make use of the extra storage!

Ciao!

~LT

Nursery Preview!

*special touch: our closet door turned blackboard*

Just wanted to take a minute to share some pics of the nursery, for which major renovations are complete, and the "feathering" phase has started. As usual, I'm gonna hit you with some before pics first...

This is what the room looked like in the beginning. Steven immediately attacked that purple carpet and got it into the dumpster...

Here it is after we wiped it down and made it our temporary bedroom while we worked on other parts of the house...

And here it is now...

We started with the now familiar first step of stripping the wallpaper, and then Steven skim coated the raw plaster walls (future post about how he did it currently in the pipeline). We had the ceilings redone & the fir floors refinished. Steven added crown moulding, and of course we painted, painted, painted. We chose a light & happy green from Valspar's National Trust Historic colors collection called Belle Grove Aloe Green. A new simple light fixture and closets redone (another future post), and here we are.
The crib is all set up and looking cute, and the newly refinished rocking chair has taken up residence, as well. We are currently working on refinishing an old dresser to serve as both extra storage and a changing table and then we'll hang some of the wall decorations (yes, we actually have some!) and continue adding bits and pieces to the room.

I'll be sure to post more pictures when we get the dresser and accessories in!

Rocking Chair Redo

I'm so excited to share this project!

Since finding out that we are expecting a little one, Steven & I had kept an eye out for a good used rocking chair for the nursery. No luck. Then a *lightbulb* moment! We had an old Victorian platform rocking chair up in the attic that had been in the house when we moved in and we figured...why don't we just see if we can rejuvenate this piece and use it in the nursery?

And here are the results:

I have to say that I am in love with this rocking chair and I can't believe how CUTE it looks! Steven, as always, did an awesome job...

He started by disassembling and sanding it, then primed and painted it white.

He then recovered the cushions with this adorable dragonfly & ladybug material that I found at the fabric store, and put it all back together.

Just for kicks, here's another Before:

And the final product:

LOVE!