It’s a chief pleasure of mine to hunt out one factor that one other individual discarded and to make it mine. One woman’s trash turns into one different’s treasure and by no means a whole lot of one thing goes to waste. Aside from our mattress frames and our cribwe’ve found the rest of our furnishings on Craigslist and eBay and at quaint tag product sales. Nevertheless from time to time, we’ve moreover found a treasure curbside, abandoned there for trash pickup or neighborly treasure trying.
Purchased or found, most of our furnishings finds have included hauling the piece residence, washing it up, and presumably doing a little bit of sunshine sanding or painting (or every) to freshen it up a bit. Nevertheless in April I collected this new-to-me dresser that wished better than a bit care and pretty a bit further creativeness.
I’d been wanting to swap our altering desk for a taller wardrobe or dresser for months. I’d pinned associated gadgets on Pinterest. I’d scanned native listings and eBay. I’d hunted spherical classic retailers near my hometown. I was anxious to make increased use of the vertical space in Faye and Silas’s room and Silas’s squirminess all through diaper modifications is simply matched by his older sister’s sooner than him, so we felt ready to interchange his altering desk with one factor that may make increased use of the world, notably because of there’s no closet of their room.
As soon as we observed the tall piece of furnishings on the highway near our home, I was immediately hopeful, nevertheless the dresser was in objectively robust type. Initially a sort of Paintings Deco china cabinet with glass doorwaysthere have been a minimum of seven layers of paint, missing moldings and pulls, and one perplexing label-maker made sticker. It regarded rather more like trash than treasure and I just about left it curbside, nevertheless my dad was in town and so I took good thing about the extra set of fingers and hauled it residence. A few weeks later, it was ready for prime time.
For anyone’s who’s , listed below are various of the nitty gritty particulars which can behelpful for any treasure trying you’re doing:
I started the endeavor by eradicating the decorative moldings on the very best of the dresser. It gave the piece the easier, further streamlined look that I preferred, however it certainly moreover served to make the very best of the cabinet further useable for storage.
Subsequent, I eradicated the glass panels from the doorways. I didn’t have to have to worry about my children shattering the massive panels. I initially deliberate on altering the glass with materials tacked to the inside of the door frames—Faye and I even picked out sweet materials collectively—nevertheless after various weeks of Silas inserting his fingers by the fabric, I decided a secure substitute might be preferable. Two sheets of birch veneered plywood reduce to dimension on the ironmongery store, and some wood glue later, and I had myself secure doorways.
The toughest conundrum was understanding that the dresser just about assuredly had lead paint. I didn’t have to sand it myself, and positively not in our home, so we took good thing about the terribly serendipitous timing of our lead paint remediation and I paid the gentleman doing the work to strip the dresser safely for me. (While you plan to remove lead paint your self, undoubtedly do your evaluation and make sure you do it safely.)
After the paint was eradicated and the plywood glued in place, I used a little bit little bit of wood filler to fill in spots the place genuine veneer was missing and to fill inside the gaps throughout the plywood panels. 
To finish, I primed and painted the dresser sooner than we moved once more into our place in June. The skin paint was generously provided by Farrow & Ball. I went with Faye to their Brooklyn retailer to determine on a shade and no matter encouragement to determine on one factor pretty a bit further vibrant, she insisted on painting it gray. We settled on their The plum paint in an eggshell finish. It’s a extraordinarily lovely grey—not too purple nevertheless nonetheless with a contact of blue. On the inside, I used the an identical Merely White from Benjamin Moore used all by way of the rest of the house.
To alternate missing cabinet pulls, I bought these tiny 1-inch Glass Knobs from Historic House Elements. For the underside drawers, we used two Brushed Nickel Bin Pulls despatched from Rejuvenation. (To take care of our little guys protected against a tall dresser tumble, we used straightforward Nook Braces from our native ironmongery store to screw the dresser immediately into the wall.)
Lastly, I used a variety of in one other manner sized Paper Baggage provided by Uashmama (inside the Cachemire shade!) to kind clothes and keep them organized in a small space. I want to let Faye choose her private clothes, so the bags make it super simple to let her take a look and select a shirt or shorts, and lots of others., with out sending tiny piles of stacked t-shirts into disarray.
On the underside of the shelf, we’re storing unruly play silks and tutus and our assortment of video video games and puzzles. (I retailer them in zipped pouches and drawstring baggage because of whoever decided puzzles should can be found monumental cardboard bins did not keep in a small space with a penchant for order.)
Totally different points:
Painting furnishings.
Leather-based-based drawer pulls.
Lined dresser drawers.