Repurposed Dresser. Paint without Sanding. Tutorial

Dresser Turned into a new Entertainment Center

Tutorial

 I have been repurposing dressers for years! My daughters dresser was a changing table, my craft room dresser hasn't had the top 3 drawers in it for over 3 years, and I even use dressers as buffet tables for birthday parties.

I plan on repainting my craft room dresser so keep an eye out for that post in the future.

I needed something to go beneath the living room TV but, for weeks, I couldn't find anything I liked. I found a dresser and decided it would work. Here is how I repurposed an old dresser into an entertainment system.

I found the dresser at an estate sale. It is a good piece but didn't match anything in my house.

  

I used these products:

Bulls Eye 1 2 3 Primer (no need to sand)

Behr Paint Color Sweet Molasses

MinWax Protective Coating (spray can)

Lets get started...

• Find a place to paint your item.
• Clean off dust and dirt. Let dry if needed.
• Protect your work area (ground) from paint spills with an old cloth or canvas.
• Remove all the drawers from your dresser.
• Take the hardware off your drawers with a screwdriver.
• Decide which drawer you want to turn into a shelf and take out the dresser drawer track (bracket) with a screwdriver.

 This was such a great dresser that was very sturdy. I did not need to do anything to the area I turned into a shelf, other than remove the drawer track, prime, and paint. If your shelf is not sturdy you will want to add some plywood for stability.

I was too lazy to paint the whole thing inside and out. I decided to just paint the visible areas.

• Paint with Primer. 2 coats.

• Paint with the color of your choice. 2 coats.

I painted the primer and color with a large & small roller. I did used a paint brush for the hard to reach areas. 

• Prime & Paint the drawers too

Go ahead and paint the drawer that you do not plan on using. Just in case you decide to turn it back into a dresser in the future. 

Keep your hardware the same, paint it, or buy new hardware.

I decided to paint my hardware silver.

Back to the dresser...

Let everything dry then spray paint a protective coating over it. Once it dries again drill a hole in the back. Where ever you decide to drill the hole make sure the item that you plan on sitting in front of it covers the unsightly hole. You do not want a hole starring at you every time you look at your entertainment center.

Drill the hole as low as possible and make sure it is big enough to fit all your cords through it. Our hole is 1 1/4 inch big.

 I waited a full 2 weeks before I sat anything on it. Okay I'm lying... I sat items on top of my, freshly painted and dried, dresser for the picture below. Then, I took everything off and I did not put anything on top of it for 2 weeks.

We have our DirecTV box and a black PlayStation that covers our hole perfectly.

I did this over a month ago and it is a wonderful piece. The top drawers store the monthly bills (easy access), house keys, pen & note pad. The middle side drawers store movies and PlayStation controllers & games. The bottom drawers store small blankets for movie nights :)

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Taylor Swift Quote Sign. DIY Monday

DIY Quote Sign

DIY Monday

 My 7 year old daughter is sure that she is Taylor Swifts biggest fan and I'm okay with that. I think Taylor Swift is a wonderful influence.

One of my favorite quotes Taylor Swift sings is "Don't you worry your pretty little mind, people throw rocks at things that shine.". So, I decided to turn this quote into wall art for Madison's room.

I bought the wooden plaque at Walmart...

I added some paint and a vinyl decal from Middleburg Trading Company. They do custom orders! Just ask :)

My daughter loves it and it will look great in her room for years.

Take a look at a few of my past vinyl decal creations by clicking here.

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Shirt turned into a pillow. DIY Monday

Pillow Shirt

DIY Monday

Madison has outgrown her Zebra Birthday Shirt from last year. I couldn't put it in the trash simply because I think it's so cute. It matches her room perfectly so we turned her old shirt into a pillow.

Very simple to do. Just cut, sew, stuff, sew closed, and add to your bed with the rest of your pillows. 

Now, her sixth birthday shirt will last a long time in her zebra room.

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Waterproof Vinyl Decals. Etsy Tuesday

Middleburg Trading Company

Etsy Tuesday

 

Who doesn't love vinyl decals? Decals are great and can be attached to almost any surface. I do not know how to make vinyl decals, so I did the next best thing. I found someone who makes them at a great price.

 Middleburg Trading Company is a fantastic Etsy Shop with a shop owner who is wonderful. Middleburg Trading Company shop owner, Neal, was wonderful to work with. He made exactly what I had in mind and had my items shipped extremely fast. I will be shopping here again and often.

This is what I bought for my laundry room...

Laundry The never ending story Vinyl Decal from Discount Decals.

This is the custom order I had that Neal create...

Here is the post I wrote about my countertop water bucket.

Thank you, Neal, for all your help in making my creation come to life. I'll be back soon!

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Countertop Water Bucket

Countertop Water Bucket

~Water Bottle Storage~

 

My family and I love room temperature bottled water, but the only place to store it was in the fridge or just sitting on the countertops. I hated walking into the kitchen and seeing water just sitting there, so I bought this cute little water bucket and added vinyl decals to it.

I think it's a cute way to store your room temperature water on top of your counters.

Before & After

I purchased the water bucket at The Home Depot and it holds 10 bottles.

Need some decals? Check out this post: Discount Decals. Etsy Tuesday.

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DIY Painted Pine Cones. Mix with potpourri.

Painted Pine Cones

{Tutorial Thursday}

 I had some potpourri around the house that was brown and tan. I need it to match my living area more so I just painted a few pine cones that I found from outside and threw it in the mixture.

Simple! You should do it to :)

 Just buy some pinecones or go outside and look around. Get some spray paint and spay the pine cones with serveral thin layers of paint. Let the paint dry inbetween layers.

Once the pine cones are completely dry just mix it up with your scented potpourri.

 Now your potpourri will tie together with your other {home decor}

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Creative & Cute Security Signs. {Etsy Tuesday}

Home Security Signs

{Etsy Tuesday}

 The story:

Last week my family was all sick from Saturday to Wednesday. It was a horrible week. On Wednesday February 1st we had cabin fever and needed to get out of the house. The kids and I went to eat lunch with my husband at his work. An hour later I came home to my front door and back door wide open. Everything of value was gone. We had been robbed! Not only did they steal everything of value (tvs from the rooms, xbox, games, computer, laptop, Supplies for my business etc..) they had went through every draw in the house and even tried to take my dogs. I think the only reason they did not take the dogs was because the dogs would not stop barking and they didn't want to risk attention being on them when they walked out of the house. I found my dogs crate in the middle of the living room when it was in the very back of the house.

I was already behind on orders being sick then I had to deal with cops and figure out how to run an online business with no computer or internet. On top of that I had 4 cakes to prepare for for the upcoming weekend. Wow was it stressful. I couldn't even reflect on the robbery due to all the chaos until this weekend. It's a pretty creepy feeling knowing someone has been in your house.

The good news: 

My neighbors have security cameras and caught it all on tape :)

The people who robbed my house waited down the street. As soon as I pulled out of my drive-way they pulled in (how did I not see?). They knocked on the door, then went to the back of the house and broke down my back door. They stayed inside my house for 40 minutes. YES... 40 MINUTES!!! CREEPY!!!!!! The cops now have the video. Please, pray they get caught. Not to get my stuff back, because I know it's long gone, but pray they get caught so no other family is robbed at their hands.

This robbery has inspired me to find a cute sign for my house. Maybe something like these security signs I found on Etsy.

Check them out....

We Dont Dial 911 Wooden Sign from

Dables Jewels & Treasures. 

Under Video Surveillance Sign from

Atlas Signs and Plaques

 Smile This Property on 24 hours video Surveillance metal sign by

Sign Lady 4 U.

Funny sign Forget About The Dog from Oklahoma Stencil.

I love them all!

A picture of my kids with their dogs I took 2 days before the robbery...

I couldn't imagine not having Coda and Pinkie in our lives. Coda has been with Madison since her 4th birthday and PINKIE has been with Jaxson since I was 6 months pregnant with him. 

6 Cute Valentine's Day Subway Art. DIY Printables. FREE!

6 Free Valentine's Day Subway Art

The Subway Art I printed out for my home. It's the 1st link listed :)

I love subway art and it's better when it's free! Here are 6 of my favorite *free* Valentine's Day Subway Art....

Find the subway art you like and it's link below...

From Pink Polkadot Creations

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From Long Wait For Isabella

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From Not Just A Housewife

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From Denise's Scrapbooking Room

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From Thrifty n Crafty

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From The Girl Creative

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Kids Art Center Tables.

Kids Art Center Tables

Chalkboard Table Top

 For Christmas my daughter wanted an Art Center, but I couldn't find one like I envisioned. I told my father what I had in mind and he was able to create these Art Center Tables for me.

We put the kids Melted Crayon Art above their table.

Each art table has a Chalkboard Table Top that the kids love! Jaxson used a crayola instead of chalk on his table top, but it easily came off with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

Underneath the tables has a shelf to hold coloring books and a storage bin for art supplies.

The art tables has a shelf and cork board to pin up their favorite creations. Eventually, the cork board will cover the whole backing. The store only had 2 and the rolled cork board wasn't thick enough.

I used Jif Peanut Butter jars for some of the art supplies.

Madison has mason jars for her art supplies until we can eat more peanut butter :)

The Chalkboard labels work GREAT!

You can purchase some Chalkboard labels HERE. Leave them as is or cut them in half to get more for your money.  I love them and I will be purchasing more. Instead of using chalk use a chalk marker. It will stay on better with the kids handling them.

I love seeing my kids be creative!

Now, it's time to work on a reading center...  EEEK!! So excited!

Melted Crayon Art with Kids Names. TIPs to DIY

DIY Melted Crayon Art
~Great Kids Craft~

These are all over Pinterest and I do not know who to give credit to for the orginal idea. This is a fun and creative idea for kids and adults.

To DIY all you need is.....

Crayons

Blow Dryer

Hot Glue Gun or another type of glue

Canvas or white cardboard (shirt box)

Black Stickers for kids names.

Easy DIY Melted Crayon Art STEPS:

Add the childs name with black stickers on the bottom of your canvas/board.

Glue crayons at the top of your canvas or white cardboard.

Get your blow dryer and melt the crayons.

Let Dry (takes 30 seconds or less).

TIPS:

The kids and I made four of these in 2 days. Here are some helpful tips I learned along the way...

1. Use at least 2 or more same colored crayons next to eachother. Jaxson's crayon art was the first one we made and the colors look darker, because they blended together too much.
2. No need to melt the entire crayon. Just melt the tips of the crayons. On Jaxson's we started to melt the crayons from the top and it took awhile to start melting. It, also, made the paper around the crayon waxy. If you just melt the tips of the crayons the paper will still be nice and bright light Madison's Crayon Art. Only the top of the paper (near the tips) will be darker from the melted wax.
3. Blow dry downward. If you keep the blow dryer straight on the crayon it will go everywhere when it starts to melt.
4. Lay down paper under your melted crayon art. Just in case :)

HAVE FUN and BE CREATIVE!

Jaxson's Melted Crayon Art (Our 1st Creation)

Madison's Melted Crayon Art (Our 2nd Creation)

Madison & Madilyn's Melted Crayon Art (our 3rd and 4th creations)

Madison's cousin, Madilyn, spent the night and this was a great project for the girls to create. I didn't have any more white canvas, so we just used shirt boxes left over from Christmas.

These crayon arts will hang above their new art centers my father made. {Picture HERE}

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