Big Boy Dresser

So, I totally love *Pottery Barn. I love the styles shown in the catalogs and have dreamed of having some of their designs in my own home...notice I said dreamed. Their furniture, bedding and accessories tend to be a little to steep for my budget. 

I didn't let that stop me, though. 

My youngest son, H, recently began using his crib as a jungle gym and the quest began for the perfect bedding and room accessories to convert his once baby room to a full fledged big boy room. The bedding was purchased. Accessories were acquired. But, there was a lack of interest and storage space in the room because of my inability to find a chest of drawers to redo. 

On a random stop into a local bargain mart, I came across the perfect piece! 

After spending some time talking him down $30, I brought the piece home to begin the transformation. 

I took all the drawers out and sanded each piece to rough up the existing stain a bit. This sand does not have to be one that takes off all layers. It honestly just has to be a little sand all over to give yourself something for the paint to stick to. 

Next, I coated each piece with a red paint I had lying around (called Chipotle paste)

Then, after allowing the paint to dry, I again took some sand paper to the piece to give character where I deemed character needed to be. This part is strictly to your liking and taste. 

 Finally, after distressing it a bit in places, I rubbed (then quickly wiped off) an ebony stain to give it an aged look, added some new knobs and ta-da...a new big boy dresser...all for under $100.

It takes some time, but if there is a look your are wanting to achieve, you really can on a fraction of the cost of buying it completely new. 

Happy Re-Doing!

Amy

Red Redo

Hello! Welcome to Simple Savvy Sisters! We hope to make this blog a place where we can share the things that excite us the most: re-doing furniture, re-decorating a room, finding a steal at an antique store or flea market, or finding a great new recipe that we just have to share!

To start things off, I want to share a recent laundry room re-do that I did that was quick, simple, and inexpensive-And looks good too! My dryer had been on its last leg for the past few months. When I was drying a load of clothes, it made so much noise that I couldn't even hear myself think! Finally, it got to the point where my husband banned me from doing laundry when he was home! It was that bad. We finally decided it was time to purchase a new set of appliances. Of course, since we had to move out the old appliances, it was only right that I paint the walls when the room was bare. I painted the walls in Behr P+P Powered Snow. For the counter-top, I wanted a fun splash of color, but I did not want anything permanent, and I wanted something inexpensive. I bought a wood, hollow-core 30" door at Home Depot for around $25. I measured the width of my space to make sure I bought the right size door. My husband cut it down for me to the right length, and then reinforced the cut end with some left over wood wedges.

I wiped it down with one coat of wood stain in Espresso, followed by an immediate coat of paint.

I picked out a color I liked and then bought a small sample of paint for less than $3! I {think}I put 2 coats of paint on, followed  by a quick distressing with sandpaper. By this time, in less than an hour, my door/countertop was dry and ready to be installed! I put down a layer of pink foam on top of the appliances to avoid scratching them. I found it at Home Depot and it was cheap. I also think you could use shelf liner as well if you have it lying around the house. I layed the door on top of the foam. Neither one of my ends were exposed, but if your countertop is not being installed between two walls, you would want to put the "cut end" against the wall to hide it. I positioned it and then wiped on 2 coats of Minwax Wipe On Poly in Satin finish!

TaDa! I LOVE it and it has worked wonderful! It easily wipes clean and any scratches made on it just added to its distressed character! I say it looks like I have been folding clothes on it for years! Ha! And the best thing about it is when we move from this house, I can just remove it!

See you Soon,
Jessie