Baby Nursery {Part III- My Artsy Changing Table Redo}

As I was planning my nursery, I shopped around for various pieces for my nursery that fit my taste AND my budget. That's tough to do because I have expensive taste yet I'm super frugal.
I was SO excited to find this changing table on my local online yard sale site for a steal of a deal- $20!!! Most of you probably would've liked it just the way it was, as it really wasn't too bad. However, I wanted something unique, with character that was fun, artsy and colorful. I bought a $15 quart of Sherwin William's paint (on sale) and for a total cost of $35 (plus my brother's time) -I now have a changing table that was totally what I envisioned! My bro did such a great job, he made the ordinary into extraordinary!! I LOVE how this piece turned out!!

Now, I'm gonna blame it on the prego brain, but I failed to take a good "Before" picture. :-P Forgive me!! Please use your imagination and pretend like the drawers are still in place.



My brother removed all the drawers and hardware and did some light sanding to it, but because of the awesome primer we used (see pic below), it really required no sanding (my favorite kind of project!)



The key to good priming is to have a lot of fun.... oh and to cover all areas that you'll be painting. :-)


Once primed, we let it dry and then began to apply the 1st coat of paint - in my accent color, Sherwin William's Refresh - once that dried, we (meaning my brother) applied a 2nd coat.



As you can see, it's looking good but doesn't have any real dimension to it yet. Some people MIGHT be ok with this as it is, but not me! ;-)



My brother then proceeded with the "fun" part. He used several tools to distress it. When doing this - try to think of places that would naturally be distressed. Don't forget the drawers! It's the details that really gives a piece that extra "wow factor".




Afterwards, we went down to the basement and found some dark wood stain in my collection of paints. Using a rag, he dipped part of it into the stain rubbed it in the cracks and edges of the piece, wiping off the excess. This is where your creative, artistic side comes into play. You can apply however much you'd like, but the goal is for it to look natural and not overdone. Rubbing the stain into the grain of the wood and cracks really gives it that distressed look. Be careful not to apply too much! You must wipe the excess off!


Once we were satisfied with how much "distressing" had been done, he put the hardware back on and drawers back into place. Thankfully I liked the original hardware and didn't have to do a thing to it!


Here is Baby Shaffer's super artsy and one of a kind changing table, refinished with love by his Uncle Caleb.





I hope this inspires you to look past the outward appearance of a piece of furniture, and envision creating it into something you love. Don't be afraid to take a piece and transform it to your liking, it really isn't that hard (especially when your brother does it for you! haha) With a little bit of effort, you can transform "junk" into something AMAZING!

~Lauren