Before and After: Changing Table Dresser

I'm finally getting around to photographing some of the projects we've wrapped up for the nursery. And not a moment too soon since I'm 35 weeks pregnant and about to tip over!

I shared a few "in progress" photos of the dresser in an earlier post and even as far back as when I first happened across it all dusty and sad looking. But it's officially DONE, in place and stocked now and I couldn't be happier about it.

Here's where I started.

I loved:
- the size
- the curvy but not overly girly detail at the base
- the rows upon rows of tiny drawers for tiny baby things
- the price! At $130 it was waaaay less than a brand new changing table would have been and provided far more storage.

I did not love:
- the dark finish
- the somewhat distressed look
- the fact that it weighed as much as a small car. Seriously this thing is solid oak and will probably be sold with the house because it's never coming back down the stairs again.

After several rounds of sanding with my new rotary sander, things were looking a little more promising. I also filled some major cracks, dings and dents and generally smoothed out the top a bit more to get rid of some of the distressed "roughness".

I then primed it and got to painting. And painting. And...yes...more painting. I learned that painting with bright yellow paint (Benjamin Moore Bold Yellow in their low VOC Aura line if you care) requires lots of patience. I mention this not as commentary on the quality of BM Aura paint because I actually think it's quite good. But after a bit of research I learned that any paint that is this highly pigmented and a lighter color becomes thin with the addition of the pigment in the mixing process. And thin paint requires lots of coats. 4 coats later, I was happy with the lacquer-like coverage I'd achieved (I also put on 2 coats of high gloss polyurethane).

And did I mention there are lots of drawers with lots of nooks and crannies that require all 4 of these coats? And that this was all happening in the garage during the hottest summer in NC in a long time? AND THAT I'M PREGNANT???

This confluence of circumstances equaled me routinely questioning why I started this in the first place and looking longingly at those perfectly fine changing tables in the Pottery Barn Kids window. But I pressed on, convincing myself that a changing table I poured my sweat into (literally) would be more special (but mostly I had no idea what I was going to do with a 1/2 painted yellow-ish dresser that weighed 500 lbs.)

With the help of our awesome neighbor, it now lives in the nursery, FINALLY.

All in all, I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's the crowning piece in the nursery and the major infusion of color that I wanted. And given how little I spent on it, I'm completely at peace with it getting beat up, peed on, etc.


FINISHING TOUCHES:
I used these knobs from Anthropologie for a little added pizazz. I lined all the drawers in a blue polka dot contact paper from Target (sadly not online) and used these drawer dividers to corral all of Baby's tiny stuff.