Life, as of Late

Refurbishing a diaper changing table from Facebook Marketplace for my daughter’s nursery.

Furnishing your baby’s nursery doesn’t have to be expensive – something you’d think I’d have realized sooner considering I’m expecting my third child, but hey, hindsight is 20/20. With that being said, come along with me as I refurbish this changing table dresser and spruce it up into something more visually appealing and perfect for my unborn daughter’s nursery.

Last year, I started flipping furniture on the side for some extra income, so initially, I started this project with the intention of selling it. As the project progressed, I quickly changed my mind as I fell in love with the piece and decided to keep it instead. (The laborious amount of sanding that ate into my potential profit margin may or may not have affected this decision…)

Naturally if you’re looking to save a few bucks, you peruse Facebook Marketplace for a questionable amount of time and make some offers that could very likely get you ignored. So this is precisely what I did. I stumbled across a dark olive green changing table for $25 from a woman who lived only 15 minutes away from me. My sweet husband went to pick it up for me, just barely fitting it into our little hatchback, and to my surprise, it was not made up of particle board or MDF, but solid wood.

We brought it into the house and I immediately started work on it. I knew I wanted to give it a major facelift and completely change what you typically see with changing tables which is a solid paint color such as white, grey, or brown. Knowing that it was wood underneath the paint, I decided to sand down the tops of the dresser as well as the drawer fronts to get a two-tone affect. Since I’m having a daughter, I decided to paint the rest of the dresser lavender to contrast the bare wood I’d leave exposed.

Once I sanded down the drawer fronts and tops, I went it with two coats of a white wash (more like tan wash) to cancel out the yellow tones in the wood. This ended up working really well as it created a beautiful, warm undertone that complemented the purple and really tied the two contrasting colors together.

I debated for a while on whether or not I should keep the door on the dresser or remove it to expose the interior as I’d seen another Pinterest creator do. Ultimately, I decided the exposed interior shelving would look best and opted to leave the door off. In hindsight, I still love this idea and the look it created. I think it adds more visual interest. If this isn’t your style, you can add a tension rod to the interior instead to create a little closet moment and display some of your child’s cute dresses or onesies hanging, or of course, just keep the door on.

After sealing everything with polyurethane (a super crucial step to ensure your paint lasts), all that was left was my favorite part – hardware! So we headed over to what I’ve found to be the most affordable place for drawer pulls and knobs, Hobby Lobby. They seem to always have an active sale going on, which luckily for me, was 50% off of all hardware. I had originally wanted marble and gold knobs, but my husband pointed out these beautiful hexagonal knobs with gold flecks that so perfectly complemented the purple of the dresser. I also picked up a gold drawer pull for the smaller drawer you see on the upper right hand side of the dresser.

I absolutely love the end result of this changing table. It’s unlike any changing table I’ve seen on the market and could potentially be the focal point of our nursery. This project absolutely required a little elbow grease and having power tools saved me a ton of time, but I hope you grasp the essence of this post – which is that you can create something unique and beautiful and personal for a fraction of what it would cost you to outright purchase it. Stay tuned for more ways to save money on decor and much more and be sure to let me know in the comments your favorite way to save a few dollars as a Mom.