Wyatt's Dresser/Changing Table Overhaul, Pt. 1

We didn't have a solid plan for Wyatt's nursery but I knew I wanted a solid wood dresser that could double as a changing table. I also knew it would be older and in need of some sprucing up since we would most likely be getting it off of Craigslist or from an antique store... And I wanted to get a little crazy and have some fun with it. Daniel's dad moved into his mom's house since she decided to move into an assisted living home so he was dealing with all of her furniture and belongings as well as moving his stuff in. We just got really lucky. He gave us a bed and dresser set, as well as some other random furniture and I was lucky enough to inherit Grandma Dorothy's set of vintage Pyrex dishes as well as this cute little lamb cookie jar that Daniel loved during his childhood.

Before, sort of.. I forgot to get one with the original brass hardware

The dresser was in great shape for being around 50 years old, solid wood (we think maple?) and only had very minor but totally fixable damage on two of the feet. The matching bed is in great shape as well, we are just staining it to match the dresser my Papa made me when I graduated high school but that's a whole other project.

One foot came clear off and the other broke along the seam during moving it.

To fix the feet we just flipped the dresser over so it was resting on it's top and completely removed the half broken foot by just unscrewing the one screw that was keeping it attached. We then ran a thin line of Gorilla brand wood glue along where the two pieces would meet and set them right back on. We wiped the little excess bit that got squeezed out off with a paper towel and rested some books on each foot to put a little weight on and help it set. After a couple hours we flipped it right side up and got to work sanding it.

Daniel got the flat panels with the orbital sander and some 60 grit (That's all we had for that sander)

I took care of all the small decorative grooves by hand (80 grit,) and Beau kept me company.

We probably didn't need to sand quite so much since we primed it but I wanted a very smooth finish after painting. We went ahead and sanded the top and that decorative piece along the front down to the bare wood since we were actually staining those parts. Once we finished sanding them we gave them a nice thorough wipe down with a clean towel and moved into the garage due to the rain and moisture in the air. The next day we got to work bright and early because we were both so excited to stencil the top! We started by taping off along the edge of the top of the dresser to make sure the lines where the stencil would end would be nice and crisp. I went ahead and taped anything we would end up staining so we could get a coat of primer on as well.

I taped along the edge first and then went ahead and taped anything we would later end up staining.

I got the inspiration for the dresser top from a pin on Pinterest that led me to Domestic Imperfection where she did this awesome revamp on a dining room table. I knew that was the perfect statement piece for Wyatt's nursery! I showed it to Daniel and lucky for me, he loved it too. We went out in search of a large enough stencil to use. First we went to Michael's, they had a pretty cool paisley Martha Stewart stencil but we wanted more of a larger repeating pattern. We went to Lowe's next and they surprisingly had no wall or floor stencils, but the sales associate there suggested Michael's or Hobby Lobby. Lucky for us, Hobby Lobby had quite a nice selection of wall and floor sized stencils. We decided on this awesome Moroccan patterned stencil by Stencil Ease. And we got lucky since they were on sale for 50% off that week. $8.49! Sign us up! But really thats super inexpensive for a stencil that size anyways so sweet deal either way. Once we got the taping done, Daniel measured the top so he could place the stencil. I have never stenciled anything in my life and wasn't sure what the trick was to getting the seamless repeating pattern, with this stencil they have these great little triangles in each corner so you just line those up and you're golden. The instructions said if you were stenciling a wall to start at the top and center, we weren't doing a wall but that made the most sense for this. Daniel started by measuring from the edge of the dresser top into the stencil edge, he made sure there was an equal distance from each side of the dresser into the edge of the actual stencil cut-out since the instructions specifically said not to use the edges of the stencil plastic since those may not have been straight.

 

Once we quadruple checked that it was straight and even, we taped it down using painter's tape for delicate surfaces. Then we went to town! Just kidding! I was so terrified we would roll on too much paint and make it bleed that we ended up doing the thinnest coats possible and went over it twice. We just let it dry for a few minutes in between each coat, and for a couple minutes before we took the stencil up. We were using a 4-inch foam roller and just white craft paint so that dried pretty quickly. Once we did the first stencil, it was easy to just line up those little triangles and tape it back down. Even with thin coats we still got a little bleeding but I didn't mind it at all. I was so enamored with the pattern, I swear I must've said "wow" at least 15 times.

 

It took us that whole afternoon to get the top stenciled, but while Daniel was working on that I was priming the drawers and the bottom of the dresser. By the end of the night we got to do our stain! I think we were both pretty nervous to stain it since it had taken hours to get it stenciled. And the end result was definitely dramatic but it was made one thousand times better once we added the stain. We used Minwax stain in English Chestnut and using one of Daniel's old cut up undershirts, he applied it with the grain. I mostly stayed out of this step due to the fumes but of course had to snap a couple pictures to keep myself from hyperventilating.

 

It turned out gorgeous! We ended up doing about 3 coats of the stain, only leaving it on about 5 minutes each time since it was blotchier in some spots. Then we hand sanded it using 625 grit to try to smooth out the paint. In hindsight we should've started the stenciling with a higher quality paint and done the sanding with maybe a 220. The 625 was way too fine and clogged up easily and the paint got rubbed around a little at the edge of the dresser. Then we stained it one last time. The end result is still a little splotchy but I just love it. We finished it off by spraying it with Minwax Polyacrylic spray clear coat. We did three coats but I definitely want it to be a thicker, glossier finish so I've been googling what to try over this. Once we get the painting finished I will post up part two!