I’ve been scouring Craigslist for a while now, hoping to stumble across what is called a “highboy” dresser. Basically, I wanted something big enough to hold both Gregory AND Anthony’s clothes, but not something that would take up a whole wall in their room.
An added plus of a highboy: they usually have two small drawers at the top– perfect for baby socks!
I’ve been searching for months, but everything I saw was over $100 at the minimum for poor condition, and $300 for great condition. Hmm….not exactly a deal!
And then, on a whim last Friday, I went in to the NCCS Thrift Store. And I saw this!
Only $75, mostly due to the fact that it was cosmetically beat up in various places– surface scratches on the finish, a missing handle.
But I decided to jump on it. That’s when I found out that as teachers for NCCS (the thrift store is affiliated with the school), we have a $75 stipend for non-teaching related supplies (anything for the classroom is free, apparently!).
So, yes, I got the dresser for FREE. FREE FREE FREE. Awesome.
Our first step was to sand it down to the maple underneath, getting rid of all the stain/varnish.
We then painted 2 coats of chalkboard paint! It now comes in a few different colors, apparently. We chose “latte”, since it was the only one that even remotely matched all of Gregory’s previous room decorations.
As for new drawer pulls, I had a crazy idea and decided to try and copy Anthropologie’s new “pliant rope handles”.
These puppies are $12 EACH at Anthropologie…not happening.
So, we DIYed them. For $5 at Home Depot, we bought a whole package of 1/4″ thick twine.
Here it is!
We absolutely LOVE how it turned out! Word to the wise– if you work with twine, make sure to wear gloves…my hands were BURNING after tying all those knots and pulling them tight!
Also, most drawer holes aren’t wide enough for the twine. We used a power drill and widened ours.
We can’t “draw” on it yet. The directions say that we have to wait 3 days before priming it with a layer of chalk…more pictures to come in a few days!
Also, we still have to fix a toddler “handprint” that we found…hmmm, guess we weren’t watching close enough…
But I did break out all of my little newborn boy sleepers today and put them in the top two full size drawers. They fit so well, with lots of room to spare. I forgot how TINY baby clothes are!!! Gregory’s clothes will undoubtedly take up all 3 bottom drawers. I wanted his at the bottom, since I will be drawing pictures of a shirt, pants, sleepers, what have you. In a few months, I want him to “help” put away his clothes. The pictures, along with the eye level drawers, can only help.
Total cost? $25 for the chalkboard paint (we only used 1/2 a can), $5 for the twine! I’d say that’s quite a deal for such a well built, perfect-for-the-boys dresser!
Related postsProductivity! |
Fantastic Finds! |
Deals! |
New Dresser |
Pam Bartel says
Very nice job of restoring the dresser and such a great idea. Colored chalk will look so cheerful! I wish Rich would let me paint our old maple dresser and nightstands. He hates the thought of painting over wood. I keep searching Craigslist for something already painted.
Beth says
So cute! Love the rope handles… I may steal that idea. Jackson figured out how to unscrew the knobs on his dresser, so yeah… rope handles is a good call for little boys 🙂
Christina says
Looks great!