I have been working on this project here and there for several months...starting back in August 2011. This was one of those pieces of furniture that had so much sentimental value attached to it, that I wanted the "reLoving" to be perfect! After toying with different options, it hit me, I wanted to change this old baby dresser into a bookshelf for my son's "big boy" room! And I would incorporate a map somehow, since I love maps, and it would be a fun way to teach him about geography one day.
As I said, this baby dresser comes with much sentimental value. It was my mom's dresser as a baby (after being used by her older sisters first) and then it was my little brother's baby dresser. So I'm thinking this piece of furniture has to be over 60-years-old. After Kyle and I got married, we didn't really have too much furniture, so my mom let us have the old dresser as a temporary fix until we bought something else.....well let me tell you, that took about 4 years! When we bought new bedroom furniture, I asked Mom if she wanted the little dresser back, she said "put that old thing on the side of the road!" I couldn't bear the thought of a family dresser going to a dump. So I put it in our shed until I was sure I knew what I wanted to do with it.
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| Old dresser before, with broken drawers... |
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| Old dresser before, with broken drawers... |
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| Old dresser before, with broken drawers... |
Minus the broken drawers and two wobbly feet, it was in great condition considering its age and how much wear and tear it's had over the years. It's survived many, many moves over the last 60+ years...and I think it's even been painted four different colors.
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| Completely sanded with no more drawers... |
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Drawer knobs removed and drawer face sanded...
see all the colors...red, yellow, blue and cream!! |
I knew I wanted there to be three bookshelves at least, but as I began to remove the drawer dividers, I realized that only two larger shelves would work with the given space. So I decided to leave one drawer at the bottom for a little more storage.
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| After the demolition, a preview of what's soon to come! |
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All the pieces I removed during demolition; back panel
and drawer slides. I saved the five pieces of cut wood to
use as support for the two new shelves...reduce, reuse, reLove! |
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Two wobbly back feet removed for repair...
replaced the old rusty nails for better support! |
I reused the five pieces of cut wood that were previously used as drawer slides, as the new shelf support for the sturdy planks used for the bookshelves. As seen below:
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New support for the shelves made with old wood from dresser,
tried to be as resourceful as possible! |
I used the fifth and last remaining piece of wood as the new drawer slide for the bottom drawer. As seen below:
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Reused all the wood from the existing dresser, even the two little
bitty pieces under the drawer slide! |
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Secured the drawer slide with hardware I had lying around
my toolbox...two steel brackets with two screws...this drawer
is not going anywhere! |
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Moved the original drawer brackets in a little for a tight slide;
I hate wobbly, wiggly drawers! |
Redesigning this old dresser into a bookshelf took some imagination for sure. I never sketched anything out, I just had my hammer, nails, measuring tape and pencil...and did most everything by sight as I went along. It was fun just being creative!
I measured the old back panel of the dresser and went to Lowe's to have a new piece of thin plywood cut to size for me. I then found some pretty neat road maps of the Southeast at a nearby convenient store. After cutting the map to the correct size for the plywood, I began mod-podging the map to the board. As seen below:
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New plywood, map, mod-podge, large foam brush,
scissors, and a pencil...all you need! |
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| Voila! A new map-covered plywood panel for the back of the bookshelf! |
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| Back of the plywood panel, map corners folded and sealed around edges. |
Then I went back to Lowe's with measurements for the two new bookshelves. I looked at several different pieces of wood, but the aspen was my favorite. It had a nice, smooth surface just right for a child's bookshelf...not to mention it was super-substantial for holding many, many children's books! And boy, do we have many!
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| Two new bookshelves cut to size! |
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| A view of the new bookshelves from the back... |
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| A view of the bookshelves from the front, perfect fit! |
After painting the entire dresser and both shelves with 3 coats of light blue paint (I had leftover from the
Tarheel desk I painted a couple months ago), the map board was ready to be installed! Hooray!
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| Almost finished! All we need is the drawer! |
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| Map board nailed in the back for a perfect fit! |
When putting the final finishes on the dresser, I thought how neat it would be for the inside of the storage drawer to have a map mod-podged to the bottom of it....for fun and for character. I think it adds such a fun feeling of discovery to the dresser.
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Bottom of dresser drawer with map, kind of feels like a
hidden secret treasure map! |
Possibly my favorite part of the entire piece are the new drawer knobs! I thought about mod-podging a compass to the original drawer knobs, but as I started playing around with it, I realized they were not going to turn out very clean and as classy as I wanted. So what does any DIYer do?! They go to the internet! And low and behold, I found compass knobs on
Amazon! Fantastic! I put my order in for two and waited patiently for them to arrive in the mail. After they arrived, I hurried to install them...then took a step back at the finished product....
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| New compass knobs installed on the drawer...YES! |
I had actually done it!!! I had actually thought up an idea in my head for this old, family, hand-me-down, baby dresser. I had actually taken the entire piece of furniture apart...down to its raw bones. I had actually pieced it back together in a new form with a totally new design. I had actually taken a wild idea from my crazy, unorganized, artsy brain...and I had actually made it come to life! I had actually done it! And I am actually MORE excited about it in its complete form, than I was with the design in my head! Only the
Divine Carpenter himself could have helped me make it happen...
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| After: baby dresser turned bookshelf! |
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| After: baby dresser turned bookshelf! |
Here is a close-up of the map....you'll notice a few ripples from the mod-podge. It bothered me at first and I almost started over, but I'm glad I left it alone to dry...because now I actually like the ripples! I think it adds some character, makes the map look a little aged.
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| Close-up of the map. |
Even my (almost) 2-year-old son gave it his seal of approval and even helped me organize all of his books just perfectly on his new bookshelf....
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| "Just checking the knobs to be sure they work, Mom." |
I am over the moon with how the new bookshelf turned out...looks even better with the books...
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Helping Mommy organize all the books...
the little ones go in the cool storage drawer! |
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| Close-up of the drawer with the secret map inside...too fun! |
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He sat here for a while getting everything
just right on his new shelf...I think he approves!! |
In conclusion, this dresser turned bookshelf transformation was extremely exciting and fulfilling for me! This was a TRULY reLoved piece of furniture. To think that 60 years ago a furniture craftsman built this little dresser with a special baby in mind...and then to know that it was used by so many other special babies (and two newly-wed adults!) through the years...that it traveled all the way to the year 2012 where, yet another, special little baby gets to call it his! My special little baby...who is quickly becoming a special little BOY (too quickly I might add!) gets to know the exciting adventures of the world, even if it does start with a simple little book that's held up by a simple little bookshelf. I hope to teach him that reading can take him on any adventure that he wants to go...
"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." ~Dr. Seuss
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| Bookshelf Complete! |
This is SO COOL! I love the map and the compass knobs, especially. What an awesome transformation. This piece is sure to be passed down for several more generations!
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