Nursery Dresser Makeover

Caroline Sturman
Jul 19, 2019
2 min read

Oh this poor dresser. A chip on the drawer, a crack on the leg, and mold/mildew/yuck all over. Most would just throw this sorry piece in the landfill, but it just had so much character and I thought it would look so dang cute in a nursery. It was smaller than your average dresser and I just loved those original wooden knobs.

Now this dresser has been through some rough times. It was Charlie's college dresser and let me tell you, one of his apartments was the dirtiest place I've ever been in. In his defense, I do believe the mold/mildew/yuck was there before he started using it in college. (And sorry for the poor quality in the "Before" photos... clearly I thought it was a good idea to take pictures while it was dark out.)

I cleaned the dresser as best I could and lightly roughed it up with sandpaper. But, of course, there were two semi-minor issues. One drawer was missing a noticeable chunk at the top and there was a crack in the base leg. Wood filler fixed both issues! Yes, I used wood filler to build up the drawer and create as seamless of a corner as possible. You can see which drawer was repaired if you look closely enough, but at a glance, you wouldn't notice.

Once the the surface was all squared away, then it was just the simple (and more fun) task of painting! I used AS Louis Blue and a mix of AS Old White and AS Paris Grey for the top and inside the drawers. Yes, I painted inside the drawers! I would usually not do this because its somewhat of a waste of paint. I mean, why paint an area you will rarely see? But I knew I would be using this for the nursery and the inside of the drawers looked gross so I didn't mind going the extra mile on this one.