Little Girl's Dress Up Center!

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's my final project of 2016 and it went to two of my adorable nieces for Christmas! They are now two and four years old so what better age to give them a little dress up center?! They can now hang their pretty princess dresses and store their party shoes! Gosh, they are the cutest!

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I'm sure you all have seen where people have taken old entertainment centers and turned them into kid play areas like a kitchen or diner...well that's exactly what this is! Here's a picture of Charlie posing with the piece (to let me know how small it was) that we got off the amazing Craigslist!

The size was perfect! So we took it home, wiped it down with a damp rag and went to work! I would say the most fun thing about this project was adding paneling to the back. I had never done this before but thought it looked so cute on other pieces. (See inspiration pic from Pinterest below).

Pinterest

So, it was Home Depot and hubby to the rescue! We bought some paneling, cut it down to size, and glued it using Liquid Nails, which is some serious stuff! The best part was that I didn't paint the paneling at all...just let it be.

Next, I removed the hardware and the middle shelf and started to paint. Of course, I ran into problems! I had watered down the paint a little (which I do with every project) and the paint started beading and not really sticking well.

After some research, there are several theories for why this happened....either some oil remained on the piece from past polishing, too much water was added to the paint, or the paint would need more time than normal to bond with the piece. I went with the last option and let the paint dry overnight before adding another coat.

Another issue was that when I taped a section, the paint peeled off with the tape...not a huge surprise since I've had this happen before. But dang, there goes some more paint!

After a couple rounds of painting with AS Old White on the interior and AS Duck Egg Blue on the exterior..and some waxing, sanding, etc., the piece was complete!

Now the center cubby needed a little basket or something for shoes and other accessories, so I measured the space and set out to Michael's....where they apparently do not provide the dimensions for their baskets! (I don't understand). Next time, I will bring my own measuring tape! I bought two baskets and, while both fit the space, I ended up with the one below because I liked the color and texture it brought to the piece.

But alas! despite those little hiccups, I was able to still complete the piece before we loaded up the truck and headed to Southern Maryland for the Holidays. Woops! Forgot to mention that we used a shower curtain rod for the girls to hang their clothes on. Easy peasy! Can't wait to see what projects 2017 brings!!!