Thrift Dresser Makeover

The apartment I currently live in is quite spacious. Considering the fact it has two bedrooms and an office, you'd think there'd be better closet space. But my closet is the closet in the second bedroom. Kind of pain, yes. But remember when I told you that there's really no use for a second bedroom (since there is also an office), and that I might turn that space into my very own closet/dressing room? Well, I have done just that. But you have to wait until tomorrow to see it.

For the first three months of living here, I kept all of my jeans, sweats, and T's in a suitcase on the floor of that room. A new dresser was not in the budget. I looked, and looked, and looked, and the cheapest thing I could find was $300 at Ikea and that was still more than I wanted to spend.

Eventually, I found the old beauty (pictured above) at my favorite Chicago thrift store (Brown Elephant on Halsted, north of Addison) and bargained it down to $45 from $60. It has three HUGE, deep drawers, exactly like I wanted, and I loved the vintage detailing and the design of the wood at the bottom. I covered the brass bits of the handles with blue tape and attacked it with my favorite glossy white spray paint. BIG mistake. I don't have a photo, but the wood was so dry, the paint started seeping into the cracks and dripping down the sides. I think the cold temperatures had something else to do with it. I thought I'd ruined it. But as it turns out, the old fella just needed some primer.

So prime I did. Two coats. After sanding off most of the spray paint that was still on the top. It wasn't so bad... I don't know why I always feel like skipping this step.

Then I painted it using a brush, not with spray paint. I went with some glossy white paint, and voila! Good as new. Kind of. There is a glitch at the top and the drawers don't close as smoothly as I'd like. But for $55 (dresser + paint), I'm happy.

The inside of the drawers were pretty grimy so I vacuumed them, washed them, and lined them with this zebra wrapping paper I bought on sale a while back from the Container Store. Notice the jewelry tray on the inside of the drawer? They just don't make 'em like they used to.

And here's how it is now in my dressing room.

There will be one more Sneak Peak this afternoon before the big Dressing Room reveal tomorrow!

Check back at 2pm EST today to see more.