My First DIY: Dresser to Entertainment Center

For my very first DIY blog project, I decided to tackle the eye sore that is dearest to my heart. This baby....

This dresser was a gift from my mom for my first apartment in college back in 2006. I was into Shabby Chic at the time, so my mom painted it white, added the cute little flowery knobs and gave it to me as a "leaving the nest" present. As anyone who has ever lost a loved one knows, once she passed away, this little gem became priceless to me.

Many a conversation has been had about throwing this little dirty, disheveled mess out, but I would never in a million years dream of getting rid of it!  The sentimental value supersedes the fact that the middle drawer is chipped, and its in desperate need of a paint job, and its really too small to hold all of my clothes.

 

So, for the last few years, I've turned a blind eye to functionality and have used this dresser to store all of the clothes that I was too lazy to throw away. Makes sense, right?

 

Anyways, once we moved into our one bedroom, space became an issue, so this doubled as our TV stand. I finally decided on a whim to make it a true entertainment center, and thus, my first DIY project was born.

First, I gather my necessary tools:

Because I don't function without this...

 

A screwdriver, some wood filler and a sanding sponge (sandpaper would work fine)...

And my loveable pup Jack, who insisted on supervising...

 Then, I took the middle drawer out and removed the track to make room for a shelf to hold my DVD player and game console. 

Once the track came out, I filled all of the holes with wood filler and let it dry for about 15 minutes.

 

Once the wood filler dried, I sanded it down to ensure a smooth surface.

 

 

 

While I prepped the dresser, I was able to recruit my ever-so-eager boyfriend (can you tell how excited he was to help?) to take the knobs off the drawer.

 

And then I started painting. Look at the pretty blue color I chose! Its called "Tropical Lagoon."

 

 

If you do a project like this, don't let your boyfriend take cheesy pictures of you painting....

 

Jacky-Boy observing my handy work (after rubbing up against my black shirt)...

 

 

Look what I found while painting the drawers! My mom numbered the drawers during her renovation of this dresser years ago (she was so smart!). Finding this was pretty cool--it made me realize that I was sharing in the history of this piece of furniture with her (kind of sappy,  but I can't help it!).

 



 

After it was painted, I let it dry overnight outside and then put the pretty new knobs on. P.S. Don't be a dummy like me, and make sure you buy the correct number of knobs the first time around so that you don't need to make two Home Depot runs.

 

 

 

And then came the fun part--cutting a little hole in the back of the entertainment center for cords. I started using a very sharp crafting knife. If your dresser has thin particle board or cardboard backing, that will most likely work fine. If your dresser has an actual hardwood backing like mine, you will waste two hours in frustration-induced misery before you finally give up, go to Home Depot (for the third time) and buy a drill with a spade bit.

 

Note: At the time of this photo, I had patched the area surrounding the hole with wood filler. I went wood filler happy (in case you couldn't tell). Eventually, I sanded down and painted this hole, but I was so impressed with myself (or relieved it was over), I forgot to take a picture! 

 

 

After two days and about thirty bucks in materials, this was the end result.

 

P.S. The $30 was excluding the drill and spade bit that I bought in a moment of sheer frustration. I would suggest borrowing a drill and spade bit if you don't have one. I can' imagine what I'll ever use a spade bit for again, and now I have fifteen assorted shapes and sizes!

 

It gets Jacky Boy's stamp of approval. I think my mom would like it too...

 

This picture makes the entertainment center look much smaller than it really is. This is because I had to stand on my bed to get a full shot of it. One of the perks of living in a cramped one bedroom...

 

 

P.S. Look what I found when I was taking all of the clothes out of my dresser! Its my old jersey from when I used to go to my dad's football games as a toddler :) How's that for nostalgia?!