Great project! I like to see the whole nursery, it looks very pulled together without being themed.

This is lovely and perfect for a nursery.

Love it! Love the use of yellows. And I've always liked that rug from IKEA, but never had the guts to buy it since it's so light for us having kiddos running around. Would love to see the rest of the room too. :)

Upholstery! Honestly, that idea never occurred to me before. It opens up a world of possibilities!

Way, way too much IKEA being shared.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only person to think "I could buy a changing table orrrr hey I could just attach this changing pad to my current dresser I'm not using..."

nice job!

I love this. It turned out really nice. As far as "way, way too much IKEA being shared." Maybe don't look at the IKEA posts then. Some people can't afford much else. I love IKEA and I will gladly read any IKEA related post. Take your snobbery and go elsewhere.

For those who plan to shop, the word is "batting" (not "batten") which comes in cotton or polyester and is meant for quilts, mainly. (I would use polyester, for this, since it matts less and doesn't need to be drapey, which is what cotton is good for. Plus it's usually cheaper.)

I wonder if it helps with small children banging into the furniture, or if it's more ornamental?

This project just seems totally unnecessary.

this last comment just is totally unneccessary.

beautiful idea! and i love the colours.

Cute idea! Question about the MALM, do the drawers glide in and out smoothly? I have always avoided it becasue I thought they be an annoyance.

mskarilynn, I respect you have a viewpoint, and so do I as well. It isn't snobbery re IKEA. It is that most of the posts lack imagination. And yes, I know I can avoid the posts, just as I would think you might want to avoid the snark. You have no idea how tight my budget is right now. Thanks.

Edin is right. I am a huge IKEAfan. I have an IKEA kitchen, plus my bedroom has both Pax and Expedit. I know all the shortcuts through the store. Until I got my Broyhill Brasilia credenza, I had a Besta Burs TV stand. There is no way that I would be snobby about IKEA. But these posts are just boring. They seem to be filler for bloggers who haven't the time or energy to seek out good design articles or really creative hacks, of which there are plenty. I hope that the bloggers think that giving them feedback is a good thing.

I'm glad we got the word "batting" cleared up.

Great idea! And it seems inexpensive too, which I'm sure a lot of us are looking for. Good on you for giving this a go! :)

As far as functionality goes.. there is one plus: a padded dresser might be nice in avoiding a baby/ toddler bump or bruise here and there. However, everything in a baby's room/ home gets dirty... Poop, pee, puke, boogers, crayons, dirty sticky fingers with who-knows-what, etc... this dresser would be impossible to clean without just removing the padding... what a pain! NOT functional!

Sincerely,
A mom of 18 month old twins

Thanks Quiltmaster. I appreciate you understanding my comment. If a person goes and counts how many IKEA posts there are lately, it seems flooded with them, and no offense to the designers, but most lack imagination. The posts do seem like filler. I know it has been hectic on the site with changes, so that may be the reason, but the IKEA is being overdone, as is the mid-century modern.It's getting stale and narrow. For me personally, I love to see lots of types of design and the posts now seem to be 80% MCM and the rest contemporary. There are other styles. And for DIY, I love to see many types of furniture repaired and re-done, yet so much is IKEA and some is MCM. It isnt about the cost of any piece. I actually love the ones that take the most modest of items and do amazing things. My budget is beyond tight. I have had major set-backs with the economy, so doing a lot with little is not only a necessity, but I also enjoy it. I love this site and it has been my all-time fave for a long time. And I dont want to be rude, but it seems in a slump for a while now. Just my opinion. And BTW, I also love The Kitchn. Great section.

Im having such an issue when it comes to deciding on a dresser. I want something modern/mid century/a little glam but masculine and under 500. I have tried craigslist but there is nothing in my area, and I doubt I could get a great 6 foot dresser in my prius. I have been eyeing the Malm dresser as a last resort because I literally put clean folded clothes in a hamper and pull them out when needed, It is so sad. I would be ok with doing something amazing to a Malm dresser, like adding legs or something, along with painting/staining. I just don't want it to look like its from Ikea. Someone please help me!

Neat!

SJW426 the malm drawers do glide smoothly. The casters are nice and sturdy.

I think this is a great idea. As far as the fabric getting dirty you could scotchguard it or scrub it with soap and a toothbrush if it got that dirty. I haven't had a need to clean my toddler's dresser drawers yet. You just take a chance on having to occasionally spot clean the fabric or change it entirely in a worst-case scenario, for the sake of having a personalized, aesthetic and soft touch on your otherwise plain malm dresser.

This turned out really cute. My Malm dresser completely disintegrated in about 3 years from daily use. The bottoms of the drawers failed under weight of clothes, the joinings got all wobbly and unstable, and the drawers stopped being usable. I would say my use was normal - I'm a professional adult - I wonder what a toddler could do to a dresser?

The whole dresser became landfill. And that, my friends, is why I caution people from buying IKEA furniture.

At a high-end furniture store here in San Francisco, they're selling upholstered dressers done up in patchwork fabrics. They look pretty good, and they're so DIY-able.

For this IKEA dresser, I think I would have taken the easy way out and just painted the drawer fronts instead of upholstering them.

Have the Malm, we took the easy way out though. IKEA sells random parts of all their furniture at the service desk, we bought the white Malm then bought the brown Malm's drawer faces! All 6 drawer faces cost us $15 total, looks great and works with out white and brown crib set.

Disclaimer: I bought the drawer faces after I had sanded and ruined the original faces with 2 days worth of work to paint them brown. I called IKEA and asked about buying new white ones and they said "well, we have brown ones too!" I could have punched myself. But now I know I can mix and match at IKEA for less.

MALM all looks so so much better with knobs. This would be lovely if it had some nice clear or contrasting ones popped on.