We love this before and after project. Over the years we had a few similar dressers that we originally found in thrift stores or on a street. Even though they were originally bought or acquired with the idea of remodeling them, we always ended up giving them away before we had a chance to work on them. Seeing these great results that Brian ended up with is very inspiring.
Before & After: Dresser/Changing Table on Design*Sponge
Design Sponge reader, Brian, has been working on getting a nursery ready for his son. With the idea of trying to reuse things that he already owns, this old dresser was brought back to life as a modern dresser/changing table.
The dresser was first sanded down to the bare wood. The old door knobs were removed and Brian filled and smoothed the holes. Going for a modern look, he cut custom handles and sanded them as well. He painted the interior a bright green and the outside turquoise blue. The dresser looks like new and what a great remodel of an old piece of furniture.
Photos: Design Sponge
Comments (25)
Daily Email
Top Tours
- Denis and Heather's Scandinavian Treasure
- APAK's Creative Cottage
- Kelly Rae's Colorful Seattle Farmhouse
- Yoko and Matthew's Simple White Home
- Melinda & David's Unique & Artsy Home Revisited
Top Posts
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Great!!! Now that is when wood should be painted IMO. Love the two color combo.
view LoriSF's profile
hot dawg!
view kdkaboom's profile
He smoothed the *h*oles!
view ooh_food's profile
I need to run wild and spray paint tons of thigs around my apartment.
view Haunted_Studio's profile
Brilliant!
view modernguy's profile
He smoothed the whole hole.
view tenderleaf's profile
i love it! the cutout handles really make it look a lot better!
view eribear12's profile
Great job. The bright colors are so great for a baby.
view LauraE's profile
lovely! (and i like what we can see of the room, too - not a pastel room, which i find great - i think baby will appreciate it :-D )
view maike's profile
Amazing.
view nazrd's profile
I love it in that spot- it's the perfect height to blend into the painted wall seamlessly. I also like how the color in the room is at kid height, while the upper walls tone it down. This will also make it easy to change up the room as the baby gets older and decides he wants a new color.
view shockthebourgeois's profile
Great job, beautiful colors!!!
view Morena's profile
Oh now thisis fantastic. First off, I can totally see this done to a non descript, but solid chest of drawers and I love the color choices and if I were redo a room, those 2 colors look fantastic. The green almost looks to be chartreuse and I love that deep turquoise as well.
I love how it kind of pays homage to blue dot's storage systems w/ it's cut out handles for their drawers and doors.
view ciddyguy's profile
Ooops, realized this mistake just as I clicked on post... This is instead of thisis. Oh well...
view ciddyguy's profile
2 thumbs up, for sure!
view pammyfay's profile
Wowza. I love the cut out handles! :)
view animalhouze's profile
HOLY HOTDOGS BATMAN! What an awesome conversion!!!
view venus_thames's profile
I think I might have just switched out the knobs instead of making cutouts, but looks great! The cutouts do make it look a lot sleeker, I must admit. I love the color. I'm pretty sure my mom has a dresser just like this, only taller.
view insanity_pepper's profile
This looks great. Really gives it a more modern look.
view suzy8track's profile
The 'modern' cutouts clash with the 'traditional' shape of the wood base- I think it would have been cuter had he left the knobs and painted them the same chartreuse as the inside of the drawers. Of course, I'm just being picky, it definitely looks better after then before!
view SeattleMama's profile
love the color, but not matching the walls. I'd prefer they differed in shade. I love the contrast of the interior drawers, though!
and I have to say, I hate cutout handles. they remind me of dorm furniture (I would have put some metal knobs, maybe square). but to each his own, and it's still a vast improvement on the original!
view foodefafa's profile
If so concerned with the contrast of the "modern" cutouts to
"traditional" design......What if he had mimicked the curve at the base (front) as the cut out?
One other thought:
Thinking practicality....when changing a baby, wouldn't you want to be able to get into a drawer with one hand if need be versus having to use two drawer pulls/knobs? It is a "Changing Table/Dresser". Also, what if you have the child in your arms when you are needing to get something out of the drawer.
Highly critical design people need to remember another word, functionality.
Good job Brian!
view kambykitten's profile
I agree - I wasn't expecting the handles to be removed completely in exchange for cutouts, but I can imagine how much better it will be for opening a drawer with one hand on the baby. That's what makes this a make-over, even though the paint is wow. Anyone can paint and everyone usually does. It takes a little more thought to consider how it will be used.
view K T G's profile
very nice!
view loislane's profile
I agree with SeattleMama about the clash of the cut-outs. I think kambykitten's suggestion to match the cut-out handles with the detail on the bottom is on the right track. If it were my piece, however, I would have done away with the "traditional" detail on the bottom so that its style was akin to the handles.
view aums's profile