DIY Princess Wardrobe

 

Everyone knows I'm a sucker for FREE stuff. I just can't help myself. So when a post on a local Facebook Swap page said there was a free dresser on the curb, and gave the address, Annaliese and I jumped in the car still in our pjs and headed out! We were the first ones there so I snagged it up! 

I was hoping to actually use it as a dresser. But the drawers were in much worse shape than I thought. So Plan B kicked in. I've seen lots of Dress Up/Play clothes storage systems online and on Pinterest lately. So I knew I could make my own. Determined not to spend money on this project, I definitely cut some corners and it's not exactly 'pretty' in some spots. Lol. My biggest thing was there were a few spots with pretty nasty mildew. So I wiped it all down with bleach, then warm water and let it dry in the sun. Then I sprayed it down with white vinegar and let it dry again. Once it was all clean and dry, I started trying to reinforce it. It was a bit wobbly and I knew once I started sawing off bits and pieces it would get worse if I didn't brace it. This is where I cut a few corners... I didn't want to go buy wood and have it cut all pretty to fit. So I rigged it all myself with stuff I had leftover from other projects...

Once I had braces on both sides I started to give the whole thing a once over with a sanding block to make sure the paint would stick really well. On the sides, the wood venneer panelling started peeling off, I tried to get most of it off but some pieces were too stubborn and I decided I wasn't that concerned. So I took what I could off and then sanded the edges really well to blend it. Again, one of the many ghetto aspects of this project. Lol

Then I started removing 2 of the bars with the jigsaw. I left the bottom bar because I knew I wanted to use one drawer. Once I removed all the pieces I no longer needed, it really hit me how rough this thing looked. So I caved and went to Home Depot. I spent $8 on a large piece of hardboard and had it cut down into pieces to line the inside walls, make a bottom shelf and a new back for the whole thing. I screwed in the wall liners to cover up where I braced it. 

Then added a large wooden rod for hanging the clothes. I used wood glue to hold it in place while I drilled in a really really big screw. 

I took a small piece of the hard board and laid it on top of the drawer bar, traced under it and added small braces on the sides to help support the shelf. I used pieces cut from the drawer bars I already removed (told ya I didn't want to spend money!) Wood glued the shelf into place and added some random screws too. Then screwed on the back panel!,

I let it sit for a day so all the glue could dry everywhere. Then gave it a good wipe down to remove all the saw dust and started painting. I had a quart of "Pink Petal White" paint I had purchased for another project that I never ended up doing. It needed 2 really good coats, 3 would have been better but I ran out of paint. This was after the first coat, looked aweful. 

After the second coat of white, it started looking great! I pulled out the pink paint I used for the inside of the drawer on my Vanity Revamp! I used it for the inside top, shelf and hanging rod. I also plan on using it for the inside if the drawer. I added a few knobs I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby ($2) and decided to attach a princess mirror she had. I got it a while back on clearance at Wal Mart, it's motion activated and talks when you walk by! She loves it!

So I did end up spending some money on this project, but less than $25 including the mirror!