Turning a broken dresser into a life long treasure for my son

One day I walked into my son's bedroom and realized it was pretty much the same room he had chosen when we moved into this house.  The only problem is he was 5 years old when we moved in and he is now in high school.

So I started to think about changes we could make.  Now just so you understand, I'm not one of those people who jumps in the SUV and motors on over to the latest decor store and pulls out the credit card.  No sir, not me.  Why?  Because I am frugal, not cheap mind you, frugal.  Mostly because I prefer to give my home my own touch.  I love to take something and find a new function for it.  After giving it a little thought, it hit me.

Our home had belonged to a gentleman who had passed away.  A public sale was held to dispose of the household items.  What did not sell was left in the house for us to decide upon.  Of course the items left were mostly junk, but there was one piece, even though it was in need of some repair, I just couldn't part with.

It was a wood dresser.  It had been painted yellow and had large round bright orange (button like) knobs.  It was definitely straight out of the 60's. This was about to become a gift to my son.  Something I was hoping would become an heirloom for him to someday pass on to his child.

I wish I had taken pictures of this prior to changing it, but in my excitement I forgot.

So the first thing I did was remove the orange knobs.  Of course being the repurpose queen I am, I kept them for possible use at a later time on another project.  Now, that all of the hardware was gone, I used a palm sander to sand off all of the yellow paint.  Once completely sanded I cleaned it really well to ensure there was no dust left on it. finally, I am ready to really get started.

My son, is a lacrosse player. He has been playing since something like the 3rd grade and as I said earlier he is now in high school.  I had decided I was going to paint his favorite lacrosse logo on the top of the dresser.  I had the logo on my computer from  some items the team offered. This was not the official school logo, but it was my son and I's favorite because it honored the native americans who brought us the sport.

With my plan formed.  I decided my plan of action. I started by painting the sides, front, back and drawers of the dresser in a semi gloss black paint. I printed the logo out and used transfer paper to add the logo to the dresser top.  Once I had the design transferred.  I began painting it to match the photo.  Once I got the logo done, I painted the remainder of the dresser top in black to match the body.  Here's a look at my version;

Now with the bulk of the work done there were just a few more details to attend to.  One of the drawers was cracked pretty badly.  I was concerned gluing it would not hold up.  So I decided to find some sort of replacement.  I remember seeing some benches which used storage baskets in openings along the bottom, so why not add a basket to replace the broken drawer.  One problem with my idea.  After an extensive search locally and on the internet I could not find a basket to fit my opening.  I had all but given up when I was at my local Target.  I came across a basket which had just enough black in it to work, but it was way to small.  Suddenly I thought, if it was small enough, I could wire two of them together to make one drawer.  I pulled out my mini tape measure (which is always in my purse) and.........the heavens opened up and glorious music played (well maybe not, but they were the perfect size).  I got them home and immediately pulled out my trusty spool of floral wire.  I lined up the baskets with the sides touching. As close as I could get to the end I fed the wire through the inside of the first basket through to the inside of the second basket, secured the ends so they were between the two baskets.  Then did a sort of blanket stitch through and over the edges of the two baskets so they were joined as one.  

One last item to take care of, replacing those orange knobs.  Our school mascot is the bison.  we are the "Thundering Herd"  I found this great little web site who had of all things, bison pulls.

Perfect!  

My finished product

A big thanks to the hubby!  One of the original legs was broken, he came up these substitutes!

The second best thing about this project.....by only working on the logo when my son was out of the house and waiting till last to put the pulls on, my son had no idea I was doing this for him.  The best thing, my son loves it!!  To the point, he took pictures and texted them to some team mates!!  Who's feelin like the coolest mom?.......This girl!

So, the next time you see a broken, outdated piece of junk, give it a second look, there maybe something really special there!