Refinishing Nursery Furniture

When I was pregnant with our first child, I knew exactly what kind of crib I wanted. A convertible crib seemed like the most logical choice, our new baby would use it, then we would use it as a toddler bed and then our next baby(ies) would use it as well. The best part of that plan was that as our children grew, one of them would be able to use the furniture. So we bought the convertible crib and matching dresser and armoire. We used the crib according to plan, as a crib then toddler bed. Then time then came to convert the crib to a full size bed for our daughter. That is when I realized that the teeth marks that our son so lovingly engraved in the side of the crib were a problem. I saw only one way to fix the problem. I decided to refinish the nursery furniture to put into our daughter’s “big girl” room.

I was not sure what I was getting myself into, but I am so happy with how it turned out, that I wanted to share it with all of you. This is what the dresser and crib looked like before.

You will need a sander and sandpaper (medium and coarse), a 2″ paint brush and 1/2″ paint brush for details, and paint of your choice. I chose a paint that had primer in it.

The first thing I had to do was take the hardware off of the dresser drawers. Next, I sanded all the pieces down just enough to get a rough surface so the paint would stick.

After that I was ready to paint. You can use a primer if you so choose, I used a paint that had primer in it. I painted everything with my first color and gave it two coats. I wanted to tone the color down a bit and give the furniture a little bit of a vintage look. When the first color was completely dry, I used a dry brush technique with white paint to go over the entire pieces. I went over with the white until I liked the way it looked. I then put new glass pulls on the dresser to complete it. I used the same process with the headboard and footboard of what was the crib.

Our daughter loves her “new” furniture. I enjoyed this project so much that I have several other projects in the works. I have found a new hobby! Stay tuned to see what my next project is.