Furniture Makeover: Changing Table Grows Up to Become a Chic Bar
See how this secondhand changing table from the ’80s transforms into a stylish adult beverage station
Upcycled furniture and decor add character, charm and style to many homes. Repurposed pieces can also save money and keep materials out of the landfill. As part of our ongoing furniture makeover series, which features reader projects, we’re highlighting this changing table that has been transformed into a bar. Do you have a furniture makeover of your own? Please share it in the Comments.
The process: The changing table consisted of two pieces, a set of drawers on the bottom and a platform on top. Oddo had originally intended to strip and stain both pieces, but stripping the top turned out to be so laborious that she altered her plan. “It was just such a project that I changed my design plan and decided to paint the bottom and only stain the top,” Oddo says. After searching images of similar designs on the Internet, she felt better about this new direction.
After the top piece was completely stripped of its white paint, Oddo sanded it to make sure it was nice and smooth. She then stained the top in Zar’s Moorish Teak oil-based wood stain. “It was my first time ever staining anything,” Oddo says. “I just painted it on basically, and the wood soaked it up pretty evenly.” Two coats of polyurethane were then applied to add luster to the piece.
Oddo then turned her attention to the drawers. First she removed the two bottom drawers, leaving the top one in place. She then used a saw to cut out the wood framing that had held the two bottom drawers in place. Using leftover wainscoting from a previous headboard project, Oddo made a new backing for the interior.
Oddo went over the entire bottom piece with a palm sander to smooth out a few crackled paint spots and to remove the top coat of paint, so the new color would adhere better. Then she painted the piece a charcoal gray that she had used to paint her family room walls.
It was now time to put the two pieces back together. Oddo attached the newly stained top to the freshly painted bottom by drilling gold-colored screws into the corners of the top. She then applied a thick gold paint along the top’s inside corners to camouflage the screws and add some character. “The line came out a little thicker than I wanted, but in the end no one but me would ever notice,” Oddo says. To complete the piece, she drilled two holes into the remaining drawer and added two drawer pulls that she found on sale at Anthropologie.
Cost breakdown
Changing table: Free
Sandpaper, paint and wainscoting: Oddo already owned these items
Paint: About $5
Hardware: About $5
Changing table: Free
Sandpaper, paint and wainscoting: Oddo already owned these items
Paint: About $5
Hardware: About $5
Lessons: Besides going lighter with the gold paint, Oddo says, she would have eased up on the stain. “I would have gone thinner on the stain and wiped it with a towel to give it a more translucent finish so you could see the natural wood grain better.”
The inspiration: Upcycled bars in many styles that Oddo had seen online motivated her to try her hand at creating one herself.
More Project Rehabs:
Satellite Dish Now a Mosaic-Topped Breakfast Table |
New Leather Shade Makes a Vintage Lamp Light Up |
From Antique Icebox to Bright Green Vanity | Office Chairs Go Boutique Chic
More Project Rehabs:
Satellite Dish Now a Mosaic-Topped Breakfast Table |
New Leather Shade Makes a Vintage Lamp Light Up |
From Antique Icebox to Bright Green Vanity | Office Chairs Go Boutique Chic
Project: Bar
Who did it: Melissa Oddo
Location: Stamford, Connecticut
Cost: About $10
Time: One week
The find: DIYer Melissa Oddo received the ’80s-era changing table from a coworker. “My mom had the same one for me when I was a kid,” she says.