DIY Vintage Dresser Island

Recently I shared my current creative space at the 2014 Where Bloggers Create  party. One hundred sixteen bloggers shared their creative spaces

- everything from amazing and elaborate studios to more humble spaces, like mine. 
I'm still making my way through the links to visit all the participants! If you haven't visited the party, you should definitely pop over to My Desert Cottage for all the fun and inspiring tours. 

I promised to show you how I put together my {no money} diy vintage dresser island, so here we go! 

I started with this vintage dresser that has been with me through 3 homes. Like most pieces in our home, it has served many functions from craft supplies, to console table, to t.v. cabinet, to hey, actually being used as a dresser in my kids' bedrooms! Go figure. 

When we first moved to this home three and a half years ago, I put this in our entryway. Each of the four kids had their own drawer labeled with their name to put their "stuff" as they came in and out. Where the two drawers had broken out of the bottom, we put shoes. 

Come to think of it, that was a pretty good system! 

But the drawers in this vintage piece have been disintegrating since it was given to me well over ten years ago. I've always had in mind to repurpose it into something else.
I really like the overall size and shape, and the cute little vintage green legs. 

Then as Where Bloggers Create was approaching, it had been sitting in my living room for awhile, and I looked at it one day and saw "island!" Yeah, I see things like that ;-) 
So I began tweaking it into a work island for my creative space. 

I decided I wanted to keep two drawers on the top and make one shelf across the opening on the bottom.
To my advantage, this isn't really a nicely made piece of furniture, so it was simple to remove the old drawer supports by knocking them out with a hammer and cutting some pieces out with a jigsaw. 

It would have been great if one of the side supports had been in the spot I wanted my shelf, but...no. 
They were just nailed in, so it was pretty simple to pull these out and just re-position one on each side to hold up the shelf boards. 

Then I started picking through my pile of junk in the garage supplies to find some boards I could use for the open shelf. When I found some boards that worked, I realized one is a little warped. Keep in mind-when I'm doing these projects I am pulling them together 100% from things I already have on hand. If I had ANY budget at all, of course my projects would be a little different. 
If you are like me and don't have money to spend, don't let that stop you from trying something! It might not come out "perfect", but I'll take personal and creative over perfect any day. 

I simply cut the boards to the length I needed with a jigsaw (picked up for less than $5.00 at a yard sale last year).

I started trying out some different things to make a little counter space on the back side of the vintage dresser. 

I've had these heavy iron shelf brackets for years and I liked the idea of using them like corbels under the counter piece. 

Now this dresser is not very heavy. I would have liked a deeper board for the counter, but with the weight of the iron brackets I was afraid a bigger piece of wood might topple the whole thing! 

I finally decided on a board to use for the little counter. Guess where it came from....

Remember that "Let's Dance" sign I created for a friend's wedding reception? When I did the post about The Big 5, I mentioned how it keeps showing up around the house..... well now it won't be.




I dry brushed a little white paint over the piece. A good option when you like this look, and especially when you don't have much paint :) 

I'm still going to sand a bit of this away.

I already had this old finial attached to the piece of square molding. I simply screwed it to the side of the vintage dresser from the inside, and use it to hang aprons. 

To the other side of the island I added a metal bird hook that a friend gave me years ago. 

The bird hook is screwed to a beadboard panel that has a saw tooth hanger on the back, which is simply hung on the side of the dresser. Easy to move to another spot if I ever decide to {and you know I will :) }

Of course the open shelves hold creative supplies. 

You can see that I also used a small L-bracket in the center for additional support.  

It's been really nice to have a dedicated spot for projects instead of always taking over the kitchen counter or dining table! 

{more about my current creative space here}

Thanks so much for coming by to see my vintage dresser island 

today! 

Thanks to Donna for the feature over at Funky Junk! 

 

If you're not following me on Facebook, I'd love it if you'd stop by for a visit over there. It's a fun way to interact more often, and I tend to share 'previews' of what's coming on the blog over there as well. 

Have a great week, friends!

Jeanette

Sharing over at

Furniture Feature Friday at Miss Mustard Seed

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Fabulously Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Knick of Time Tuesday

Make It Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House

The Scoop

Tweak It Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

Party Junk at Funky Junk Interiors

Sundays at Home at Thoughts From Alice