I believe every room should have one piece of furniture that just makes people smile when they look at it. It may be a lime green dresser in an entry, a leg lamp, or a bright blue drop leaf coffee table, but it makes a home fun.. On our trip to visit Facelift Furniture and Bryan-College Station, I ran across a homely little dresser in their Goodwill for FOUR DOLLARS. Yes, she has stickers on her drawers and is a little rough around the edges but this one is small and sturdy.
I knew where it would go when I purchased it, but not what it would look like. Our back bedroom at Star Hill is called the bunk room because… Well there is a bunk bed in the room! A double on the bottom that my kids have declared is the most comfortable, best sleeping bed ever. Because we call the room the bunk room, I thought it should have a western theme- like a bunk house. I found this cute Howdy sign on clearance in a garden center several years ago,.
The chair in the room is covered with red and white ticking, the “matching” footstool came from my neighbor’s trash, the bedding from Big Lots is red white and blue and the curtains are denim. I knew that the dresser was needed in the room to hold all the guest supplies we keep on hand. Shampoo, conditioner, soap, razors, toothbrushes, deodorant, sun screen, Dollar Tree sun glasses and other disposable items for friends who did not plan to spend the night and my kids who sometimes forget something are kept on hand at the lake house. It is a drive into town for supplies so I try to keep stocked. It also had to be sturdy enough for a suitcase or travel bag to go on top because there is so little floor space in the room.
When my friend, Kandy, provided me with some pleather and faux cow hide an idea started forming. Cover the top with the pleather, the drawer fronts with the “cow hide”, and the body of the chest with cedar slats from the hoard. I even had some nail-head trim that I thought might work. I love it when a plan comes together! I knew that this was going to be an over the top kitschy piece of furniture, but it small and in a guest room. Oh, and I may be a little on the kitschy/redneck side too.
I immediately started looking on Pinterest for ideas and inspiration. Here is my favorite inspiration blog posting: western dresser
Thank you to the V Spot!
Step one- Hubby put a thick piece of plywood on top of the dresser. This really beefed up the top so that the Pleather will look more substantial.
Step two was to repaint. I bought some of the current Behr sample paint and gave the front and drawers a paint job.
Step three was covering the top with the pleather. I recommend putting an electric staple gun on your Christmas list if you don’t have one. It is amazing for reupholstering furniture and worked really well to help me attache the fabric to the top of the dresser. I trimmed it all with scissors when done.
Step four- cut to size then sand all the reclaimed wood planks then attach them to the sides of the dresser. Once they were attached, I poly acrylic coated them.
Step five- attach the faux “cow hide” and nail-head trim. I used spray adhesive on the fabric to get it to attach then used the nail -head to secure it. The cool thing about nail-head trim is that you really only have to nail on every sixth nail. The rest are connected.
Step six- ENJOY
