The Nursery: Changing Table

I found this adorable dresser while wandering through a bunch of craft booths one afternoon with my mom in Arcata. Coated in chippy oil based paint, it was a beauty with a lot of potential. I think I fell in love with it's curvy top drawer and legs. It just spoke femininity to me, and I wanted it for Grace's room. It was the first big thing I bought for her once we'd found out I was pregnant with a little girl.


I had to called the owner many times to see if it was even available. It took awhile, but eventually I was able to track her down and get what I thought was a good deal for it. She was asking $85, but sold it to me for $65. I was so excited to begin planning something for Baby Grace that I would've paid the full price if she'd really stood firm. Lucky for me, she didn't!

My mom diligently sanded it down for me. Then I primed and painted it Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace, fixed it up with some knobs (never really finished the pulls!) a friend had recycled to me and that was that. 

Grace's sweet little changing table looked like this, sadly, until this last April. Even though she's so big now that I don't change her on it anymore (the dresser top is only a little over 30 inches long--I had to order a shorter than average changing pad to use on it), I really wanted to finish the project. And I know I'll use it a lot more once The Mister arrives. Don't despair if you have a lot of unfinished projects--just keep plugging away until they get done. It took me 18 months to complete this. Hope that makes you feel better!

I kept looking at a large green rug for Grace's room. I really loved the idea of having a plush 8x10 rug covering the old wood floor and giving her a soft place to play. I just didn't like the price tag! The rug I kept going back to was around $500, and even though that's a great deal for a rug that size, it was still WAY out of our budget.


So, I decided to paint her changing table green instead. I popped by the hardware store and picked up a quart of Benjamin Moore's Olive Tree, came home and painted the piece that afternoon in my bedroom. Three coats later, I had a beautiful green dresser and my desire for the green rug was gone.

I found the old window frame at our local city-wide yard sale last summer. It was in bad condition--which was perfect for the look I wanted. After a little sanding, scraping, pink spray paint, and more distressing, it was done. I love how it turned out.

I added the brackets and eyelets to attach the ribbon to. The letters are actually little books from an alphabet set I picked up at Costco.

The tiered basket holds the wipe warmer (which I mainly used when Grace was teeny-tiny), diaper liners, diaper cream, regular wipes and anything else she decides to stick in there.