It seems that I can only manage to get posts together for WFMW. In my defense, it's because some of the pics for my Atlanta visit post were on our desktop computer while some are on this one and when I tried emailing them from the other computer, it didn't work, and in the meantime, VNB has wiped that computer and reinstalled everything. All the pics got saved, but we used like four different media so now I have to track them down.
Excuses, excuses, I know...believe me, the pics are worth the wait.
But back to WFMW, which is why most of you came here in the first place.
So, when AJ was in the process of being knit together, we, of course, started looking around for furniture for his room. VNB's boss very graciously gave us their (very nice) old crib which was just ending its usefulness in their family, and we already knew we just didn't have space for a glider or rocker, so the only thing left to get was the changing table and a dresser. After a _very_ brief tour of the _VERY_ expensive tables at Babies 'R Us (only a very few of which actually looked like what I had in my mind's eye), I convinced VNB to go with me to all the thrift stores and look for something there. After a good bit of searching (and a lot of him saying "can't you make due with this one?" with me replying "not really - it's too tall (or too short, or too something else, or not what I was looking for)"), we finally found the perfect thing.
It was a three-drawer chest of drawers that comes up about to my waist. Good, solid, wood construction, with only a little bit of damage way down at the bottom of the feet. It was the absolute perfect size - 18" wide, 40" long, 35" high (and had drawers - I didn't want that big open space underneath that so many of the cheaper plastic ones had). So, for $30, we brought it home, gave it a fresh coat of high gloss paint (not easy to put on evenly, but makes wiping it off a breeze, and we happened to have the paint on hand already), bought a nice changing pad for it (I think that was about $25), and we had ourselves a changing table for about $60 (instead of $600+). Incidentally, it has room for all of his little clothes too, making one less piece of furniture we had to find room for.
I'm sure that all of you crafty folks out there could do amazing things with decoupage and other stuff, but I'm just not that kind of girl. If I'd had more time and inclination, I probably could have stripped off the old stain and restained it to match the crib. Being 6-months pregnant (and with a husband who had a broken arm), I did not have that time and inclination.
The best thing about it is that when we're done with changing tables, we can just take the changing pad off and we still have a good, solid dresser. An expensive changing table/dresser on the cheap definitely works for me!
For some other great tips, go here.
5 comments:
Great tip, I love it! I never had a changing table because we didn't have room for one either...but I'm bonking myself in the head now because I DID have dressers and chest of drawers in the kids' rooms that I could easily have tossed a pad on like you did.
Great tip! We have a hand-me-down crib and changing table that I refinished twice--yes twice! My husband says after the thousand or so hours I spent, we coulda bought a set for $150 at Kmart. Men just don't understand sentimental value :)
Such a good idea! I wish I'd thought of that when my oldest was born. I love the fact that it does double duty.
That is a great tip. We did the same thing when our twins were born. We also made a 2nd changing table in our room on our dresser since they were sleeping nights in our room and days in the nursery. I have never regretted it. Now the dresser is the perfect size for the playroom. The TV sits on top and the drawers hold all of the videos and the video games.
That's a great tip!
I love when you can get double-use out of something. It's like getting something for free!
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