Dresser to Changing Table Conversion

The project started after I signed up on Instructables.com. We had a dresser on the registry, but after seeing some projects like the one by "seesalters" about a hideaway baby changing table, I felt like we could save a little money by re-purposing an old dresser that was sitting empty in the guest room.

It was an old combo, Media stand and dresser with two shelves, one normal sized drawer and one oversized drawer. It was too high to be a changing table, but I figured I could cut it down and reassemble in order to make it into a changing table. In all honesty, I love the DIY world, but I haven't been too ambitious with projects so far, but I figured that even if I screwed it up, at least it was on a piece of furniture we were getting ready to donate.

So the picture below is the before state - top two spaces are the shelves and then the drawers were the bottom two spaces.

Step 1: Measure and Disassemble, Then Fit

So I measured up about 36" and marked the dresser all the way around using a straight edge and a square. I'm sure there was a more accurate way to do this, but it seemed to work out OK.

I took off the top and all the support pieces (trying to remember what went where). Then I set up a straight edge to guide my cut using a circular saw. It wasn't perfect, but it did the job. My stepfather recommended trying to use the table saw next time, but that would be a little nerve racking.

You can see that I was able to cut it down and then I reassembled to make sure all things fit together again. Then I popped the baby changing pad on to feel the height of it before getting onto sanding and painting.

Step 2: Sanding and Painting

I took the dresser outside and sanded it down. Then applied a coat of primer and a coat of Semi Gloss white paint. Reassemble, fill in any seams and then apply a second coat / additional touch ups and there you have it.

I think it came out pretty good. I am sure there are better ways to perform the cut, but the top fits true, and it sits on the floor the way it should. Nothing rolls off, so I guess I can feel pretty safe that the baby won't either.

The other thing is that because we are not really "invested" in it, we might take some liberties with it when our daughter gets older and let her do some design work. I think if we had gotten the expensive dresser we were looking at, we might be more likely to "protect" it. With this one - now we may have another DIY project down the road for the whole family.

There we go - first Instructables.com posted.