Checking In With Chelsea

DIY ideas, crafts, and tips for your home

subscribe and never miss a thing!

Receive Free Email Updates

  • About
  • Videos
  • Projects
    • Indoor Projects
    • Outdoor Projects
    • Craft Projects
  • House Tour

Closet for Dress-Up Clothes

March 5, 2019 By Chelsea Lipford Wolf 1 Comment

DIY Dresser Makeover to Store Dress-Up Clothes

Light Pink Dresser with Princess Dresses

I’ve been doing a lot of taping with Today’s Homeowner lately before I go on maternity leave (in just a few short weeks!). So not many projects have gotten done around my house. BUT I was able to help a friend update/makeover/upcycle, her grandmother’s old chest of drawers into a fun and cute ‘closet’ of sorts for her daughters’ princess dresses!

Before

Here’s the modest dresser before:
Wooden Particleboard Dresser Before Dress Up Closet Makeover

I don’t know how old it was, but all of the drawers were in great, working shape, and it was structurally sound. It was also very plain and simple. Plus it was a free hand-me-down! My personal favorite!

Demolition First

We knew we wanted space to hang up dresses and possibly a place to store shoes. I, personally, wanted to find a way to keep the flowery scroll detail under the top drawer. I think it adds a little feminine character!

So we started by removing all of the drawers. Simple enough! And then we removed all of the horizontal drawer dividers which were just stapled in place. We made sure to maintain the bottommost drawer glide to use later for a pull-out shoe rack.

Inside View of Dresser with Drawer Glides and Dividers Removed

We also removed the back panel to give us room to work.

Reassemble Second

Since each furniture makeover varies so much by the actual piece you’re working with, some of this might not make much sense. But I’ll give it my best shot.

We knew at the end of the process we wanted to add a fun pop of color or wallpaper to the back of the dresser. But the way this particular dresser was assembled left the back panel and the vertical corner pieces holding it all together with a 3/8″ difference, depth-wise. So we cut a piece of 3/8″ MDF (you could also use inexpensive plywood) to the same size as the void between the 2 vertical pieces. We used wood glue and a nail gun to hold it all together.

This made it possible for the fabric we ended up choosing to flow from left to right and top to bottom without bumps. It filled the entire back wall. Now maybe this level of detail wouldn’t normally be worth $20-25 for the plywood/MDF. But if you have it leftover from another project like we did, go for it!

We also used some scraps to fill in the void under the bottom drawer. Since we were turning that into a modified pull-out shoe rack, we didn’t want an open bottom for things to get lost. And if you have small children or grandchildren, you know things go missing enough as is!

Repurposed Shoe Rack

For the shoe rack, I removed the face of the old bottom drawer and measured and marked the sides to be the same height as the floral piece previously at the top of the dresser, essentially creating a box.

I carefully used a circular saw to make the cuts and complete the shoe rack. Also worth mentioning is previously the drawer front would have closed and been in front of the dresser, so to speak. So I also cut back the front of the left and right sides so that the floral piece would be flush with the sides once closed.

Then I attached the floral scroll piece using wood glue and a few nails to the front of the ‘new’ shoe rack.

Since the sides of the dresser were fairly thin, I also added 2 blocks from scrap dresser pieces to give support to the future clothing rod. They were attached mostly with wood glue, but a nail or two to held them up while the glue dried.

(Pictured below after the dresser was painted. But you get the idea!)

Small Blocking Glued to Side for Closet Rod

Primed and Painted

Since the furniture had never been painted before, we primed everything in sight before adding a coat of little girl-approved pink paint! (The pink is a soft shade from Behr called My Sweetheart.)

Once the paint was dry, we worked on attaching the pretty floral fabric to the back using spray adhesive. Leave a little extra on all 4 sides while you spray and attach small sections of fabric at a time, smoothing out with a plastic drywall knife or credit card as you go.

When you’re satisfied with the way it looks, use a sharp X-Acto*, or similar, knife to carefully trim excess fabric on the edges.

Floral Fabric Glued to Back of Dresser

We hung the rod and dresses and slid in the shoe rack and it was ready for hours of fun!

Hanging Closet Rod for Pretend Clothes

Now since this isn’t at my house, I can only assume the little princesses put everything back where it belongs when they’re finished playing…?

Floral Detail on Show Pull Out Rack

Chest of Drawers Converted to Dress Up Closet

It was so fun to work on something ‘light’ and pretty! And totally randomly and separately, I selected the same pale pink for the walls in our third baby’s nursery! More details on that space are coming soon…I wallpapered and it wasn’t nearly as fun as this makeover.?

Could you use a cute space to store dress-up clothes at your house? Let me know!

Thanks for Checking In! ~Chelsea

*This post may contain affiliate links*

Subscribe for Free Updates!

Stay up-to-date on Chelsea's latest projects, tips, useful resources and more.

Previous Post
Fireplace Mantel Printable Plans
Next Post
How Not to Hang Wallpaper

Related Content

Sitting on Back Steps After Finally Sealing BricksStripping Paint from BricksCompleted $200 Front Porch Makeover$200 Front Porch MakeoverBaby Toddler Helping Paint Iron Handrails on 1950s Ranch HomeHow to Update Rusty Iron HandrailsTips for Selling Your Stuff OnlineHow to Make Big Money Decluttering Your Home

Comments

  1. DAWN A BRATCHER says

    March 5, 2019 at 7:08 pm

    This is such a precious idea for a little princess! Every girl wants her own dress-up closet…& a shoe rack, too?! WOW!
    You are amazing, Chelsea ?

    Reply

Please Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Welcome!

I’m Chelsea. DIY
enthusiast who loves
sharing my victories
and mishaps!
Learn more
here.

CHECK IN WITH CHELSEA ON INSTAGRAM

Feeling like a million bucks at the Daytime Emmy C Feeling like a million bucks at the Daytime Emmy Creative Arts and Lifestyle Awards with my forever date! 6 more weeks until baby!🤩🏆 
.
.
Hair by me
Makeup by me
Earrings by @elledragoclayco 
Dress @azazieofficial borrowed from @brittany_baugh 
Shoes @lulus borrowed from @emilylipford
B’s suit from @laurenralphlauren

#daytimeemmys @daytimeemmys
Home sweet home!✨It was a nice respite to go on Home sweet home!✨It was a nice respite to go on a work trip to @exploreclt after spending a week on a road trip with 3 small kids.🙉But there’s no place like home!
.
.
Now time to tackle Mt Laundry because thankfully the little people wore clothes while I was away! What’s on your agenda this weekend?
.
.
#homesweethome #sweethomealabama #noplacelikehome #familyroom #familyroomdecor #familyroomdesign #roundcoffeetable #ikeaforthewin #ikeadecor #kidslivehere
An occasion to get dressed up? We are here for it! An occasion to get dressed up? We are here for it!👏🏻 Nothing beats a family wedding on a beautiful spring day!☀️ Happy Memorial Day Weekend!🇺🇸
Happy 3rd birthday🎈to the biggest mama’s girl Happy 3rd birthday🎈to the biggest mama’s girl I’ve ever known! She weighs as much as her big siblings but still likes Mommy to hold her.😜 She’s got plenty of sass and insists on doing everything herself. Which is why she normally has hair in her face and a tornado of chaos all around her. Pretty much our life since she came into it. But the best kind of chaos that grows and stretches you and teaches you to slow down and accept them just the way they are.☺️
.
.
Can’t believe it’s been 3 years!🥺
.
.
#celebratethem #birthdayshoutout #girlbirthday #girlparty #3rdbirthday #springbreak2022 #familyvaca #vacay2022 #vacationmode #visitflorida #staugustinefl
Cheers to the weekend, friends! May it be filled w Cheers to the weekend, friends! May it be filled with plenty of sunshine and bright spots!☀️🥰
.
.
#happyweekend #friyay #feelslikesummer #weekendvibes✨ #mothersdayweekend #beachday #plentyofsunshine #pocketfullofsunshine #girlbedroom #twinbeds #pinkvibes
FINALLY painted this eyesore of a wall and finishe FINALLY painted this eyesore of a wall and finished just before dark last night!🙌🏻 My husband and I decided instead of starting a new project (ahem a baby nursery) we should finish the projects we’ve already started. Since baby is due in the summer, it will be so nice to have our backyard up to par so we can rest and relax out there during recovery. ☺️
.
.
We started this project back in October by stripping and scraping the many layers of paint so we could waterproof the bricks and paint the wall to match the house. But the house was painted exactly a year ago. So it was way past time to knock this huge item of the time-do list. And it feels like such a relief to not have to walk by the unfinished-ness every time we come home now!
.
.
Next up we’ll slowly tackle patching hardwood floors and finish painting and replacing our interior doors that are taking up room in our garage.👏🏻
.
.
What’s something you’ve knocked off your to-do list lately?!
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Indoor Projects Outdoor Projects Craft Projects
Facebook Pagelike Widget
  • Contact
  • FAQs
  • Advertise with Chelsea
  • Media
  • Today’s Homeowner

Search This Site

Receive Free Updates Via Email

Copyright © 2022 Checking in With Chelsea • All Rights Reserved