Creating a Laundry Room Folding Station from a Dresser

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Today, I want to share with you how we created a laundry room folding station from a dresser. A few weeks ago, I was out shopping and found this three-drawer dresser I thought might make a great folding station for my mom’s laundry room at Bliss Barracks. We’ve actually been looking for something that could work in her space for a couple of months now but everything was either too wide or didn’t provide enough storage. This dresser was great because it was a good price, had the vintage vibe she wanted and was already painted white.

My mom has a rustic meets refined style so her first request was for the wood top to be exposed. It was mostly in good shape save for a few nicks here and there

but it was in desperate need of a good cleaning. I’ll share more on how we clean the furniture pieces we pick up soon. Until then, here’s a quick peek…

I knew the dresser had been painted with latex paint but I had no idea there were two other layers of paint underneath the white paint.

I used an orbital sander and 40 grit sandpaper to take off all the layers of paint before graduating to 120-grit and finally 220-grit sandpaper just to make sure the top was completely smooth. I almost always finish with a piece of steel wool too.

As always use caution, care and safety precautions like a respirator, protective eye wear and clothing when you’re using power tools or sanding any piece of furniture. If you’re unsure what kind of paint has been used on the piece your painting you’ll need to buy a lead test kit which can be purchased here or at most home improvement stores. You can find out more about lead based paint and precautions here.

Then I worked a bit of Annie Sloan dark furniture paste wax into the woodgrain of the dresser top. If you haven’t worked with dark wax before a little goes a long way and it’s better to work in small sections with a cloth or wax brush.

At this point, I thought I was good to go but then I realized the body of the dresser could use a little refresh too so I decided to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White since my mom wanted white from the beginning. She also wanted a way to personalize the dresser and asked me to add a “T” in fancy script to two of the drawer knobs. I created the “T” in Word using the Edwardian Script ITC font then used the easy transfer method and General Finishes Milk Paint in Lamp Black to paint the “T” on the knob.

I also used Lamp Black and Annie Sloan dark furniture paste wax on the rest of the knobs and the key hole openings too.

The Lamp Black mixed with the dark wax gives it a slight “rubbed bronze” look without having to replace all the hardware.

We’re still trying to put a few elements in place for the rest of the laundry room like artwork, hardware, a rug and a few accessories but I think this three-drawer dresser turned laundry room folding station is going to work out well.

I think I may have gotten this metal laundry caddy at World Market but it’s been years ago. You can find something similar here.

I’m hoping to share more of the mini-makeover we’re giving the laundry room at Bliss Barracks soon.

It’s going to be all about how small changes make a big impact when repainting the cabinets and walls aren’t an option.

Stripping down the top to expose the wood grain was definitely the right call, see how pretty?

Fingers crossed my mom thinks so too!

Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo