Refurbished Dresser into Bench Seat

A couple of months ago I was cruising through pinterest and saw a lady convert an old beat up chest of drawers into a beautiful bench seat. I immediately thought to my self that I could do that, for it just so happened that I had a broken dresser just sitting in my basement. 

I asked my friends, the Marshalls, if they could help me with this project. Shawn Marshall is a manager at Habitat for Humanity ( A little advertising for my friend...did you know that you can go to their store and get household items for super cheap, like tile, lights, and paint?) Anyways, he's got a lot of tools that we don't have, so if you think you can't do any type of carpentry work because you don't have the tools, well by golly  get yourself a friend with tools!

I wish that I had taken a before picture but this is pretty much what the dresser looked like except that it had three rows of drawers.

Step 1: Pull out the drawers and set them to the side.Then,

 carefully pry off the top. (Be Careful with everything you pry off!)

 Save any trim or wood pieces that you take off, you may use them later.

Step 2: Cut the top section of drawers out.

Step 3: Measure out the base of your trunk section. Cut a thin wood panel to place in there for the shoes to sit on. Nail it down. (We did have to loosen the frame in order to get the base in and then we pushed the frame back together.)  

Step 4: Any extra trim pieces that are perhaps 1x1 inch would be good to use as reinforcement pieces. Our dresser was pretty flimsy so we reinforced the edges and middle so that it wouldn't break when people sat on it. So reinforce your trunk where you feel is weak.

Step 5: Pick out the best 2 drawers to be your bottom drawers where your hats and gloves will go. Then take the  next best drawers to be the face plates for your trunk. Remove the face plates from the drawer. Secure them into place on your trunk. They will not open they are merely decorative and cover the holes where there use to be drawers but is now a trunk. Then replace your bottom drawers, they should slide right back into their original positions.  

Step 6: The top now becomes the bench seat. Measure it to fit, you may need to cut a few inches off the side and then reattach any trim. As you can see below, we also reinforced the lid with some 1x3 inch trim inside it. (After you have measured your lid, take off another 1/4 inch so that when you put a cushion and fabric on the lid, it will still close.) Attach lid with a piano hinge. (Hint: keep the screws loose and do only the end screws first just to make sure your lid opens easily. Once you have checked, you can screw the rest in and secure them all.)

Then you can see if your stuff fits into it. 

 Paint it. I started with a base coat of green.

 I attempted to do the homemade crackle paint effect from off of pinterest using glue but it didn't work so I just used a turquoise blue for the edges and dry brushed it on.

 As you can see from the top picture, I had two cushions but I needed one more. I went to JoAnne Fabric, and used a 40% off coupon and bought the third cushion...highway robbery if you ask me, even with the coupon!) I had this cute leftover fabric and staple gunned it on the lid over the cushion. The 1/4 inch extra space on the lid was the perfect amount for my lid to still close easily.

 Then you can reattach your old handles or get new ones.

 I had all the materials for this project except the piano hinge: $12.95 (Again...highway robbery)

and the third cushion: $5.40 so I got an amazing bench shoe chest for less than $20.00 and I could probably sell it for $150.00 but I am not going to. My kids love it, I love it, and it is perfect for my little mud room. 

I hope this little tutorial was informative and helpful...if not...well I tried to explain it. 

Tell me what you think of it!

Sledding Fun

New Years Day we took the kids sledding. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

 This is Jordyn's first time sledding. She seemed to really enjoy herself!

 The snow was so powdery that you just wanted to blow it around. Lexie was wearing gloves and I have no idea why she took them off.

 Mr. Buddies (Eli) still like to ride down with mom and dad sometimes.

 Jared and his girls! They are going to race down. My money is on Mackenzie!

 When you slid on your tummy you went farther. Isn't Jared just so cute!

 The snow tasted good....and yes I stayed away from any yellow snow!

 A little hanky panky on the slopes.

New Years Eve

We had a really nice New Years Eve just chillaxin at our house. Jared's parents, Jerry and Betty, came over, along with Jared's brothe,r Byron, who was stag because Jemayla went on a short visit to see her parents during the holidays.  We played game and ate good finger foods all night. 

Our new years crew...Jordyn couldn't make it very late.

Jared, Eli, Kenzie, Alexis, and Me.

 We got a family game called spot it that the kids love to play. It is a daily game for our family.  Kenzie and Eli had just learned how to play it that night.

 As stated before, Jordyn couldn't handle the late night and put herself to bed in the middle of the floor with her big huge monkey that she got from Aunt Heidi. 

 I was trying to get a nice picture with Mackenzie and Jared jumped in.

 The new years ball dropped and we hurried and poured out some Martinellies.  

 Our traditional Happy New Years kiss. 

(It looks like I am holding beer but it truly is just Pomagranite apple cider!!!)

 Lexie didn't want Byron to feel left out so she tried to give him a big smooch!

This has been a wonderful year, I love my husband, children, and family. I have been truly blessed and given much!

Christmas Day

 We had a wonderful Christmas Day! We woke up around 7:00 a.m. and the kids came and got us out of bed and we made our way downstairs. 

The kids found their stockings all stuffed with special little goodies! Of course Santa brings socks and underwear....he's so thoughtful, but he also brought books for Jared to read to the kids this year and journals and play dough and cards and make-up and little hand tools. We are very blessed! Thanks Santa!!

Jared and I got Eli a little Ninja swords set. 

 So Jared and Eli practiced their sweet moves on each other. Jared also bought me that rug set that came with a 7x5 foot rug, a floor runner rug, and a 3x2 foot rug for by our kitchen sink. It's nice to have soft things to stand on or wipe your feet on. 

 In the afternoon we had family over for a nice Christmas dinner. Grandma Anne and New Grandpa Chuck came which was a surprise but also a delight, along with Uncle Dan, Betty's brother. Jerry and Betty,  Dusty and Megann's, Byron and Jemayla's, and Sharon and Darick's families also came.

After Dinner we managed to talk Grandma Anne into playing a little X Box bowling. It was so funny because she ended up beating all of us. She is the champion! 

 Aunt Sharon gave my kids this lego type castle game and the kids love it. They pull it out and build their castle and then get their pet shops and play with it. I love when my kids play all together. 

(Don't mind the nudist, she is constantly changing clothes or running around in her panties, which by the way, she is finally potty trained....wahooooooooo!)

 Lexie got a set of My Little Ponies and so they were in the "Stables" of the castle too.

You'll see no pictures of me during this Christmas because I was really sick and had broken out in horrible cold sores all over my top lip and up into my nose and so I didn't want visible proof that I looked like a nasty leaper. So I was there....just behind the camera the whole time or I deleted them if I was. 

Anyways, we very much enjoyed our Christmas break with the kids and playing with all our new things.

The Nativity

 I love when we get to dress up and act out the Nativity!

 

Kenzie played Mary and since Eli was the only boy, he was Joseph.

Lainey and Lexie played the angel and Libby really wanted to be baby Jesus since Maren wasn't cooperating. (Hey, I would be scared too if my mommy and daddy put on cow outfits and Wise Men turbans.)

 

 

I played a Shepherd and I got to come worship the baby Jesus in his manger.

Joseph and Mary played their parts very well!

 

Jared, Dusty, and Byron dressed up as the Wise men from the East. They kind of choreographed a nice little dance while they were waiting to come on scene. I stood back a little because I wasn't sure if lightening might strike as they performed a Wise Men Rap for the baby Jesus.

 

Grandpa Jerry was our narrator, Megann played Caesar, and Jemayla played a cow. It was a fun little time and perhaps we'll get even better come next year.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a nice relaxing day. There was a fresh blanket of snow that morning and bright sunshine streaming through the windows.

 

Jared knew that the kids would want to set out cookies for Santa that night and so he took it upon himself to ensure that Santa got some freshly baked and chewy chocolate chip cookies. He said, "I am an expert on what Santa likes, and chocolate chip cookies are his favorite."

 

You have to put a lot of love into the cookies, and that means kisses in between cooking the batches.

 That evening, we went over to Jared's parents house and enjoyed a delicious soup and rolls  traditional dinner.

 

We then exchanged some family gifts to each other. Some of the Heath cousins, we were missing Chad and Des's family who went to San Diego for Christmas. Poor Eli was the only boy there. It's a good thing that he plays well with all the girls.

Eli, Lexie, Lainey, Kenzie, Libby, and Jordyn

 

Opening up their special presents from Aunt Heidi. She's in New Zealand but she always sends the nicest things to her nieces and nephews....Thanks Aunt Heidi!

 

Jordyn carries around Lola the monkey non stop now (Lola is wrapped in the big blue bag in Jordyn's lap. Lexie has made a whole bunch of super cute headbands from the headband Kit and Kenzie has been decorating and bead-dazzling her special journal too, such great gifts!)