I bought a dresser at an antique store in downtown Franklin to use as a changing table in the baby’s room. As I was deciding how I wanted to paint it (because it needed painting), I suddenly got the idea to paint Tom Bombadil, a character from Lord of the Rings, onto it, along with Justin’s favorite Bombadil quote. This will be a fun surprise for Justin when he gets home from West Point next month! Without further ado, I present to you, Furniture Makeover: a story told in pictures.
Drawing the dresser to scale.
Creating design ideas on the computer using the drawing.
Meet Tom Bombadil. We found him on Google Images.
Playing with the chalkboard.
“And his boots were yellow.”
The drawers started coming apart when we had left them out of the dresser.
We hammered the drawers back together.
Sanding was a long process. A power sander would have been nice!
Linnea helped me sand it down.
It’s a good thing it wasn’t 90 degrees out that day.
The dresser after sanding it.
Priming.
This paint looks like chocolate ice cream.
High gloss!
This green paint looks like mint ice cream.
One coat down, two to go.
A test board to make sure we could really paint Tom Bombadil.
Mod Podge!
He looks a bit pale now, but he’ll get some color in no time!
Tom is Mod Podged. It’s time to start sprucing him up.
Mom painted on top of the Mod Podged image.
My mom surprised herself by painting him very well. I think she might have a new hobby!
Mint chocolate chip?
Where is Mr. Bombadil going to live?
Placing the words. This is one of Justin’s favorite Lord of the Rings quotes.
Make them straight!
My friend Katie helped out by tracing the words onto the dresser drawers using carbon paper.
Time to Mod Podge bigger Tom Bombadil. This is the real deal.
We had some scary looking air bubbles, but it all turned out alright.
“Fear nothing!” Both Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry said this.
Mom painted over him very well. Doesn’t he look happy?
Finishing touches: We sprayed a few coats of gloss sealer over the green flat paint.
We covered the top with cling wrap, because it didn’t need to be any more glossy.
Loading it up!
And here it is in the baby’s room!
From sitting in the basement of an antique store to being a changing table.
Isn’t this a cute changing pad?
Everything else in the room is horse themed, but I think Tom Bombadil will be right at home on his baby dresser.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice story, Em! It was fun to do this project with.
Love it!!
That is amazing. I love it. All of you gals could go into business. We need a follow up to know what Justin’s reaction is.
Well done ladies. I liked watching the transformation every evening when I came home from work.
That is SO cool!!!!
You guys are so creative! I love it.
Very nice! How long did it take?
I think it took us about a week.