New changing table-

My Mother-in-Law was the first to suggest that we move our changing table into the hallway for when B2 arrives.  Being in a basically one-story house we almost always take EG to her bedroom to change her.  I expect that once B2 is done pooping in the night, we'll do the same for them as well.  So when she suggested we would want the changing table always accessible, I knew it was a great idea.

Unfortunately the space that made the most sense- outside our guest/kids bathroom- is a really tiny space/hallway.  We'd had a dresser/secretaries desk there and that might have worked, but when we fold out the top it would be impossible to move, and I didn't want to constantly think about where to move the changing pad.

Months of searching later I found the perfect dresser- in our own bedroom!  I had gotten to my wits ends about this dresser, and then realized that the one we had would already work.  I wanted two top drawers (diapers for EG and diapers for B2) and then at least two other drawers (PJs for each kid).  I imagined that we would do bath time, take each kid into the hallway to diaper and dress for the nighttime, then we would head off to bed time routine.

Once I found the dresser I started really thinking about what it would look like.  I loved the look of these drawer pulls:

Pottery Barn drawer pulls

 They would be great to number each drawer and then I could tell EG which drawer and we could practice her numbers.  Wonderful and easy.  Except they are discontinued.

Back to the drawing board.... I saw these dinosaur drawer pulls:

This is from the Misadventures of the WolfPack, and they have an excellent tutorial on how to accomplish this look that they created for their little boys.   However, being pregnant myself and having put more than enough on Working Dad's plate, I just knew the foam would be too much for us.

Enter EG's Melissa and Doug puzzle:

I realized that these would be the most adorable drawer pulls- perfect for what we were going for.  And each animal has a distinct color, so we could practice animals and colors at the same time!

I knew that it would be the most adorable item- if I could pull it off.

When I went through the process of this dresser I took photos of just about every step that I made along the way.  However, when push came to assembly shove, it didn't work the way I expected it to.  So, I don't want to share with you in great detail what I did, because I would NEVER recommend it.

We started off with a plain brown dresser, and had to trim down the legs just a bit to make it the right height for our changing table. I love the look of white and wood, and I knew that would help the drawer pulls to 'pop' so I painted the drawers white.  I really like that look.

Then it came time to figure out the pulls themselves.  I know how regular pulls are- they have a metal nut or screw base inside, and get screwed into the drawer.  I thought that I wanted to be able to replace the pulls if I needed to, so I began heading that direction.

Basically I drilled out a hole the size of a nut, bought myself a specific type of screw that has a screw on one side, and a bolt end on the other.  I thought these would be perfect- use wood glue to keep in the nut, screw in the bolt end (with a spacer around it to make it pretty) and then screw into the wood.

What a disaster!  The particleboard the puzzle pieces are made out of weren't hard enough to hold the screw in.  Almost all of them totally broke apart.  I was able to fix them using epoxy, but if I were going to recommend how to do this, do it backwards.  Same hanger bolts, but screw into the puzzle directly, then bolt into the dresser.

No matter, the finished product is AMAZING! (or at least I think it is)... (ignore the stuff on the top, we're trying to get it all ready for B2- which is challenging when you only manage to get a day or two of good work done before you injure yourself again!)

I left the lion on the left, since that is where we normally went for EG's diapers in her bedroom changing table, and one of her first little things was an adorable roar/growl that her dad taught her.  I chose the other puzzle pieces based upon their look and their ease of use as a pull.

It took WAY to long to get this project done, but I'm thrilled.  Now all I have to do is get a new changing pad, and set-up the accessories we'll need in the area- aka creams, wipes, etc.  The top of this table isn't as large or wide as our old one, so I'm planning to hang those items on the wall.

Did you make any furniture yourself for the babies room?  We've been working on moving a LOT of stuff since we turned the guest bedroom into B2's room.

Later this week I'll share the progress (or lack thereof) on B2's room, as well as a few of the other house related projects we've been tackling lately.