DIY Dresser Entertainment Center

As most of you know, I moved into my first apartment this weekend. I spent hours and hours searching for the perfect furniture. I really love the whitewash-rustic-chique look but it was so hard to find something the was adorable and affordable. That's when my dad's handyman skills and workshop came in handy!

Here is an old dresser we picked up from Goodwill for $50. It was made out of solid oak wood which was perfect!

 The top was made out of a hard plastic-type coating which we weren't able to sand, so we took off the top. Then I had to decide which drawers I wanted to take out--I went with the top row. I also debated taking out the top two drawers in the middle.

 Once we took out the drawers, you can see there was an indent from where they were and I wanted it to be a smooth surface.

 To make it all even, we measured and cut plywood to fill in the space. Here's me using my dad's fancy tools ;) The bottom of the dresser also had a scalloped design and I wanted it to be more sleek so my dad cut it to make it straight across.

 We used wood glue to secure the plywood in place and cocked around the border to fill in any gaps.

On to sanding which was by far my least favorite part--lets face it, who likes to sand? Luckily we only needed to take off the top coating which had a glossy finish. The primer we used said it wasn't necessary to sand, but rather be safe than sorry!

 We took off the ugly old handles and used wood filler to fill in the previous holes. Time to prime!

Next, I painted it two coats of white. It was a little tricky to get rid of all the streaks so this takes time!

 Next, my dad drilled holes for the new handles (the original handles were a weird size that they didn't sell at Home Depot). He also made the top!

This color was achieved by using two different colored stains. One was a very light whitewash color and one was a darker gray. Neither looked too good by themselves but I thought they looked so much better together.

I love my little entertainment center! Its perfect and has tons of storage. I still want to get a few cute decorations to put in the side cubbies or near the TV. It took quite a bit of time to make this, but I love having a unique piece of furniture that I can say I made :)