One of the easiest and cheapest ways of fixing up and old dresser or making a piece of furniture unique is by using fabric. Find out how in this DIY Dresser Makeover tutorial!
I looked everywhere for a tall, stand-up dresser and, alas I found a cheap, unfinished pine dresser at Ikea. I also picked up some fun fabrics at Ikea for the project as well. The only other tools I needed to complete this project were an ordinary stapler and a little bit of paint (which I already had).
The easiest way to cover a dresser in fabric is to take everything apart and start from scratch (I bought mine new so this was not an issue). I also measured the areas I needed to cover in fabric and bought extra just in case, which I have since used for different projects.
I started with the red and white striped fabric, which covers both sides and the top of the dresser.
To measure, I laid each individual piece of wood on top of the fabric so the stripes were horizontal and cut about three inches extra around each piece of wood. The next step was easy—I flipped the pieces of wood over and carefully folded the excess fabric over the back of the wood and stapled it down.
Next were the drawers of the dresser. This part was a little tricky, as the fabric was patterned, and I wanted to make it so that when the drawers were all closed, you could see the pattern. For this part, I needed to be very precise.
I laid all the wooden fronts of the drawers down on the fabric in order from top drawer to bottom drawer. I left very little space between drawers (probably three inches) so that once they were all covered, the pattern would be revealed. After I cut out the fabric for each individual drawer front, I carefully folded the fabric over the back of the wood and stapled it down.
Then I put the entire dresser together and covered the legs with fabric (again, using a stapler). I wanted to add a pop of colour, so I painted the dresser knobs teal and screwed them into the wooden fronts of the drawers.
It took a lot of time and hard work, but I now have a beautiful, one-of-a-kind dresser and it didn’t break the bank!
Sarah is currently studying Anthropology at McMaster University. She enjoys up-cycling, creating customized furniture, decorative furniture painting and any do-it-yourself projects, big or small. She is passionate about creative sustainability, by breathing new life into items destined for the land-fill.
Elizabeth
Elizabeth is a coffee-fuelled Mom of 2 little girls and lives in Hamilton, Ontario. She enjoys photography, getting creative in the kitchen, taking on DIY projects and crafting.
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You are very talented! Looks great.
Wow! I love how pretty and contemporary it looks. Good job 🙂
Love it, wished I could go that funky, but my husband would probably shriek in horror.
That’s a very cool transformation
What an amazing transformation! It looks fabulous!
Well done! I have a very old table and chairs that were very rundown when i got them but after a lot of work sanding, staining and re-upholstery i now have a beautiful dark wood table with matching chairs with dark burgundy seats. All it cost me was 80$
Amazing savings Wendy! I’d love to see a before and after!
That looks really amazing — thanks for the ideas!
This is so nice and I love the fact of taking a nice piece of furniture and redesigning it to something unique.. Love the design and pops of colour. It certainly is a focal piece. I love it!
That’s beautiful and so unique! I’ve never seen such an artistic dresser done with fabric. Wonderful job!
That is BEAUTIFUL and definitely something I would be able to do…thank you for sharing!!!!
have been searching for cute patterns to repaint my old furniture..love this..it might be a winner!
I love this! I have been looking for a way to update our dresser because it is old (not antique) and it drives me nuts! I will look into making our dresser look this good!
This is so cool. Will have to try something like this
It came out really beautful. You did a great job.
I have an old dresser out in the garage that I have been thinking about painting, bu this sounds much more interesting. Thank you for the idea. Vicki
Thats really neat design for a diy
That’s a really nice way to refinish a dresser.
It looks great! I wish I could refinish some of our things around here!
This dresser turned out great. I am going to be redoing one with mod podge instead of staples since I can’t really take mine apart without fear that it will fall apart for good…lol. I am trying to redo the house in garage sale finds on a budget. 😉
wow!! That is stunning. My teenage daughter was standing beside me when I loaded this article, she is in love and wants to give her dresser a makeover! This is a neat idea! Thank you for sharing.
What a great idea for an older dresser that needs some tender loving care!
Love this idea but I am not that talented. You did a great job!
Nice concept, but it’s a bit loud for my tastes. Yo each her own, though. Thanks for the tip, using something more my style, this is a great option for me.
I have a dresser that needs a makeover thanks for the diy
What a great Idea.
I LOVE this makeover! I will have to try finding an old dresser to give a makeover to.
Love it !!!
this is amnazing! Nice job!
WOW this is one of the most impressive DIY dresser’s I’ve seen. They are always plain but this is so funky & FUN!!
Gorgeous! In Italy we have a program where they teach you how to customize the items! I want to try it myself!
Wow, love the makeover, what a great conversation piece! A dresser covered with material I would never thought of that, oh the leopard print fabric that I have would look awesome on my old dresser, thank you for sharing
you did an amazing job with the dresser. You’d never think it was one from Ikea now! I think it was also a super idea to add painted dresser knobs in teal, really does add that little extra. A job well done, I take my hat off to you!
That looks fantastic! You did such a good job!
so pretty!!!!! Ikea furniture is great in so many ways, but a spruce up can definitely make the pieces more interesting. great job!
Wow! I wish I could do something like that!
what a great project!
That looks very retro! Good job on the precise details.
great project, would love to redo my daughters dresser
Such a great idea!
This is such a cool transformation. I’d totally do this.
I also think it’d be a good idea to paper the inside of the dresser.
Wow, that is quite the transformation. Well done.
I love the concept, but I’d have to go with a different fabric. The leopard spots are a little too loungey for me… but a nice linen might be pretty…
I have an old dresser that needs to be refinished somehow. I hadn’t thought of using fabric. Thanks for explaining how you did this. I really does make a unique piece of furniture!
Wow it looks awesome, I love what you did. I have a dresser that really needs a new look and using fabric would be something totally different. Thank you for posting this and giving a tutorial on how to do it..
I love it! Will you come over and do mine? 🙂
i love this. I need to do something with my book case, this i an awesome way to bring some of your own personality out in furniture!
I have a dresser that needs 911
I love what was done to the dresser to ‘Jazz’ it up. It is certainly one of a kind. Kudos!
I never would have thought of using fabric
A great project for recycling older furniture pieces too
What a great idea, gee another project!! lol
Love this DIY ~ it is an amazing change!
what an amazing make over
Great makeover makes me think I should try one
Wow I love this. I have a couple of the plain jane ikea dressers in my house that could defiantly use a makeover like this.
I think Sarah did an amazing makeover on her dresser. It will be unique and one of a kind…. She makes it look so easy, but I think it took planning, patience and a lot of time and effort. Kudos, Sarah!
What an impressive change & it looks doable
What an impressive change
Oh wow! I would never believe that that is done with fabric! I really love the look! Great transformation
This is a great idea, especially with some of my great garage sale finds.
What a creative idea! I love all different kinds of fabric, and this is a great way to jazz up a plain dresser! Thanks for sharing!
Great job! I love making over furniture.
wow,you really have the touch of making pieces look beautiful
Very nice! There are so many great IKEA hacks out there!
What a great idea and an awesome job you did! I love what you did and have a few pieces I might try.Thanks for the great step by step DIY.