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Craigslist find turned personalized
toy chest for a baby shower
Guest Blogger: Emily McClimon
I was invited to a baby shower a week or so ago. Actually,
what I mean is that I was invited to the shower over a month ago, but the event
was last Saturday. Which also means I had an entire month to find a gift for
one of my best girlfriend’s new baby boy. But, of course, I waited until about
three days before to start thinking about it.
I’m an avid craigslist visitor. It is very rare that more
than two days go by without me checking out the new listings under the “for
sale” section or the latest “garage sales” in the area. Often, I use my phone
app to view the site multiple times a day. It’s quick. It’s easy. I get my fix.
Well, my sister (also invited to this baby shower) happened
to beat me to it that day. Grrr! She found a listing for an old wooden chest
$10. The light bulb went on in her head, and she called me right away with the
idea of making the boring wooden box into a toy chest for the baby shower.
Brilliant! I wish I could take the credit, but at least maybe I can claim that
the brilliance runs in the family.
Here’s a picture of the original piece. (I almost forgot to
get the “before” shot, and had started painting the top right side of the lid.
Ooops! You still get the idea.)
I had seen the baby’s room and knew the colors were blues,
and grays with little pops of orange and green. Elephants were kind of the
theme. Very cute.
We also spotted these and decided to pick a couple up ($0.75
each). So adorable, we couldn't resist!
Then the BIG decision of which colors to paint. After some
debate, we decided on: Juicy Cantaloupe and Pebble Grey.
Time to get to work!
We stuck a wrapping paper tube in the lid to hold it open
while the paint dried. I’m sure there are 100 things you could use instead.
This was just there and convenient at the time.
Our husbands helped us cut off the beat up bottom edge of
the chest and put on some trim. (We married some very handy men. And they must
really love us, because this was about 10PM the night before the shower when we
enlisted their help. Crunch time. I guess they don’t really have much choice in
the matter, but there wasn't too much grumbling.) We also thought wheel casters
would be nice for easy mobility when the chest is heavy and exploding with toys.
I don’t have kids, but I can imagine you would want things to be as convenient
as possible.
Front view with trim and casters on.
Rachel (my sister) and I painted the letters while the boys
did their thing. Group effort J
After we let everything dry we attached the letters with a
nail gun for the finished product. And we decided to sneak in a little blue and
orange striping along the bottom trim. Gives it a little something.
So total cost was only about $25 for the chest, paint,
letters and casters! Left us a little extra to spend on helping her find a
couple toys to start filling the chest J
We didn't end up using the little blue elephants we bought, so we put them in
the chest too in case our friend had something else she could do with them in
the baby’s room.
Here’s a picture at the baby shower with a few of the other
gifts as they started to arrive.
It ended up being the talk of the shower! And we got to help
her move it into the baby’s new room, where it worked perfectly.
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How cute is that toy chest? I like how they painted it in the colors to match the room to make it even more personalized! I'm even more impressed that they did most of it within 24 hours of the shower! Good job Emily and Rachel! And husbands too!
Thanks for sharing your transformation Emily!
Do you have a Craigslist find that you personalized for your home or for a gift?
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