I happened to see this little toy chest on FB Marketplace last weekend for $30!  Now, I wasn’t necessarily looking for a toy chest, but my youngest has been using his older brother’s hand-me-down toy bins and they were always overfilled and never looked organized (when the bins weren’t falling down altogether from too many heavy toys in them).  He also had a small bookshelf I bought him a year or so ago, but he’s gained so many books since then, they were stacked in the floor because it wouldn’t hold them all.

So, when I saw this, I thought this might be a great solution to both problems!  Now, to be clear, when I saw it online, I thought it was bigger, and, I thought it was red….nope, it was pink and that just wasn’t going to work in my son’s room (his new favorite colors are black, grey and red…that may change, but I’m going with it for now:))

So, after getting it home, cleaning off the stickers and dust from sitting in their garage, I started taking it apart so I could paint it grey and black. 

Once I got it apart, I realized the bottom piece was really warped, stained and only ‘sat’ in place, it wasn’t secured at all.  I decided to cut a new piece of plywood for the bottom and also a long board to add extra support across the width of the bottom.  Again, all scrap wood we had in the garage already!

All that was left was picking up a few cans of spray paint, then, since it didn’t cover well on the sides, I rolled on some of the black gloss paint I already had, and we have a whole new toy chest and bookshelf!!

When I added the support for the bottom, I did predrill the holes so the board didn’t split, then I re-assembled everything in his room.

Of course, it’s now already full of books on both shelves and he’s tossed a bunch of toys in the bin – but it’s neat, and hidden:) So, while this was not a wildly expensive or high-end piece, it serves a great purpose and will hopefully hold up for the next few years until he’s ready to move up to something else! And, it took almost no time to do, which is great since after this piece, I had to move on to the Lego table!!

What pieces do you have sitting around that could be updated, or even repurposed with a quick coat of paint? Seen anything for sale cheap that just needs updated? Never let the look of something deter you when it can be painted, refinished, reupholstered or repurposed!