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DIY Little Girl’s Princess Dress Up Closet

By Misty Spears on February 2, 2015

We’re still in the process of creating the dream playroom for my sweet little girl. She just turned 2 recently and she is already full of imagination and pretend play. One of her favorite activities is to play dress-up with all her favorite princess dresses (and a pink Batman dress courtesy of daddy). I wanted to give her a sweet dress up area in her playroom that she could store all her dresses, tiaras and shoes plus give her a full size mirror to herself.

Since I didn’t want to spend the money on an expensive play area for a toddler, I decide this would make a great DIY project and add some really pretty design elements to her playroom which is already coming together in shades of pink, turquoise and white.

I’ve had this broken shelf that I got from Walmart years ago that was missing all of the shelves, so it was pretty much just a shell. My husband wanted to trash it, but I never throw anything away so I hid it away in the garage until I knew what I would do with it and now I have. It’s pretty dusty and kind of falling apart so I cleaned it up and re-attached some of the nails in the back which made it a bit more sturdy.

After it was cleaned up, I gave it just a quick coating of primer. Since the surface was pretty slick, I wanted to make sure that my paint had something to stick to.

The paint I used was called Budding Romance and it’s the sweetest shade of pink that is perfect for any little princess. This was the Color Place brand and I picked it up from Walmart.

I gave the entire bookshelf shell two coats of of the pink paint and it was already shaping up into something better than I had to start with.

Since I wanted to add some turquoise to this dress up closet, I used one of the stencils from this Martha Stewart stencil pack to add a cute design on the outside of the dress up closet.

Because the stencil was fairly large and my surface area was fairly small, I put a few full versions of the stencil but also did several “halves” to give the appearance of a fuller design on the outter area. To do the stenciling, I used the Wooster Brush, which is my all-time favorite brush for stenciling and for applying furniture wax. You can’t go wrong with this thing. Mine is over a year old and is still in great condition.

I absolutely love the way the stenciling turned out. It’s subtle and sweet but adds a nice pop of color on the pink.

After lugging this thing upstairs into my daughter’s playroom, I added a tension rod I got from Walmart for around $4 near the top of the closet and it was ready to hang her dresses in.

Along with the new storage closet for her dresses, I picked up a beautiful turquoise oversized mirror on my local Facebook yardsale page for $20 (didn’t even have to paint it), this oh-so-soft-to-her-toes faux sheepskin rug, one of the chairs from her table set she already had and finished it up by adding some glamour around the mirror with some white Christmas lights.

This is my favorite part of her playroom right now. I love that it ads some color to the room, takes up minimal space in the corner leaving her floor space open and is a place I can sit and play with her easily as well.

I can see this princess dress up area being used for years to come. She’s already made great use of it!

What do you think of our little dress up area?

About Misty Spears

I absolutely love all things DIY, especially when it comes to decorating my own home. I’m a thrift store junkie and my head just explodes with ideas to repurpose old junk into something practical and beautiful when I come across that perfect treasure. I’m a wood furniture rebel and try to paint every surface I can to bring color into my life. My life revolves around my family and enjoying every moment that life serves up to me. You can connect with me on Twitter @diyhomeinterior, Instagram @mistyspears and see my pins on Pinterest for a sneak peak into all the DIY projects I am working on and crazy life happenings.

8 Comments

Alexandria Gunn

February 2, 2015 at 3:57 pm

That looks awesome! My little girl is 2 and she’s into pretend play, although not into dress up. She likes making us meals and cups of tea

Reply
- Misty Spears
  
  February 2, 2015 at 4:10 pm
  
  Oh I’ve got a DIY Kitchen hopefully coming in the next couple of months if I can ever find time to get started on it and find the perfect starter piece for the base. But my little one does the same thing, loves to pretend cook so I think it will make an awesome addition to her playroom.
  
  Reply
Bonnie Gean

February 2, 2015 at 8:25 pm

Hi Misty,

Oh my goodness, she is just the cutest little thing on two legs. Oh yeah, her play room items are just as beautiful, too!

I have no doubt that she will love to play in this room, many times over! I wish I had girls for grandchildren, but my daughter blessed me with 3 boys.

Not as pink cute, but adorable all the same!

– Bonnie

Reply
- Misty Spears
  
  February 4, 2015 at 3:37 pm
  
  You could definitely do a boy version in different colors and stock it full of cowboy outfits, police uniforms, doctors coats or anything else that a boy would dress up with. I may have to do another of these! lol
  
  Reply
Jenn

February 2, 2015 at 10:15 pm

That is so stinkin cute! I wish I had room and gumption to do that for my kid. At 13, she would still love those princess elements.

Reply
- Misty Spears
  
  February 4, 2015 at 3:38 pm
  
  hahaha heck I’d like one of these dress up closets. Age is nothing! Let’s play.
  
  Reply
Mel Day

February 3, 2015 at 10:18 am

Love how innovative you are! That’s a top idea and looks definitely fit for your princess I’ve an old nest of tables I need to do something with – you’ve inspired me!

Reply
- Misty Spears
  
  February 4, 2015 at 3:39 pm
  
  Thank you Mel! be sure to come back and share your projects with us or post them on our Facebook so we can see what you do!
  
  Reply