u/nature-fairy9791

After seeing some Pinterest inspo, I decided it's absolutely necessary for Vivaldi to have a tiny home.

So, I started looking for what kind of dresser or chest would make sense in this situation. I wanted something deep and large enough to be comfortable for Vivaldi but not too big to fit in the entryway.

After some research, I settled on the IKEA Hemnes chest with 3 drawers. I was so lucky to find a good condition one on eBay for 10€. 

Here are the steps: 

-took out the lower 2 drawers and measured the "floor" (of course in most dressers there is no floor, hence I had to build one)

- went to the hardware store and bought a custome cut 1 cm particle board that sits flush with the bottom rail. 

- bought extra wood to reinforce the board, to add extra leg and an extra beam support underneath it to ensure it can hold my 8 kg cat. 

- covered the particles board with a multipurpose wood print self adhesive roll. Aftwards installed it with screws and corner brackets. 

- removed the center rail (had to saw it because the screws wouldn't budge) and removed the metal drawer slides 

- sanded down the whole thing (with hand! I live in an apartment with very sensitive neighbours)

- filled in the screw holes with a filler paste and sanded them flush

- painted, then painted again

For the wallpaper: 

I was on a budget, and because normal wallpaper appeared to have the wrong scale. After SO MUCH research and shopping around, I went with gift wrap. Measured the size of the "walls" and cut. Used craft glue to stick them to the walls.

For the curtains: 

Another scale problem. I considered buying a second hand sewing machine (just need an excuse really). After much thought, I got an epiphany when I remembered that Valance curtains exist. So, went to the store and found a perfect length curtain, cut it in half. The curtain rod is just a a wooden dowel from an old project that I cut to size and secured with tension (no hardware, the dowel is slightly longer than the dresser) 

For the decor and furniture: 

I had a vision of a gallery wall and a picture wall. I spent weeks looking for door picture frames in thrift shops and slowly collected them. The paintings are, of course, Vivaldi's favourites. 

The small desk and chair were thrifted, the box is his favourite box, and the little "rug" is a placemat that looks exactly like a rug I have in my bedroom. 

Artworks: 

Ode to sleep (2025?) by Tokuhiro Kawai

My wife's lovers (1891) by Carl Kahler

Cat in Sofa (1980) by British artist Martin Leman

Le Chat Blanc (1894) by Pierre Bonnard

Pierrot and the Cat (1889) Théophile Alexandre Steinlen

The whole thing took weeks to finish, I worked on it my spare time. It cost me less than 100 euros, the dresser itself was 10, the paint was 10, the custome wood was about 20 including misc hardware, light fixture was about 8, frames about 10, furniture about 15, curtains, gift wrap and floor roll were about 15.

Edit: language and clarity