What’s the word of the day?

DRESSER!!!

That’s right, I finally finished my dresser. Just remember, you heard it here first. I don’t blame you for not remembering that I was redoing a dresser. Really. Not at all.

I got if free off of craigslist and it was ’70stastic. Here are some before pictures:

 

 

Notice that it has some sort of funky black splatter paint over the veneer. I think this may have been to give it depth? Not really sure of the reasoning though. Not gonna lie.

 

 

The hardware, other than the two drop knobs pictured above, were apparently made of plastic. Eric sheared one right off moving the drawers around.

 

 

So, the first order of business was to sand the thing. I honestly had no idea how labor intensive this part would be. Eric got me an electric sander, and he helped me sand it, but a lot of it had to be sanded by hand. All the little nooks and crannies of the drawers had to be done. This was a pain in the ass. For real. And, I have to say that we probably took it too far. We sanded down the top and sides to the bare wood. In hindsight, this probably wasn’t necessary. Sorry that I don’t have any pictures of the process; I just wanted it to be done as fast  as possible!

An eternity later, it was finally ready to paint. I used spray paint for this but would probably use roll paint next time. It took two cans of primer to cover the whole thing and it was hard to get even over the long surfaces. And, of course, I completely screwed it up at one point. I was using the Krylon x2 coverage paint and it comes out much thicker than I was anticipating. Somehow, I thought that it would give double coverage and be the same as the regular stuff… Yeah, I don’t know what’s wrong with me either.

After we got it all painted, I used the same antiquing technique that I did on the mirror.

 

I also switched out the draw knobs.

 

Here is most of the dresser. At least, all that I could fit in the picture without also including my dirty room.

 

Now, I would say that this is about 85% done. I am getting a glass piece for the top (I have already priced out a piece with a pencil polish edge… not that I have any idea what that means) and I want to move the knobs to the center of the draws. There is a possibility that I will by new knobs too. I’ll have to see.

So, there’s my dresser. It lives in my bedroom now and I love it. It was more work than I anticipated but I think it was worth it in the end. Eric just built out a 40’s era record player into a media cabinet. I will post pictures of it after the wall mount for the TV comes and the whole thing is put together. I have to say though, it’s ridiculously awesome. I mean, it holds a sub-woofer, computer and the PS3. And he did a beautiful job painting and distressing it. Although, he is crafty, so it’s to be expected. Well… except for the tricycle incident, but that’s another post!

Pithy Title is Pithy

How sad is it that this is only my third post and I am already out of title ideas? If I’m being honest titles are always the worst part of anything for me. Blech. Anyway, let’s get to what we are really all here for, my newest project! Exciting, isn’t it?

This is a huge one, seriously. Totally worth the month + wait. I mean, I put a ton of work into this one. Okay, just scroll down for the big reveal.
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Dun dun da da! I give you, my stool!

What? You were expecting a dresser? Why in the world would I be working on a dresser? Oh that’s right, because I’ve only been working on it for a month. I really really hate sanding. So, this stool. I found it at the Goodwill for $5 but it looked like this:

Can you say ridiculously ugly? It was obvious that someone had tried their hand at reupholstering.  With glue and staples and nails that went through the wood and into the padding. So, I’m not the only one who isn’t crafty! But, at least I still have good taste. I mean, really? THIS is the fabric you chose? Maybe that’s why it was at the Goodwill. They realized that they were torturing what had the potential to be the cutest little stool.

Procrastination Street

I have everything I need to refinish my dresser. Have I started on it? No, I have not. Why, you ask? Because I’m a terrible procrastinator, also I really really don’t want to sand the damn thing. Eric bought me a power sander and everything. I just don’t want to use it. I already know I’m not going to like it. All that dust and vibration. I feel tired just thinking about it!

But, I really need another dresser, and my garage is filling up with other furniture that needs attention. I have the house all to myself right now. I could play violent video games. I could watch horror movies. I could take.a.nap.  But, I’m not going to do any of those things. I am going to go out to my garage and sand the dresser instead. This begs the question, when did the body snatchers get me?!

 

 

Not crafty… or am I?

I have always thought of myself as the antithesis of crafty. Honestly, I have always been adamant that I can’t make anything with my hands, and for most of my life, that has held true. Until now. You see, I am living in this really sweet little home but all of my furniture/decor is still bacheloresque. Yes, I admit that I am still living like a bachelor even though I have been married for 10 years and have 2 children.

Eric is crafty. The things he can do might as well have been magic for all that I understood or felt like I could do them. But, my secret little heart always wanted in on the fun. A friend has a wonderful blog of her crafting (http://www.alwaysinwonder.com/) and it really inspired me. I wanted to do that! And I’m cheap. Crafting is awesome when you’re cheap. So, I have a number of projects lined up. The first is a mirror that I bought at a garage sale for $3.  Here are some before pictures:

This is the mirror as I bought it.

This was what we found after we took off the back. Someone had stuffed the back with cardboard to deal with warping that had happened to the back mount. Eric cut out some foam core that we had laying around to correct it instead.

Here’s the frame all painted. I used Krylon spray paint and it went on really nicely. It was the first time I have ever spray painted anything and I was so nervous to start! I sat in my cold garage, in the middle of the night, holding this can of spray paint and being completely terrified of using it. I know that’s lame, but it’s true. Once I got over that initial fear though, I found out that I like painting shit. Note the coat hanger that got used as a tester. I might have gotten a little spray happy.

Now comes the tricky part. I had decided to antique the frame to make all of the detailing ‘pop’, as they say. I undertook this part of the project last night. Yeah, I had a little mini meltdown in the middle of it that involved me throwing my rag and declaring the frame crap. Eric convinced me to keep going though, which is good because it would have sucked to have a half finished frame. So, here’s what it looks like after the antiquing process.

This is what it looks like close up.

I’m happy with how it turned out. And I’m excited for my next project. I’m going to be refinishing this dresser and doing the same antiquing technique on it.