The most beautiful furniture I own

Also known as how to take two years to fix a dresser.

 Are you ready for a LONG story?  Good, ‘cause here we go!

Back in February 2011, I’m pretty sure the rental across the street was evicted. At least one day there was suddenly a bunch of stuff out on the lawn. I looked at it for more than a week, especially this great big dresser.  It had so much potential . . . but I  didn’t really need a big dresser.  So I thought I’d let someone else take it.



But no one did. That dresser just sat there for three weeks.  Finally, one day it began to snow, and I KNEW I HAD to rescue it!

Hubby was, of course, flying. So I made 2309472 trips back and forth with drawers. Then I backed my van onto the lawn and wrestled the dresser into the back.  From there I only had to lift it again into my house. and that baby was MINE!!

I knew I wanted to paint it. I also knew that would bug my Hubby, who has declared that all paint feels “yucky”, and only tolerates it on walls.  (Some people just don’t know potential when they see it!)  But one of the drawers was very damaged – I couldn’t just stain this thing and have it look decent.



And look at that detail – do YOU want to sand that down?



But I wasn’t sure the best way to go about fixing this baby up.  So it sat in my kitchen until November.  Yes, for nine months it just sat there waiting for both inspiration and the funds to fix it!
I finally bought some Orange Stripper – ‘cause I’d heard great stuff about it.  But I learned something about stripping furniture in this process. First of all, DON’T put it on with a sponge brush – stripper will eat right through it.  Use a bristle brush.  And DON’T try to use a curved trowel to scrape it off – it’s a mess! Just buy a real scrapper (like a 5 in 1 tool).  And WHATEVER you do, DON’T start it until you have all the stuff you need!



I gunked up the entire dresser, drawers and all before I figured out these steps.  And then the stripper dried on those drawers before I could scrape them off.  And instead of cleaning it up right away . . . I shoved the whole mess into the back of the garage for the next 8 months.
NOT a good idea! When I finally decided to work on it again, this is what I found:




Ugg – look a that crusty stuff. I had to scrub hard on every part of this thing THREE times to get that off.  It was awful, especially all those details.  And even after three crazy scrubbings, there were still crevices where the stripper was still there. But at that point, I just didn’t care any more.
Honestly, it was now June, and hot, and I had drug this dresser into the middle of the garage so I couldn’t park there until I finished it. So it was time to get serious.  I borrowed my sisters awesome sander and got to work. 
(and now is where I become a bad blogger and didn’t take any process pictures!)
My plan was to paint/glaze the bottom and stain the top. So I started by turning the whole thing upside down so it was easier to get to the bottom.  The sander worked great on the flat surfaces . . . not so much on the rest. But I was tired and knew I was painting, and just didn’t care.  Because of all the detail, I knew spray paint would be the easiest method.  So I started with some spray primer.
Something was wrong with it – where I had sanded down to bare wood the primer bounced off instead of sticking. Seriously, it was weird. After three coats on everything (aka, 3 full CANS of spray primer), you could still see bare wood.  Well, that won’t work!  So I grabbed some regular Zinsser brush primer and use that on the actual dresser.  MUCH better. 
Then I started with the paint. I was worried the spray would be bad again – but this time I was using Rustoleum 2x coverage, and it worked like a charm.  After the first coat it was looking so much better!  I used just over 3 cans of paint to get a beautiful coverage. 

Then flipped it over and sanded down the top.  Some wood conditioner and stain later, and it was a BEAUTIFUL color.  Then I mixed the same stain with some glaze to take the dresser from ok to AMAZING (it really is awesome what glaze can do for a piece!) I finished the whole thing off with 3 coats of wipe on polly, sanding VERY lightly the flat surfaces between coats.

Ok, enough blabbing, here’s some pictures of the gorgeousness that is now finished!



(Sigh). I love this thing!
The outside pictures are bit more accurate for the color – it’s a cream not a true white.




Look at that detail!



The luscious stained top:



And what’s that behind the door?



Another surprise – I like the two tone of it, do you?



Here’s the cost breakdown for you – please keep in mind, that I think I could have saved a good $20 if I would have done this thing right from the first!

Stripper: $6
5 in1 tool: $6
Scrub Brushes: $3
Primer (3 cans at $3 each): $9
Spray Paint (Rustoleum Heirloom White, 4 cans at $4 each) $16
New Handles: $15
Stain (rosewood water based) $0.97 (on clearance!)
Sand paper: $7.50
Brush on primer: on hand
Wood conditioner: on hand
Glaze: on hand
Wipe on Poly: on hand
Grand Total: $63.47




I LOVE IT!!


Places I like to link up to

The final bathroom, at last!

It’s done, guys! The bathroom is finally done!!*





My big hang ups on getting this finished were the mirror and the hook shelf.  I knew what I wanted, it was getting Hubby to agree to it.  First of all, he hated the mirror I planned on using.  I had an old regular mirror that I was planning on using molding for a frame.  I’ve seen dozens of these, it would have been great!

But Hubby honestly has an aversion to used things. And there was this small scratch in the glass.  I thought we could work around it, but Hubby wouldn’t hear of it.  So we spent a couple of days looking for a suitable replacement.  Finally, we found a clearance mirror at Hobby Lobby for $60. WAY more than my $10 plan, but I did love it.  It was the most beautiful aqua color – I had a very hard time sanding it down!  But I knew the aqua would have clashed horribly, and finally did it.


If you look close, you can see a bit of that aqua peeking through!


Hard to see with that light on!


Now you can see the mirror!

From the first, Hubby hated the idea of hooks. He wanted a regular towel rack.  But we need to hang up 5 towels in this room!  He was sure that my shelf idea would be ugly and obnoxious (he also has a hard time visualizing things before they are finished!).  But when my friend gave me this black shelf for free, I knew it would be perfect!


If I had a million dollars I would have bought coordinating towels too. But honestly, using what you’ve got is so more my style!

Hubby also has this shave kit that needs to be hung up (along with a hand towel, of course!). I put together a bar style drawer pull on a plaque from hobby lobby, and we were in business!



Tonight, I finally finished it all.  And did some quick decorating too.  Ever the classy one, and lacking frames, I just taped up the pintables I’m thinking of using!



This little stool was the cutest spring green – but also would have clashed. So it also got a coat of  white.  I love the idea of a wire basket for the kids bath toys (but not this one. It was a use what you have night!)  However, ‘Lil loves to throw them all into the tub, so I’m looking for a better option!



Here’s all the nitty gritty details:
Tub: american standard clean artic white, Lowes $300
Faucets: Moen Caldwell, Lowes $220
Tile: Roman stone thru color porcelain in beige, Lowes $255
Decorative stripe: 12x12 mosaic (cut into 3x12 pieces), Lowes $30
Vanity: craigslist, $200
Light: craigslist, $20
Mirror: Hobby Lobby, $60 (clearance)
Fan/light: Harbor Breeze alta, Lowes, $90
Shelf: from neighbor, free
Hooks: hobby lobby, $9
small stool: hobby lobby, $12 (clearance)
large stool: Amazon, $30 (but they sell them at bed bath beyond for a lot cheaper I found out later!)
Little towel bar: drawer pull, Lowes, $8.  Plaque, hobby lobby, $5
Paint: all from Sherwin Williams: Rain drop (walls) $30. Alabaster (trim) $18. Plus ceiling and primer $50
Door: prehung, Lowes, $80
Knob: from Lowes, $20
Shower Curtain: Lowes, $17
Bath mat: Kohls, $20
Printables: (all hotlinked to sources) Gratitude, We Become, Simple Things. Free
Various plumbing, lumber, electrical, etc. $1275

Grand total: $2730.  We went $230 over budget, which actually surprised me. Everything was so much less than what I had thought. . . except that last category.  I had budgeted 600, and it was SO much more than that! Oh well, live and learn!

And because who can resist a great before/after, here you go!
How we first lived with it:



After my freebie makeover:



and now!


*Wow, you actually read clear to the end of my ramblings! Yes, I say this is done, but I know I need to get frames for those quotes, and actually figure out how to decorate in here with stuff that can stay in this room as opposed to stuff I swiped from the rest of the house. And I do want to repaint sometime, and put up crown molding and. . . ! But for now, it’s done!

Bedroom stage 1: the bed

The first thing I started working on was the bed for Buddy's room. First on the list was buying an actual mattress. (he slept on that poor crib mattress/twin frame combo for a sad amount of time. He started sleeping on the floor because it was more comfortable! It was a joyous day when the mattress came!)  The headboard is the same one my Hubby used as a teenager.

I used THIS tutorial to learn how to make pinwheels. I was able to scrounge fabric from my stash for almost all of it.  In total, I spent less than $10 for THE ENTIRE QUILT!  The white you see is from a thrifted white sheet. The backing is another thrifted white sheet that I colored with Rit dye.

I thought it needed a bit more variety of blues, so I did buy 3 different fabrics, but since I only needed 1/3 of a yard of each, that was only about $6.  My biggest trick: I took this:

And used it for the batting. Yup. My old bed-in-a-bag comforter I used 9 years ago in collage now looks pretty darn cute. (it's a little hard to see on his bed. So here's a shot of it all spread out on my queen sized bed)

It's not perfect, not by a long shot:

But even with all the weird puckers where I didn't measure square, it looks great on the bed.

The yellow throw at the foot of the bed was a $5 find at a thrift store.

The Mario Pillow set me back $3.50 for 1/2 yard of fleece and THIS tutorial.

The anchor pillow I used a $2 remnant portion and more blue scraps. I did to a reverse applique anchor (just googled "anchor pictures" and found a shape I liked.

Total cost this stage: $20.

See the whole room HERE

Drop Anchor

Ready for another full room before and after?

Here's the room's first second incarnation. (when we first moved it it was just storage).  I really didn't do much decor for 'Lil's nursery. It was much more function based.

Then we moved Buddy in . . . and I didn't take any pictures!  But picture the same beige walls, strange green rug, a dresser, and a twin sized frame & box springs with a crib mattress on top.

Classy, I know!

The entire time I was working on the girl's room, Buddy asked when I would work on his. So it's with great joy that I show you the following!

 

 

 

 

Over the next few weeks I'll post with the details (and tutorials) for the different parts of his room. But for today, let's just call it a job well done! 

Linked up HERE 

Update:  check out the rest of the room

Stage one

Stage two

Stage three

Stage four