DIY Inspirations Part 1

I have this old, ugly, dark wood dresser.  I bought it second hand from a co-worker for $35.  It is scratched beyond belief, dented and banged up.  But at the time, it was affordable and a god send!  Seven years later though, I have evolved from my "college catch-all" theme and have begun purchasing/acquiring matching, adult furniture.  But I still have this old, ugly, dark wood dresser.  Looks kinda similar to this, but in much worse shape.

  

Someone told me a year or two ago that I had to strip and sand all the varnish off in order to re-paint this dresser.  So I bought the paint stripper and all the fixin's and began that horrible, tedious job.  Three weeks and two and a half drawers later I quit.  The drawers have some detail and scraping and sanding into these edges was slow and time consuming.  And I had a life to live people!

Fast forward to two months ago when I stumbled across i create's blog tutorial about painting without sanding.  She uses Zinsser oil based primer/sealer/stain killer.  And absolutely nailed her project...seriously, you have to check it out.  Sadly, I wasn't gutsy enough to go for such a fun color.  As I have mentioned previously, my attention span is short and I love changing up my decor.  My brain told me I can get can so much more use from a white dresser than a teal or green like my heart was set on.  (Those two are constantly struggling.)  Anyway, sanding out some minor scratches and then following i create's method, I ended up with this bad boy.



You can see the untouched mirror in the background.  Yuck.  (We're still debating on its future purpose).

I debated forever about what knobs to use.  I didn't want to use the original large brass pulls as they didn't match the look I was going for.  I thought a contemporary silver was too contemporary for the lines of the dresser.  I ended up getting these super fun acrylic knobs online from D Lawless Hardware.



I would have loved to get the vintage glass knobs, but my budget only ran to acrylic.  I'm super pleased with the look of them, so no complaints here!  I still need to slap on a coat of polyacrylic to the top so that I can be a bit rough on it.  I intend to use this as a TV stand and hole up blankets and movies in the drawers.  And I'll still have some room on top for my random accessories!  Woot Woot!!

Moving...again...

Ok, I'm not actually moving until this summer.  BUT, I like to be prepared.

I've spent the last year accumulating teal, blue and green accessories, and they are here to stay!  For the next year or so anyway...I have a short attention span.  And after years of male roommates and their cliched love of dark brown furniture, I'm lightening things up.

I really want a light gray sofa and it needs to be feminine.  I'm craving some femininity.  The current front runner is American Furniture Warehouse's Camille Graphite Sofa.  Paired with two white durahide tub chairs, AFW also.  Durahide is key for white furniture for me.  As anal retentive as I am, I manage to still be messy.  The TV stand is actually a dresser from Ikea.  I'll either leave it gray or paint it white.  Decisions decisions.  I'm thinking I'll cut off the drawer face and reattach it with hinges.  Then I can hide the DVD player and cable box, but flip the face down when I need to use them.  And of course, they'll still pull out for access because it's a drawer.  I'm utterly pleased with this idea.

The rug was just a fun color and I love it!  On it will be a coffee table just like this one.  I can't wait to make this!  The green will be perfect and I love doors!  It'll match a bunch of blue and green door artwork that I have.

 

These curtains may be completely over the top...but I'm really hoping once I move and see it all together that they're not.  I keep visiting them online and want to buy them!!  But patience and prudence have won out so far.  They could be magical for my navy and white spare room...but I digress.


I can't wait to decorate for myself.  Just me.  No male roommate banning flowers, disdaining anything pink, or raising their eyebrows when I come home with a new vase or set of candlesticks.  I'm kinda feeling like that zip-lining pig commercial.  Weeee weee weeeeeeee!  Pure adrenaline!  :)