A rare night out.

Thanks to this post at Money Saving Mom, my hubby and I got free tickets to see "The Rainmaker" at A Noise Within.
We got there about 50 minutes before the play started, so we found parking, and then went out to eat at a small Chinese restaurant two doors down. The theater was very small and intimate, and it was a very enjoyable evening. Of course, we didn't get home until nearly midnight, so I am more tired than usual today! It was so nice to be able to go to the theater with my husband though... it has been about 9 years since the last time we were able to go see something (The Pirates of Penzance!), so this was a very special treat! Many, many thanks to Crystal for posting the information about Free Night of Theater!!


As far as the dresser project goes, the hole has now been filled with wood putty, and then sanded flat. I am hoping that I can get it all sanded this weekend... but I do have to study for a math midterm and get a batch of homework done for my accounting class.

Progress at a snail's pace.

I finally got around to doing some work on the dresser. I removed all of the hardware and scrubbed it down.

My dad started the repair job on the hole. He took a small piece of board and held it in place while I drilled a hole. He added some Gorilla Glue to the board, then threaded a bolt through the board and the hole in the dresser, and tightened it in place with a strip of metal and a wingnut. This is acting as a vice and smushing all of the small pieces of wood so that they lay flat. When it is dry, we will remove the bolt and fill in the hole with wood putty. When the putty dries, it will be time to sand the whole thing down.

One thing I didn't mention when I introduced the dresser is that the man that I bought it from was a smoker. There is definitely a tobacco odor about the piece, though it has lightened considerably already. I've read a bunch of different techinques on how to remove the smell, but would like to hear from you guys too. I've rubbed down the entire inside with dryer sheets, and I'm going to set some bowls of vinegar in the drawers as well.

I read this answer on Yahoo!Answers, and it sounds interesting, but I'm afraid to use something like kerosene on something that will be going in my childrens' bedroom!
"What I can suggest which works quite well on wood furniture(but of course not on upholstery) is to buy a quart of ordinary odorless kerosene, get the odorless kind, at your local hardware and mix that with about a pint of mineral oil purchased at the drug store. . Take and wipe down the entire outside, inside and everywhere you can get at including the drawer sides, front and back and inside. And of course, the inside of the cabinet. You need to apply that material with a large brush in places a rag isnt suited for and let it soak in a bit, then wipe it clean. You can apply this material safely to the outside finish of the furniture, it will not attack the varnish at all. Dont forget, to even get at the mirror, back and front. "







Now, that brings me to a new subject. My mom bought this shelf for me many years ago... Probably about 7 or 8 years ago, and it has sat in my garage the whole time. I just don't have room in my living room for it, my kitchen nook is nothing but windows, and I don't have a dining room. I've been thinking about giving it a coat of white paint and hanging it above my oldest daughter's bed. It's just about the same width as her twin bed, and I was thinking she could use it for books or knick knacks. Now, if you know me at all, it's hard enough for me to consider painting wood furniture at all, and then the idea of using a piece for something other than what it was intended is a huge leap of the imagination. What do you think of repurposing and repainting this piece?

The dresser, the girls' room, and stuff.

I got this dresser today through Craigslist. It was made in 1964 so it's been through a lot... there's a small hole on one side that will need to be patched, but other than that, it's in good condition. I paid $30 for it, which was the man's asking price. I'm still trying to convince myself that it's a good deal. In comparison to what I have seen in the thrift stores lately, it's practically new. I almost paid $60 for a dresser this past weekend at Goodwill that had to have been covered in at least 15 layers of paint. The Community Thrift Store up on Arrow wanted $40 for a particle-board dresser that was covered in stickers and graffiti, and boasted two broken drawers. Salvation Army priced a small 3-drawer dresser with a broken drawer, again constructed out of particle board and bubbling up veneer for $30. So yeah, I'm going to need to do some work on this dresser (and any advice is appreciated), but on the whole it seems like a bargain compared to what else is available here.

I'm going to paint it white to match the girls' "new" bedroom. I also need to paint the hardware... I'm trying to decide between black or a brushed nickle.

Which would you choose?

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

For those of you with experience in painting furniture hardware, what brand or type of spray paint do you recommend? Do you need to somehow prime or pretreat the hardware?


These are some of the things that are going into their room. The walls are painted "Sassy Lilac". There's the quilts with butterflies that match the sham, lavendar sheers, and the furry purple rug. I am painting all of their furniture white - white bunk beds, white twin bed, white bookcase, and white dresser.



This is a catalog picture from where I ordered the bedding, to give you an idea of what it looks like as a whole:




A mirror from Dollar Tree that we painted white:



A horse frame from the thrift store, painted white, with pictures of my middle girl going horseback riding for her birthday:



Hubby painting the room... The Ikea bookshelf will hopefully be painted white and placed in between their beds. I'd like the lower two shelves to be baskets or fabric bins for toys, the middle shelf for a table lamp and some knicknacks, and then books on the top two shelves. The uppermost shelf will probably house their Vermont Teddies. It's being "recycled" from our living room.

Welcome!

I decided I need a little place on the web to put my projects on. My house is small. It's falling apart. It needs a lot of work to make it into a more beautiful place. I'm so inspired by some of the great blogs that I read, seeing what people can do with roadside finds, clearance rack scores, and thrift store treasures. I'm also hoping that by putting stuff up here, it will force me to actually complete projects!!