Here We Go Again

Don't you just hate it when the day doesn't go as you had planned?  The morning you had planned to sleep in, the baby wakes you at 5am.  The load of clothes you crammed into the dryer somehow magically didn't dry like you assumed that it should.  The syrup caked in the hair of your three  year old on the morning that you don't have time to stop and shampoo a  mop of curls.  The furniture project that just doesn't quite work like you thought it would.

Okay, maybe this isn't you.  It is me, however.  I am a planner.  I live on a plan.  I know when and where I am going, and exactly how much time I have to get there.  And I don't like being interrupted on my way. 

I used to think (and to be honest sometimes still do) that having a rigid plan is the best way to get anything done.  However, I have learned in the last few years, that sometimes the plans that get waylaid end up with the best results.

I have seen this numerous times in my own life, especially since having kids.  Sometimes MY plan is not THE plan.  A time schedule has not ever been more loosely defined than a summer day in my home.  You just never know exactly what's going to happen around here. 

But that's okay.  Or at least I am trying to convince myself that it is.  I am making a determined effort to go with the flow.  In fact, you could say that I am planning on it.

A New Found Love

Ok, I know you are going to think I am crazy.  Sometimes, I think I am crazy.  Back a few  months ago, I set out again, looking for the perfect yardsale treasure with 2 children in tow.  Ok, maybe that does make me crazy.  But that wasn't what I was talking about.  

While driving around searching for yard sales (which with me means I got lost and was just trying to find my way back into town), I came up on this run down little shop with some furniture sitting out front.  On a whim, I decided that this looked promising.  I lugged the kiddos out of the car, and started perusing the lovelies.  Ok, well potential lovelies.

As we made our way inside, I spotted a beautiful buffet, but she was sold already, for a meager $30.  Uh, my heart was aching that I missed out on her.  But then, in the corner of the room, buried under dust and miscellaneous junk, I spot these super sexy legs.

So, maybe right then they were the equivilent of sexy legs with a bad spray tan, but I would make them sexy again.  I couldn't even see the whole piece, but when I asked the proprietor what he would take for her, he said, "$20".  Ah, my aching heart was mended. 

Really?  This beauty for only $20?  Sold!

So, we loaded her up  and hauled her home.  I let her sit with me for a couple of months, and the more I looked, the more I fell for her.  I then decided that the wobbly glass and metal computer desk we were currently using had made it to the end of it's days.  She was to be my new desk.

Look at those scars.  I can only imagine what all this desk has seen.  Well, I am sure she wasn't always a desk.  A vanity was her beginning.  Holding pretty glass bottles of perfume, and a nice silver vanity brush set.  Of course, that was her beginning.  A lot has happened between then and when she became part of my family. 

In fact, I know that a lot has happened.  How do I know that?  Because of what I found inside, when I pulled out the drawers to clean them.  But that's for another day.

My First Reveal

Yesterday, I promised you a look at my very first reveal.  Here she is:

Forgive the sad point & shoot pictures.  Remember that teeny, tiny budget I mentioned yesterday?  Well, it does not allow for a super awesome camera or photography classes.  At least not yet.

I used Valspar Premium Paint with primer included for the body of the dresser.  The top has a nice stained finish by MinWax in Dark Walnut with a poly coat.  Since this is a "Chest on Chest", I stained the ledge betweened the top and bottom to break up the color a bit.  I originally thought about changing the hardware, but once the paint and antiquing was finished, the original hardware was just perfect. 

The items on the top of the dresser are all recent aquisitions.  The Mason jar is a sneak peek from a future project.  The bell was picked up at a yard sale for $1.00.  See, that's more in my budget.

The picture frame was found in an old junk shop, painted and stained.  The ironstone platter was another junk store find for only $2.  The topiary was a decorative ball from a yard sale that I covered in some moss, and the wooden candle stick that it's on was a Goodwill find for $3.  That joker is solid wood! :)

The photo in the frame is by a very talented friend and photographer, Molly, with Red Fly Studio.  Check out her site and blog here: www.theredflystudio.com

So, here is Bath.  I hope you like her as much as I do.    I know that she will be hanging around here for quite a while.

A pretty girl named Bath

My husband and I have been married almost 8 years.  In the almost-decade that we have been together, we have purchased a grand total of 3, yes 3, pieces of furniture.  Ah! You must have had fabulous furniture as individuals, you say.  Well, no. No, we didn't.  In fact, I had just graduated college, and had no furniture at all.  My husband was finishing up a stint as a bachelor, and had the matching furniture to go with said status.  I loathed his furniture, but that story is for another day. 


We each have very specific tastes, and it just seemed that they didn't mesh when it came to furniture. 


And then, 8 years into our relationship, all of that changed.  I decided that if we couldn't agree on NEW furniture, we would find older, better quality pieces, and would turn them into exactly what we wanted. 

With my newfound enthusiasm, I set out on the yard sale circuit. My first time out, I found this beauty.

Instantly, I fell for her.  She had been loved.  She had also been neglected.  She had class, but she also had scars.  More importantly, she had a $90 price tag. 


Now, if there is one thing you must know about me, it is this:  Although I love shopping, I love being thrifty even more.  That said, $90 is outside of my teeny, tiny budget. 


I offered my best price, they rejected.  I told myself that this piece was just not for me.  I said my goodbyes to her, and left.  I was sad, but really, I was okay with this.  I had set a budget, and was sticking to it.


Fast forward 5 hours to nap time.  With a 6 year old and a 2 year old, nap time is a necessity in my house.  A necessity that I partake in every now and then.  Unbeknownst to me, my super awesome hubby took a field trip during nap time.  He went back to the yard sale, and my girl was still sitting there.  In fact, they hadn't sold a single large item that day.  He re-offered my price, and they accepted.


My husband acheived a new level of gifting.  I woke up from naptime to my pretty new girl waiting to be revamped!  I instantly named her Bath, because that is one of her many beauty marks.  The word "Bath" is carved in her top drawer.  I imagine it was a little boy, curious of the powers of a brand new pocket knife and a little more than slightly disappointed at the impending doom known as bath time.  I am sure that his parents weren't very happy to find this reminder of his love for the stank carved in his dresser.  I however, love it.


Tune in tomorrow for pictures of her restoration.  I can't wait to show them to you!