Dresser #1... finished

You know that thing I said about wishing I had endless amounts of time? Yeah. Still wishing. Which is why it's now a month later. And I have like two more sentences written of our story. And eighty-seven projects cluttering up my garage.

And so, I'm a bad blogger. :) With the weather now bringing just a bit of relief from the extreme and excessive heat (seriously, this was the first summer that I just COULD. NOT. TAKE. IT. Did you feel that way?), we are spending every waking moment outside. And I love it! Sassy runs off her energy (mostly), takes a fantabulous nap in the afternoon (usually), and then we're back out.

My floors are looking pretty sad, though. And the clutter... oh, the clutter! The inside really suffers when it's this beautiful outside.

Still, I'm taking full advantage of these early autumn cool mornings and comfortable afternoons to turn THIS:



into THIS:


Isn't she loverly? Perfect for a certain little girly girl's room. :) I painted it Valspar's "String of Pearls" (FYI: You can totally have it mixed at Walmart for half the price.), and if I had it to do over, I'd have taken the extra step of priming. I did not, and I think the final count of coats of paint was four... maybe five in a few spots. :)


I love the drawer pulls. Half off at Hobby Lobby made these beauties $2 a piece... woo!


Don't look too closely, though. It's most certainly not in "show room" condition. You might not have been able to see in the original picture, but there was some pretty obvious water damage to two of the drawers. I sanded the top drawer down as well as I could, then filled in with wood filler. The second drawer just needed a little wood glue and a clamp. Perfect? No, but I'm okay with that.


Let's just say it adds character, shall we?


I unintentionally added some "character" of my own. I used a clear glaze as the top coat, and there are some noticeable spots that turned a little yellowish. :(


And we have a spot or two of some glaze drippage. Oops.


I guess that "weathered" style will look nice with this mirror I'm thinking of hanging above the dresser! I found this pretty piece at a garage sale this summer, I believe for $1. It's Pier One... you can bet it wasn't a dollar in the store!


This is the bed I purchased for Sassy last summer for $15 at a yard sale. I touched it up with some white paint, but other than that, haven't done a thing to it. I LOVE the scrolly design on the headboard!


Her "big girl room" is a work in progress, but thankfully, neither she nor I are in any bit of a hurry for her to leave the crib. Yes, I know she's closing in on three. Don't rush me. :) I'm keeping my eyes out for some cute girly bedding on sale (or even better... on clearance?). I'm absolutely in LOVE with this PBK set, but seeing as I haven't seen the set come even close to under $500+ (seriously, who in their right mind??), I'm still shopping. :)

I love a good project!

I lurve garage sales. Love, love, love. I'm very possibly the cheapest person you'd ever hope to meet, so finding unique pieces at ridiculous prices AND being able to bargain with them is right up my alley. And plus, half the fun is in the process. You never know what you might find! Worst case scenario, you'll certainly find something to laugh at. :)


So here is a recent purchase of mine! Want to guess how much I spent on this dresser (which, by the way, is NOT missing a drawer on the top left side... that drawer has been painted black for some reason)? $3. I'm not kidding... three dollars!!


Aren't the legs adorable? The casters came right out... with a little help from Mr. Incredible. As in, he did that part for me. :)


I've sanded the whole thing, and we've taken the old drawer pulls off. I'm planning to paint it white or an off-white and use it in Sassy's "big girl" room, which is a sloooow work in progress. It'd probably help to have a better "vision" of what I'm doing in there. Help, anyone? We like pink. And girly. And possibly some type of cute birdie/tree combination.


So this? Yeah, had to have this one, too. I nearly had a coronary over this thing before I even got out of the car. A little bargaining and $10 later, it was mine.


One slight problem. My sister has requested this dresser or similar for her new house. Blood might be thicker than water, but I think she's going to have to look past my offense on this one. Because it's mine!


It needs a little work, no? But it's got so much character. So much appeal. So much storage.


So here's the thing... my knee-jerk reaction was to sand it down, paint it black, and then distress it. It's not going to be anyone's actual dresser; I'm going to use it the living area and store office supplies, magazines, and yes, probably toys in it. But, thing is, I actually really like the color it is now. And now I'm sort of wondering if I should do something a little more "unpredictable" with it... something reminiscent of one of my favorite eye-candy blogs. And I'm seriously loving all shades of aqua these days. One look in Sassy's closet, and there's no doubt of that. But I just couldn't see a big piece of AQUA furniture in my house. Just not sure if it would "fit."


And then, this morning, I came across this. Quite accidentally. I was on my way to drop some things off at Goodwill and totally missed the turn. There was a garage sale at the turn-around. ONE. DOLLAR. Hello, lover!


LOVE these glass knobs. Love, love, love!


I wasn't sure about the print at first (and the little rose buds are actually magnets... the picture part is magnetic), but it kind of grew on me. I still may give some chalkboard spray paint eventually, but for now, I think I'm keeping it as "inspiration" for Sassy's new room. Maybe not quite so Victorian, though. But the frame color? Ooh, la, la! I could maybe see that color on my green dresser. Thoughts?! If it helps, it's likely going against that caramel colored wall...

Another great coupon resource

Can you tell I love my coupons? :)

I keep meaning to share that I found another site similar to Shortcuts, which I posted about a few weeks ago. Cellfire works much the same way (see my post on Shortcuts for a more detailed explanation), and what is even more awesome... I've discovered that coupons that overlap are BOTH credited to your account! Combine this with a coupon from the paper, and you can find some items for very cheap or even free! Love it!

I've found so far that Shortcuts is laid out a little better for me... it seems to be a little more organized, and I like that the expiration date is easy for me to find. Cellfire isn't quite as great in this way, but I really can't complain when I'm saving money. :)

$3.00

...is what I spent on all of these. Our local library has a "library shop" in which they sell books that have either been donated and cannot be used, or library books that have been phased out of the system. I've come home with some amazing finds from this shop, and always make sure to check it out each time we are there, since they restock it frequently. Sassy and I went to the library on this cold Saturday morning, and we found some treasures in the library shop today! We chose twelve books. All children's books are a quarter a piece... you can't beat that! Yes, some are a little old, and some are a little worn... but there are so many books that have tons of life left in them!


We found some cute Little Golden books.


And we found some childhood favorites of mine.


We found a book by one of our favorite funny authors.


I always thought The Magic School Bus books were so neat.


And we came home with this, since it will be in three days.


$3.00 for twelve books. The library shop is a great place!

Stockings

This week, I ordered this stocking for Sassy. I love it! I've looked at it in years past and always figured I'd order after the season when it was being clearanced out, but always seemed to miss it. I was so excited to see that it's already on sale, so I ordered it. I decided to have it personalized as well, knowing it would not be here in time for Friday morning, but at least I will have it ready to go for Christmas 2010.

In Sassy's stocking (a cheap one we've had since the hospital nurses sent her home in it when she was born... it really was rather cute) this year will be:

• a straw cup with, I think, Elmo on it (can't remember for sure, but thinking it's one of those Sesame Street characters)
• a mini Little People set (a fairy looking one with a pet snail... ha!)
• a board book I picked up at the Scholastic sale this summer... because I haven't gotten around to wrapping it as I'd intended
• a baby bottle for her dollies
  
• raisins (a FAVORITE snack lately)
• dried fruit (same deal)
• graham cracker bunnies... how cute is that?
• an eating utensil set, because we can always use more of those, and.....
  
• TRAINING PANTS!!! Woohoo! I'm so interested to see how she reacts to her "big girl panties"... and if we'll continue on this train of really enjoying using the "big potty." Hee hee!
  

I love stocking stuffers. None of the items were any great, expensive purchase, but they are all things she'll enjoy (I think).

Other ideas I have already for next year include:

• bubble bath (why didn't I remember this when I was at Walmart for the second time in one day last night?)
• hair bows and clippies
• nail polish (I painted my toes red this morning, and she wanted hers done just the same way)
• play jewelry
  

Girls are so much fun! I swear I wouldn't know what to do with a boy. :)

Pumpkins and pacifiers

Sounds like a "Jon and Kate Plus Eight" episode, doesn't it? Or "Kate Plus Eight." Or "Jon Minus Kate." Or whatever they are today.

We're headed to the pumpkin patch and apple orchard tomorrow. I'm excited! Sassy LOVES pumpkins... I mean, they could almost qualify as a "favorite toy" right now. I can't wait to see her face when she sees a field full of them!

We're going to pick apples. I've never been apple-picking before, but since I have all the canning supplies, I'm going to try making homemade applesauce to can. Sassy could eat applesauce every single day if I let her, so I'm really curious to see how much cheaper it is to make my own. Maybe I'll even try making cinnamon apples for dessert tomorrow night. Yum!

I wanted to make her a cute pumpkin shirt this evening, but just ran out of time. When putting her to bed, she HANDED me her pacifier. That has NEVER happened before! I asked "Do you want Mommy to have your paci?" and she just laid there... so I took it with me, closed the door, and braced myself for the screaming. Which came... and lasted for the better part of an hour. I watched her on the monitor, and every time I debated going in, she would quiet down. Around the 45-minute mark, I went in her room, and all she wanted was to be held. It was so sweet... so precious... and gave me hope for the day when we actually WILL give up the pacifier that she might just be comforted by our presence. Which, by the way, that day is not today. We caved. She went to sleep approximately 1.483 seconds after getting that darn thing in her mouth again. *sigh*

So, since I had no intentions whatsoever to start paci-weaning tonight, and since I decided to get caught up on other things instead, Sassy will be wearing a decidedly non-fallish purple cable-knit sweater with a bow to match. (I had already started cute little korker clips to match the pumpkin shirt I had envisioned.) Oh well! It'll be too cold to go sans a coat anyway.

A giveaway

Erin is giving away two copies of Glenn Beck's "Common Sense." Head over there to put your name in the hat!