Little Projects

My house is chaos. Chaos I tell you. Moving furniture, sorting clothes, purging useless toys. In an effort to eventually reach the goal of a baby-ready house, I've sort of turned everything upside down and now it's worse than ever. But, at least it's an "in progress" sort of mess instead of just usual "kids live here and I'm too tired" kind of mess.

A couple of projects are done. I've been doing a lot of painting. Probably more than a pregnant lady should. But I do it outside when I can and take lots of breaks. I painted when I was pregnant with my boys. And they're totally normal....sort of.

The two pieces I'll share today are my favorites in the whole house. They needed some love though.

My in-laws bought us this chest as a wedding gift. I love it. It's roomy and the inside smells wonderful. I keep my sheets in it so they smell like cedar. It's a combination of wood and pressed wood with brass handles. And while I love its shape and size and function, I'd fallen out of love with its finish. I've noticed my house is small. I've also noticed that darker furniture makes it feel even smaller, so I've been updating things with lighter colors to make it feel cottagey and peaceful in here instead of cluttered.

I had some creamy white paint and black wrought iron spray paint already on hand, so this project was basically free. It was tricky though, because those handles would NOT come off. They're glued, not screwed, so those suckers weren't budging no matter how much I tried. So I had to spray paint them first, then paint the white around it with a tiny brush. It's not perfect, but luckily, I'm not a perfectionist and I'm very happy with the results:

LOVE. I wasn't sure about the black at first, but I've decided I really like it. Seth is impressed too. And it was free. So that makes everyone happy.

Project number 2 was hubby's dresser from way back in the day. I've always liked the shape of this dresser. It's all wood. I'm not sure how old it is because there are no dates or stamps on it anywhere, but it seems sturdy. The finish is a faux antique which had seen better days and the knobs are brass. Again, not a fan of brass, but I figured the same technique I'd used for the chest would work for this.

Here's the before:

And, after a bazillion coats of paint:

Yay, paint! The shelves above will be moved to the homeschool room once the boys move to their new bedroom upstairs. I'm thinking this wall will get a mirror and some photos hung on it at some point.

The white shows off the beautiful curves even more.

Shopped the house and found some lamps and decor.

So, it's still a wreck in here. But at least there are a couple pretty things. More to come.