I Did It All for the Nookie!

So I lied on this post's title. I did it all on this Nook for organization and my sanity. The poor poor people that are my friends and family know that I am a crazy person when it comes to organization. Actually, I'm really just a crazy person in general but for the sake of this blog and their anonymity I'll just keep going. I like each object to have a specific place and purpose. So when this...



...was my laundry nook, it was officially deemed unacceptable.

Since there really isn't much space in there we had to make the most out of the square footage. Luckily there were already two very large

chudd ugly

shelves installed in there they just needed a little pretty added to them. After many a coat of paint because for some reason I hate primer (shout out to Behr paint + primer in one) they were starting to look like they actually fit in the rest of our traditional cottage.

Since no white walls are allowed in this home the builders white had to go. Quick reminder that this is not a NEW house, so this makes me greatly question the souls that lived here before us and stood for this bland impostor! The laundry nook is right off the kitchen and dining room so I decided to paint it the same color as below the chair rail in the dining room.



What is a laundry nook without baskets labeled in a foreign language right?! Well let me help you there. No nook of mine that's what! I bought these little baskets at Fred Meyer one Saturday just knowing that my Organization OCD would need caressing at some point. Then added ribbon from a previous project with a label in French so it frustrates my husband and there ya go a little cubby for rags, cleaning supplies, dog supplies, toilet tissue and laundry goodies.



Mr. Budden has a long reigning history of washing things in his pockets so I saw this little diddy on Pinterest.com and decided it was a necessity for this tiny space. Not really thinking that the person who will be reading the jar, I labeled it in French too. Who needs to read when you have a GIANT check mark and a mason jar? Seriously.



And since we already have other guestimating going ons elsewhere in this space let's add some laundry decals that no one uses anymore because we know how to read, and the greatest part of the whole project, my Mrs. Neat Freak Laundry Organizer and there you have a pretty little room.

Voila!

There you have an Ashlyn friendly, less brain cringing laundry nook. Save the oohing and awing for the upcoming football season because I've done enough of that, the washer and dryer are starting to get big heads.

Seizure Sewing Table

After eating a fantastic 10 pieces of bacon while grabbing my gut and hoping this one nights mishaps won't make me gain back the 15 pounds I've lost, I decided to post about my recent furniture mishaps and success.

Slowly and surely the new room is coming along. I was going to wait and reveal all the accoutrement at once but I just can't. So I'll make a few nugget sized posts instead. Woot!

I got this sewing table after saving this girl's life at a garage sale. So I guess she wasn't actually dead. She had a seizure and was non responsive but it acts A LOT like dead. That's another story for another post but I got it for free regardless. This is what it used to look like.

What a sad little piece of unloved furniture.

Then BAM!

Lookin' saucy! Not as saucy as those Victoria Secret commercials that randomly come on the TV and our men pretend not to look at, but pretty dang fine.

Things not shown in these pictures:

• Spilling Dark Walnut stain ALL OVER our deck, the dog, my legs and more importantly my 'bidness' a little north of my legs. Note for future stainers--WEAR LONG SHORTS AND DON'T SIT SPREAD EAGLE!

• Carrying my 70 lbs. Golden Retriever with wood stain on her paws while trying to take giant leaps in my husband's flip flops to the bathroom as not to get stain all over our new carpet.

• Blowdrying the desk after a week of not completely drying.

Yes, this was supposed to be my easy project after the dresser...it wasn't.
Looks pretty good though. Eh?

Stripe Tease

I wish I was a little less excited about this reveal alas I'm not. It was my first furniture project and so I was SUPER slow at it and went a little crazy with making sure everything was great. I love the way it turned out. First a little bit of history.

This dresser belonged to my great great grandmother. She used it most of her life and passed it down to her children, who passed it to their children who gave it to their kids and grand kids. Needless to say I was a little worried to tryout my new hobby on a piece that means so much to many people. I hope they like it. If not they can rush my house and steal it out of my tea room. Bring it.

Before I show ya'll the results I have to share my favorite part of the dresser.



That is my great great grandmother's handwriting on the back of the dresser. I can't tell you how many times I have run my hand over that signature and wondered about her history and the stories this piece could tell.

When I was 13 I wrote a message on the bottom drawer hoping that someone would find it and run their hands over it and wonder about my story. This seems doubtful but darnit I love my rose colored glasses.

Alright here we go. Hope you like it, If not...good thing it's not in your house.




BEFORE








AFTER



It literally took 3 or 4 hours just to sand the top down enough to stain it. I learned a few things during that time mainly I HATE SANDING. It gets everywhere, on everything and that noise makes me feel like I need to go see my dentist. However the wood absorbed the stain beautifully and the Dark Walnut stain looks amazing.



Notice the smile on my face at the BEGINNING of this project. Oh and how long my hair was!

I wanted to do something fun with the drawers but didn't quite have the guts to go all crazy tiger on over a hundred year old wood dresser. Call me crazy! I thought the stripes would bring it up to current day design without offending my vintage taste. I just taped off a few straight lines with plain old painters tape and BOOM! Stripage.



I purchased new knobs to better support the continual pulling motion since the little handles were starting to wear on the wood. The knobs were the most expensive part of this whole project it also took almost 2 weeks to get here! But boy are they heavy and solid! She's a brick house is playing in my head right now. Aren't they pretty?! She's mighty mighty, lettin' it all hang out...sorry.



We are using the dresser/buffet to hold our DVDs right now but I have high hopes to keep this dresser in our family for another century. Which means it probably has many restorations coming her way. Little nip here, little tuck there. Hopefully she doesn't turn out like Lisa Marie Presley. Whoo! Poor girl.