A Walk on the Masculine Side

Whew! After taking two months working on a totally different type of project, I'm back to full Junky Vagabond mode!! For those of you who saw my post yesterday, that was unintended. I was waiting on the handles, wrote up the post, and scheduled it for a time in the future thinking that would surely be enough time...and promptly forgot about it - DOH! Well, the handles came in and I have finished both the dresser AND the post :)

While working this other project, I was able to score two old dressers and an old desk. All are going to get refinished and one is being given to my very deserving youngest brother. He's a veteran, a law school graduate, and is an all-around great person IMUO (in my unbiased opinion - LOL). When he mentioned that he hasn't had a dresser since he was a kid, well it became my personal mission to get him one...preferably on the cheap and something needing a transformation.

Enter this Blond Beauty:

It's in decent condition, it has a cool art-deco curved look to it, and best of all: it was $25. My brother has a few pieces of furniture and they are all dark wood, so this baby was going dark. Quite a difference from all the white-washed and bright colors out in bloggy-land, but the masculine look is a welcome change of pace for me.

My first step was to take off the handles. They were fine, but I wanted to update and modernize the piece a little and that would take a different pull. The first pull came away with some of the veneer - oops. This requires some putty and I was hoping it wouldn't be too noticeable after staining. If it stood out too much as a repair, the whole place was getting painted. I really wanted to stain it though and have the grain show through.

Success! After staining with a dark ebony stain, the repair doesn't stand out too much. And even better, the rest of the pulls came off without damaging the veneer.

Now, anyone who's ever stained a piece knows it's a little bit different than painting. Follow the directions and it should work out just fine. The finish didn't turn out as dark as I would've hoped, but overall, it's a nice, warm color. The finish is a boiled linseed, that should darken over time. It has a hand-rubbed look to it just like old, antique furniture (and is soooo much easier than poly or even wax!)

Here is the finished dresser, with the new handles. It's a more modern look, but the handles have a curve to them as does the dresser, and it all works nicely. Dave, this is for you :)

Check out my Party Central page to see where I link up!

Going Bananas

Ever have a need and just want to fix it simply and easily? Here's something that I finally took care of that should make my hubs very happy.

What in the world?

My husband has a problem with bananas. Not in the 'They're just so yellow' or 'Why do they always travel in bunches' type of problem; he loves them, but hates how they get bruised just sitting around. I know, I know - just get a banana hanger and be done with it, right?

Well, if you have the infamous galley kitchen with ONE countertop space to work with you know my answer: Just Say No! to anything else on the counters. I'm forever shoving stuff in a drawer or cabinet to get it off the counter. Drives my husband crazy when I put his wallet in the drawer, but I digress.

To fix the problem without adding to counter clutter (shudder), I simply drilled a small pilot hole into the cabinet and screwed in a simple hook.

To those of you who are hesitant to drill into perfectly fine cabinets, I say: it's underneath, it's wood and meant to be drilled into, and if you take it out later - a little wood putty takes care of the small hole. Go ahead and drill if it makes your life a little easier.

To those of you who wonder if the hook isn't decorative enough or if stands out, take a look:

It doesn't really stand out too much as it's near the radio (which is also hung from the cabinets and off the counter), and when the hook is being used properly...

...it's not seen at all. Since we always have bananas in the house, this should work just fine and it only cost 36 cents. Not everything has to be decorative folks.

Alas, the counter was only cleared for the pictures and is now filled with mail, assorted water bottles, and other household clutter *sigh*.

As a sneak peak of what I've been working on for a little while and am impatiently waiting on a delivery to finish:

More on that piece coming soon! Until then, I'm going to go take advantage of the beautiful weather and spray paint my little heart out :) Happy August everyone!