Finished Master Bedroom Dresser

Here is my new dresser!

The most special part of it isn't that I made it; instead, it is something you can't see.

My son, husband and I each wrote messages on the piece that would be the inside back of the dresser.  My son wrote his name and the date in his little 6 yr old scrawl along with a funny message.  My husband wrote about a funny book that they love to read.  I wrote a silly thing what little guy and I always say to each other which is 'I love you more than my Jimmy Choo shoes.'  Can't tell you why it started one day, but he knew it got a laugh by the time he was 3 yrs old, and said it often lol!!

We will always know that there are special messages to each other hidden in the dresser.  Yet another reason to build your own stuff!

Next post -  hopefully, the finished bed.

 *This post was written before I changed the name of my blog.*

Master Dresser Project

The master bedroom is going to be the first room I tackle because a very special project is nearly done - a dresser built by me!  Can hardly believe that I get to say that!  Here are some pictures of it in progress.

Building the box - summer

Attaching drawer fronts - winter

Nearly finished!

And how did I become a furniture making mama, you ask?  (Not that anyone is asking since my husband is the only one who is reading this.)  My absolute idol on the internet is an amazing woman named Ana White.  You can find here facebook site here  www.facebook.com/knockoffwood.com and her main website here www.ana-white.com.   She lives in Alaska and builds furniture, houses, and huge crowds of fans.  Ana generously posts plans for everything from furniture to toys, and they are all free.  She is so generous with her personal time answering a lot of questions from newbies like me, and her readers also give great guidance and support.

After discovering Ana early last year, I decided that I would take a weekend cabinet-making class at our local Woodcraft.  Our instructor, Art, taught us the basics of drawing up our own plans and helped me to learn the table saw, track saw, and the Kreg jig pocket hole thing. (Thanks, Art!)

The dresser plan is based on the Patrick's Beach Dresser on Ana's site but doubled in width and different legs.  You can see all sorts of modification to plans on the Brag Posts on Ana's site.

So why a dresser?  My hubs and I always joked that when our son grew up, he would think that his parents' favorite hobby was dresser shopping.  No kidding!  We have been shopping for a dresser for 8 years, and if we liked them, they were too expensive.   Plus, we wanted a very specific simple style.  Enter my first build.  (I don't advise this as a first build.  Please don't. Pick something that doesn't need to be squared.  Mark Twain said, "Ignorance and confidence, and success is assured.  I was definitely ignorant; confident, naaah, mostly ignorant.)

It's true that I have been building it in our family room since August, but it is massive and it does have 8 drawers.  And, I had to wait for a sale on compound miter saws.  And I made several  a few mistakes that had to be redone.  And I had to sand and sand.  And I became paralyzed at the thought of staining and finishing the thing and let it sit for a month because I didn't want to ruin it.

But now, other than feet, which will be completed this week, it is FINISHED! There are some imperfections, but so what?! Yea me!  Building is so much fun.  Pics of the final dresser next post.

*This post was written before I changed the name of my blog.*

So many unfinished projects...

I cannot believe that I am going to actually show people my unfinished, undecorated house, but you first have to admit you have a problem, right?

When I was working at a company owned mostly by investors from Louisiana, they had a guy who had the funniest expressions.  Whenever there was something unpleasant to face up to, he would say, "Let's get that dead cat out on the table."  Never knew what killed the cat.  Or why it was still around and not properly buried.  Or what good it would do to have it ON the table, but the saying always makes me laugh.  Right now, I can hear his voice in my head as I prepare to face the unpleasantness that is my house and my slothy (is that a word? it should be!) ways.

So here they are...

Silver surfer in my son's playroom - doesn't have a hand and hasn't for over 2 years.  I painted 12 versions of that hand in our old house, and just haven't had the stomach for spending time on it here.   (His buddy, Iron Man, has hands but they are just red blobs.  20 minutes to give him fingers - I think he's earned them, don't you?!)  Also, the metallic paint on the surf board shows up really poorly with the flash - it actually looks normal in person.
 

8 foot Captain Rex and two clone troopers in my son's bedroom.  I spent days and days  trying to figure out the drawing from a very dark poster and got this far.  Then I saw an outline drawing in a coloring book someone gave us which would have saved me a good 20 hours, became very frustrated, and these joined Silver Surfer in never never land.  4 hours I think to finish the outlining,  gun detail and general clean up.

That sad little tree adds quite a statement, doesn't it??




R2D2 - seriously it would take 30 minutes to finish this guy.  It's been 6 months...

(Accidentally captured yet another unfinished project - the towel bars for his bathroom.  They're about to celebrate their 2nd anniversary sitting in that same corner.)













Started making slipcovers for my kitchen chairs, but after 4 of them, I decided I didn't like the fabric - too  wrinkly.  It has now been a year. We had our festive Christmas meal with the table looking exactly like that even though I bookmarked 50 beautiful holiday table ideas.  None of them were going to make this look nice LOL!

There are probably a dozen more, but I am making myself a little crazy just thinking of how far in the weeds I am.

Thankfully, I have discovered the amazing Ana White and a slew of other incredible bloggers, crafters, woodworkers and artists, and am ready to start completing each room starting with our bedroom.

I would love to hear if any of you all have had similar experiences!  Good luck to me!

*This post was written before I changed the name of my blog.*