Does it seem like I’m getting a little frantic on The New Playroom? Well, I do have a deadline, and this is just one of the dominoes that needs to fall into place. We need to shift, both physically and mentally, some load to accommodate a new human being. That means, bring the planned playroom to fruition, create a separate space downstairs for hubby’s office, move hubby’s office out of our third bedroom, and, last but not least, set up the baby’s room. Whew, I’m tired just looking at that sentence.

As for The New Playroom, you may remember that last summer I had started paint swatching and deep cleaning with the intention of doing a major makeover in the basement before the snow flew. Clearly, that plan was derailed. Mainly by my first trimester, during which I felt well enough to do precisely NOTHING. Except, apparently, keep Ian alive. Hey, you live with a splitting headache for 12 weeks and see how you pull it off.

Which brings me to the latest “tick” on the list of “what must happen before this baby comes,” and that is that I have made over the second piece of basement furniture! Once again, paint covers a multitude of sins! I have completed the makeover on piece of furniture number 2 for The New Playroom. I’ve reached that point where a project in one part of your house means the REST of your house must be completely trashed for some reason no one fully understands, but hopefully we can get there before I lose my mind. We have 12 weeks (okay, technically, we have 12 weeks- probably actually 11 weeks total, with maybe five or six of them being weeks when I can actually do anything other than try not to hurt anyone because I’m so miserable in my enormous, pregnant body) to go!

Here’s today’s installment of the “Before and After.”

Freecycle Bookcase: Before!

Freecycle Bookcase: After!

At the start of this project (and, as you’ll see, during the rocky phase) I figured that this project would either succeed brilliantly or fail spectacularly.  We’ve decided that the verdict is that it’s a success.

I purchased this dresser ages ago at Goodwill in Wooster, OH for the grand sum of $10.  I promptly stripped it, and then, suffering from terminal indecision, never refinished it at all.  It had been sporting, in addition to its original blond finish, neon green and dark mud brown paint layers.  Someone had replaced the original hardware.  Judging by what they replaced it with, this is because the original pulls were not ugly enough.  The effect, with the dated brass hardware accessorizing a piece of furniture adorned by spots of neon green showing where the dark mud brown was damaged, was hideous.  Also, it was most likely the reason the dresser was only $10.

I’m truly, deeply sorry that I have neither a photo of the dresser in its original (to me) state, nor a photo of the look on my first husband’s face when I informed him he’d be helping me take that thing home.

What I do have are photos of how it has looked for the last seven years or so:

Archimedes and The Dresser.

The naked drawers with their original (to me) hardware.

This dresser has been hanging around unfinished for so long that it’s sustained some minor wear and tear, and I actually considered tossing it to the Freecycle wilderness and shopping for a replacement.  But I eventually decided that since it was a sturdy piece that I actually do like, as far as its bones go, I would finally refinish it to serve as toy storage in The New Playroom.  The New Playroom which, in case you were not aware, must be finished before this baby arrives or it will be another three years before I’m up to doing it.

Ian announced that he wanted the dresser to be “BLUE!” Blue is actually on the list of colors in the “color scheme” for the new playroom, so that was fine with me.  My original thought was that since I had stripped it, I’d use a tinted stain.  Well, I don’t know if the problem is that the dresser has been naked to the world and soaking up stuff for seven years, or if I didn’t do a proper job of the stripping so it would hold stain, or if I’m just massively unimpressed with the colored stain I bought, but it seems unlikely that I’ll attempt this again any time soon.  Because this is what I got:

Nice... not.

Did you happen to spot that there are extra holes for the drawer pulls?  Yeah, that’s how we knew the original hardware had been replaced.  The fact that someone drilled new holes and… never filled the old ones.  AWESOME!  I’m proud to be a part of this process.

So, having concluded that stain was not for me, I proceeded to the nearest Home Depot, where I shelled out a few extra dollars for the Behr paint plus primer.  I also grabbed some new hardware.  Here you have the result:

Under most circumstances, I’d find this color combo a bit strident, but I have two thoughts on this.  One, this is for a playroom for two small boys.  (Okay, one small boy and one soon-to-be small boy.)  Two, I’m pulling my colors from an “inspiration piece,” and if they’re good enough for Vincent VanGogh… well, I guess they’re good enough for me.

Stay tuned for more on The New Playroom.