Refinished Mid Century Modern Dresser/Credenza

I have no idea what this piece of furniture is called... I've heard so many different names.  A dresser?  A credenza?  A sideboard?  I think sideboards have cabinets so it's probably not that.  I'm using it in my bedroom so we'll call it a dresser.  Whatever it is, I'm in love with it.

Here is how I found it 

$50 at the Salvation Army store.  Not bad, right?  Well, the finish is bad.  It's in pretty rough shape.  Not to mention the color reminds me a little of Snooki.

I decided I would restain and poly it rather than painting it.  I had done a little research on MCM furniture and decided all the collectors might be onto something with maintaining the natural wood finish.  This is after I painted an $18 Broyhill Brasilia headboard I had found.  Turns out they're worth some money if they're in good condition.  Live and learn.  I do love that headboard in white, though.

I used Citristrip to take the finish off.

One word:  messy!!!  A few more words:  a lot of hard work!!!  A neighbor saw me working and said, "it will be worth it though".  I wasn't so sure.  Here are the drawers after being stripped

Then I sanded it.  Oh my gosh, the wood.  I don't know if you can tell just how beautiful it is in this picture after being sanded.

I just kind of rolled my eyes about the MCM furniture purists, but after seeing the quality of wood and craftsmanship that went into this piece, I'm a believer!

I used a dark walnut stain, trying to keep it close to the original finish (just a tad darker and a tad less Snooki).

I was really nervous doing this and thought for sure I was going to end up destroying the piece.  It turns out I'm really happy with the final results!

And then I sealed it with this

I really liked the product.  It cleaned up with water and I think the finish is beautiful.  I can't believe I didn't mess it up!!!

So here is the dresser in our bedroom.

up close

and from the top

I'm so proud of myself.  I'm allowed to say that, right?  Well, it's my birthday today so maybe just today I can say that.  I just didn't think I'd ever be capable of something like this.

Here's the process I used, in case you're curious
wash the dresser down
apply Citristrip
wait overnight then scrape with plastic scrapers
wash off remaining stripper
have husband get into crevices of dresser to remove stuff I'm too lazy to get to

sand with 100 grit
wipe down
sand with 220 grit
wipe down
let dry overnight
wipe down with tack cloth
brush on stain
after 15 minutes wipe off stain with cloth
wait overnight
3 coats poly, sanding with 400 grit and wiping down in between coats

Thanks so much for stopping by!

How do you feel about painted furniture vs stained furniture?  Do you say paint it all no matter the history of the piece?  Do you like all painted wood in a room or a mix?  Is it a sin I painted that headboard in my room?  Let me know what you think in the comments!

Blessings,

Jamie

This post is linked here:  Today's Creative Blog Blue Cricket Design Kurtz Corner Mommy by Day Crafter by Night Cherished Bliss Lines Across My Face Southern Lovely Bear Rabbit Bear French Country Cottage Craft Junkie Too DIY Home Sweet Home Saved by Love Domestically Speaking Funky Junk Interiors Homemaker on a Dime Eisy Morgan The Answer is Chocolate Making the World Cuter Craft-O-Maniac lolly jane 504 Main I Heart Naptime Singing Three Little Birds mad in crafts House of Hepworths Somewhat Simple Chic on a Shoestring Keeping it Simple Be Different Act Normal Sew Can Do Sew Chatty Pinkapotamus The Girl Creative Flamingo Toes Tatertots and Jello Sisters of the Wild West Reasons to Skip the Housework Giggles Glitz and Glam Tip JunkieThe Trendy Treehouse Ladybug Blessings Night Owl Crafting Tea Rose Home My Girlish Whims Allie Makes Gluesticks Thrifty 101 Momnivores Dilemma A Little Knick Knack Miss Mustard Seed Freckled Laundry kojo designs A vision to remember Primitive and Proper 733 Rook no 17 Home Stories A to Z Naptime Crafters Whipperberry delightful order blissful and domestic elizabeth and co diy by design gingersnap crafts>my repurposed life

Lego Party in the Hooooouuuuuse!

One of my favorite things about the new house:  Having enough space to throw a party here!  The kids' birthdays are only a day apart so they get lumped together into one big party.  The theme this year was "Legos"

 Here are a few details from the party

The Lego Ninjago cake

and here are a couple shots from while I was building the cake

I used the 6" pan on the bottom to prop the cake up a little higher

I layered the marshmallow fondant to make the "fabric".

Here is my daughter's cake

It doesn't look like anything Lego-related, you say?  It was supposed to be a Lego Friends cake but she changed her mind the week of the party!  So this princess crashed the Lego party.  I made the bottom with the Pampered Chef batter bowl and stuck one of those doll tops from the baking section of Hobby Lobby on top of it.

Here are the favor bags

and the gift tags for the bags

The girls received heart necklaces made out of two Lego bricks snapped together

and the boys got key chains

I found the bricks with the hole in them in a Lego grab bag I bought from the Lego store

Each kid received a bar of Lego soap too!

 I found the mold online.  The big tag is meant to deter kids from thinking it was an edible treat!

I also made a banner for the party

I downloaded the Legothick font online.  It took a little doctoring, but I was able to make it look like the Lego logo by outlining the letters in yellow and filling the insides with white in Photoshop

Each of the letters were adhered to a square of red cardstock.  The squares were sewn together across the top to hold the banner together.

I built a utensil holder out of megablocks... we didn't have enough Legos to make one.  Not to mention, it would have taken much longer had I made it out of little Legos!

We only ended up playing one game at the party... "guess the number of Legos in the jar".  I had other games planned but the kids were having fun just running around and playing with the toys we had out.  I wasn't going to mess with that!

And here are some of the boys doing what they love to do!

 You can see the shirt I made for my son in this shot too.  I made one for my daughter in pink that said "three" in the Lego font.

So, I might have gone a little over the top, but I was excited about our first big house party!  Let me know what you think in the comments... Thanks so much for stopping by!

Blessings,

Jamie

This post is linked here:  Today's Creative Blog Blue Cricket Design Kurtz Corner Mommy by Day Crafter by Night Cherished Bliss Lines Across My Face Southern Lovely Bear Rabbit Bear French Country Cottage Craft Junkie Too DIY Home Sweet Home Saved by Love Domestically Speaking Funky Junk Interiors Homemaker on a Dime Eisy Morgan The Answer is Chocolate Making the World Cuter Craft-O-Maniac lolly jane 504 Main I Heart Naptime Singing Three Little Birds mad in crafts House of Hepworths Somewhat Simple Chic on a Shoestring Keeping it Simple Be Different Act Normal Sew Can Do Sew Chatty Pinkapotamus The Girl Creative Flamingo Toes Tatertots and Jello Sisters of the Wild West Reasons to Skip the Housework Giggles Glitz and Glam Tip JunkieThe Trendy Treehouse Ladybug Blessings Night Owl Crafting Tea Rose Home My Girlish Whims Allie Makes Gluesticks Thrifty 101 Momnivores Dilemma A Little Knick Knack Miss Mustard Seed Freckled Laundry kojo designs A vision to remember Primitive and Proper 733 Rook no 17 Home Stories A to Z Naptime Crafters Whipperberry delightful order blissful and domestic elizabeth and co diy by design gingersnap crafts>my repurposed life

Knitted Newborn Pea Pod and Hat

A good friend just had a beautiful baby girl!  The baby is the newest addition to our "POD" (this is what we call our Monday night dinner club).  So I thought she could use an outfit to help welcome her to the group... get it?  Pea pod?

I found the pattern for the pod at Ruby Knits... I knew it was perfect the moment I saw it!

I used a different pattern for the hat than she did.  I just wanted a simple roll top hat.  I adapted a patter from Knitting on the Net

Materials:

• Lion Brand Yarn – Hometown USA – Oklahoma City Green (Or any super bulky weight yarn)
• Size 15 circular needle, set of large double pointed needles
• yarn needle

Cast on 30 stitches

Switch to circular needles and put a marker after the last st

Knit in St st (knit every rnd) for 6" (I ended up purling all the sts because they ended up backwards on the circular needles)

Crown Decreases:
Round 1: k6, k2tog; rep around
Round 2: knit 
Round 3: k5, k2tog; rep around
Round 4: knit
Round 5: k4, k2tog; rep around
Round 6: knit

Round 7: k3, k2tog; rep around

Round 8: knit

Cont in this manner until 3 sts rem. Change to double points when sts no longer fit.
K2tog around until 3 sts remain.
Work I-Cord for 2 to 3 inches.
Draw yarn through the 3 sts on needle and pull through center of stem.

*The whole outfit turned out a little bigger than I had planned... I bet she'll be able to wear it around 3 months or so.  You might want to adjust the pattern if you'd like it smaller!

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Jamie

This post is linked here:  Today's Creative Blog Blue Cricket Design Kurtz Corner Mommy by Day Crafter by Night Cherished Bliss Lines Across My Face Southern Lovely Bear Rabbit Bear French Country Cottage Craft Junkie Too DIY Home Sweet Home Saved by Love Domestically Speaking Funky Junk Interiors Homemaker on a Dime Eisy Morgan The Answer is Chocolate Making the World Cuter Craft-O-Maniac lolly jane 504 Main I Heart Naptime Singing Three Little Birds mad in crafts House of Hepworths Somewhat Simple Chic on a Shoestring Keeping it Simple Be Different Act Normal Sew Can Do Sew Chatty Pinkapotamus The Girl Creative Flamingo Toes Tatertots and Jello Sisters of the Wild West Reasons to Skip the Housework Giggles Glitz and Glam Tip JunkieThe Trendy Treehouse Ladybug Blessings Night Owl Crafting Tea Rose Home My Girlish Whims Allie Makes Gluesticks Thrifty 101 Momnivores Dilemma A Little Knick Knack Miss Mustard Seed Freckled Laundry kojo designs A vision to remember Primitive and Proper 733 Rook no 17 Home Stories A to Z Naptime Crafters Whipperberry delightful order blissful and domestic elizabeth and co diy by design gingersnap crafts>my repurposed life

Extra Long Curtains for Super Cheap

Another window treatment post... yippee!  Sorry I've been gone so long; I've missed you all terribly.  Things are starting to slow down and the kids go back to school next week so I should be able to start blogging again.  Anyway, here are our newest curtains

It is crazy difficult to find reasonably priced curtains for really tall windows.  I got the idea to use cheap Bed Bath and Beyond tablecloths from from Robin Flies South.  I am eternally grateful to her!

You can buy any size for $12.99.  That's pretty close to $10 a panel when you use the 20% off coupon (which never expires, by the way).  Not bad, right?  These panels are 120 inches long... perfect for the 10 foot ceilings we have in the house!

I hemmed them just to make sure they don't puddle too much at the floor.

And I made "faux pinch pleats" that I learned to do from Allison at House of Hepworths.  The rings and clips are from IKEA.

Each side of the sliding glass door has two panels and the little window has one panel on each side.  That's about $65 in curtains.  

I tried one panel on each side of the big window, but the curtains wouldn't quite close all the way.  So I chip clipped them together when I wanted them to stay closed.  Just until I bought 2 more panels. 

 Yep, I'm super classy.

I am so happy with how they turned out!  The room is starting to come together... now just to replace the tiny coffee table that gets lost in such a big room.  I'll be posting about other changes in the house soon.  I promise!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  And thanks for sticking with such a slacker blogger ;o)

Blessings,

Jamie

Featured here:

This post is linked here:  Today's Creative Blog Blue Cricket Design Kurtz Corner Mommy by Day Crafter by Night Cherished Bliss Lines Across My Face Southern Lovely Bear Rabbit Bear French Country Cottage Craft Junkie Too DIY Home Sweet Home Saved by Love Domestically Speaking Funky Junk Interiors Homemaker on a Dime Eisy Morgan The Answer is Chocolate Making the World Cuter Craft-O-Maniac lolly jane 504 Main I Heart Naptime Singing Three Little Birds mad in crafts House of Hepworths Somewhat Simple Chic on a Shoestring Keeping it Simple Be Different Act Normal Sew Can Do Sew Chatty Pinkapotamus The Girl Creative Flamingo Toes Tatertots and Jello Sisters of the Wild West Reasons to Skip the Housework Giggles Glitz and Glam Tip JunkieThe Trendy Treehouse Ladybug Blessings Night Owl Crafting Tea Rose Home My Girlish Whims Allie Makes Gluesticks Thrifty 101 Momnivores Dilemma A Little Knick Knack Miss Mustard Seed Freckled Laundry kojo designs A vision to remember Primitive and Proper 733 Rook no 17 Home Stories A to Z Naptime Crafters Whipperberry delightful order blissful and domestic elizabeth and co diy by design gingersnap crafts>my repurposed life