My hands are still vibrating

The final project to be completed for the DIY room is to refinish the Craig's List dresser I purchased a month ago...

It has been sitting in my garage since the day I brought it home...starring me down every time I walk by.  But honestly, I have been lacking motivation.  And that motivation got even harder to find as the temps have begun to drop.  Spending time in my ice cold garage is not so appealing.  But when my friend Celia asked if she could borrow my sander for a few projects of her own the clock started ticking.

I told her I would bring it by Thursday (yesterday) which provided exactly what I needed...a deadline.  Sometimes I find this is just how I work.  Give me a date something must be done by and it is done.  Tell me "whenever" and whenever might actually turn into never.

I got to work Monday.  I started with the top of the dresser, which I decided I would fully sand to remove all of the paint.  And just as I had hoped, beautiful wood popped up underneath all that paint.  Which means I am going to put a light coat of poly on the top and leave the natural wood exposed.

The rest is going to be primed and painted so all it needed was a once over to rough it up, remove the paint that was pealing and smooth out the scratches.  But it wasn't a quick job.  I worked at it Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and my hands still hurt and feel like they are experiencing a minor earthquake.  (Typing this post right now is not helping the issue!)

But it is done and ready for the next step...primer.  All I need now is someone to tell me they need to borrow my primer to make it actually happen!  Otherwise it might stay looking like this till Spring...

Plate Wall...You Make Me Hungry!

Have I mentioned that I LOVE the wall stencil in my DIY room?!?!?  But with that said it did need a little something to break it up.  To much purple damask is just to much purple damask!  So I came up with a frugal solution...

I have been wanting to do a plate wall for awhile.  I was initially planning on adding it to the dining room (which still has paint samples on the wall from months ago...shhhhh) but there may have been mentions of "granny decor" from the male in the household.  Now let me first say that I agree, acient flowery china on the wall can be a little gray haired walkerish but this age old tradition has been updated as of late and is popping up everywhere!





Oh, and I couldn't not show you this one.  It is insane!  I just hope they don't have an earthquake!



(From here, here and here)

So granny plates are back ladies and gentlemen but they are updated, new and farmhouse chic!  But back to my plate wall...

I have been collecting these plates over time.  One is from Anthroplogie (my big $16 splurge), 2 are from World Market (I think around $4 each), 2 are from Goodwill (a whopping 69 cents a pop), 1 is from Target (on sale for $3) and the last one is from Marshall's ($2.99).

Rather then using plate hangers, which I recommend if you plan on eating off the plates at some point, I used wire hangers.  You know, those hooks that you attach to the back of a frame and then string a piece of hanging wire between.  I hot glued them to the back of the plates and let them dry overnight.  Then simply hung them on nails in a random somewhat pre-determined pattern.

I think the white does a lovely job of breaking up the purple.  Don't you think???

P.S. Check out my great new lamp from Target...on sale of course!  I love her!

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