Our "new" buffet

My sweet in-laws gave us this dresser over a year ago - someone had given it to them, and we told them we'd love to refinish it and use it as a buffet for our dining room. The drawers are nice and wide and would be perfect to hold dishes and place mats and all of our fancy serving ware. 

And then this beautiful dresser sat in our garage for over a year. First I was sick, then we put our rent house on the market, then I hit my busy season with work, and next thing we knew, it was the dead of winter and much too cold to tackle a garage project.

But last weekend after lazily watching a Saturday morning movie with Mr. Right as we recovered from our California trip, I got a wild hair to work on the dresser.

It's really a fabulous piece of furniture - look at those curves! This 300 pound solid wood beauty had lived in a little girl's bedroom for many years and been well-loved. It was time for her to get a makeover. 

First, I sanded off the rough edges and scratches with our electric sander. Because of the primer we chose, we didn't have to completely remove the finish, just make it smooth. 

We decided to use spray paint on this project, and I'm so glad we did - it was a total dream! Take it from a girl who has used a paint brush on all of my previous furniture projects - this was SO MUCH FASTER.

First, we used KILZ primer in white to prime it for painting. My only complaint is that it went on a little rougher than I would have liked.

While the primer was drying I ran to the grocery store then stopped by the local hardware store to pick up white high gloss spray paint. By the time I got home an hour later, the primer was dry and we were ready for round two - painting.

I used 2-3 coats of spray paint, which went on really smoothly. We had a few drips, but nothing we couldn't fix. The whole thing took about 30 minutes, as opposed to several hours of painting with a brush. I will forever be a spray paint kind of girl.

We debated about what type of hardware we would buy (and since we had 12 drawers, we knew that was going to be pretty expensive), but my interior designer sister suggested we just spray paint the original hardware black since it's still an interesting shape.  

And five minutes and one can of spray paint later, we had black hardware that looked brand-new.

Then came the hardest part - we had to let it dry overnight. I was so tempted to go ahead and move it into the house because I couldn't wait to see how it would look in our dining room - but I was good and my patience was rewarded... everything dried perfectly.

The next day Mr. Right and I carried it into the dining room and I installed all of the hardware and then added padded white drawer liners to protect our dishes from sitting directly on the wood. Now our beloved buffet houses our china, chargers, place mats and other accessories, and I love it because everything has its own compartment. It's a disorganized organized girl's dream!

And of course, we left a little note to remember our project.

I have a new big girl bed

I have a new big girl bed. Thanks to my fabulous in-laws who decided to change up their guest bedroom, we got this gorgeous thing as a hand-me-down. Swoon.

Mr. Right asked me what I thought, as I was lying in bed, feeling totally spoiled by a headboard AND a footboard. I told him I feel like a princess.

"And you know what?" he asked me. "There's no duct tape."

Ahh, yes. That's how I know I've made it to the big time. I have a bed with a headboard, a footboard, and NO duct tape. Very unlike the bed I used for the past nine years... a hand-me-down from a sweet neighbor's son (circa 1982) with a headboard that just leaned against the wall and a bed frame held together with half a roll of duct tape. And no footboard.

In case you're wondering, duct tape could probably hold an 18-wheeler to a high rise. It held me for nine years, including a few times when I may or may not have jumped and/or danced on my bed (don't judge).

Now I just need to figure out what to hang over our bed - I used to have two hand-carved boards from Pottery Barn that I somehow, in a fit of stubbornness, hung myself - wall anchors and all - even though they weigh about 50 pounds each. There are about 100 holes hiding behind those two hangings, so either Mr. Right is going to have to patch them, or we're going to have to find something gigantic to cover the holes. I may have to give my interior designer sister a call for a consult. I'm hoping she'll trade some tips for free babysitting... she's going to need it come this summer when my nephew arrives. (enter squeals of excitement here)

Oh, and I should probably take the bedskirt we got as a wedding gift out of the package, now that I have my big girl bed. I've been meaning to do it for the past 13 months, but it requires ironing. And I hate ironing. But now I'm inspired.

As for curtains on that poor, naked window (there's actually about four naked windows)... that will have to wait awhile longer. I'll be too busy looking at my big girl bed to even notice them.

Do you burn more calories when you heart is racing?

It's T-minus 12 days until a little party I'm throwing for 1,000 people.

Yep. A thousand.

To get ready for this little shindig, I had to produce a 10-minute video. Hire a cake decorator from The Food Network. Work with the White House, the Governor's office, and every elected official our hospital is connected to on the city, state, and national level. And ship some custom-made chocolates across the United States in a refrigerated truck.

You might say I'm a little stressed. But I'm also so excited I can barely stand it.

In other news:

-I am now belting all of my flowy shirts so that pestering P-question goes away.

-I finished my Pink Lady quilt... I'm so pleased, even though I learned a difficult lesson in binding the quilt... I stink at it. But it's finished and next time, I'll be hand-finishing that binding.

-I've already started on my next quilt... this one is a gift. I haven't decided if I will go ahead and spill the beans early, or hold out and surprise my sweet friend who will be receiving it, and then just blog about it later. We'll see if I can keep a secret (doubtful).

-I'm taking Mr. Right on a surprise date this Saturday. He plans so many of these for me, and I've never planned one for him. I'm so excited, and I LOVE getting to tease him and watch him squirm - he wants to know SO BADLY what we're going to do. Just between you and me - it's going to be so. much. fun.

-Next week I start teaching English as a Second Language classes at my church, just one evening a week. My life-long dream of being an English teacher is about to be fulfilled in a very unexpected way. God is so cool like that. I can't wait to meet the women from all over the world who will be in my class. They don't know this, but I've been praying for them for months.

-We did a major house decorating update Saturday, for total cost of a can of spray paint. People keep donating the coolest furniture to us (thanks to our parents on both sides), and Saturday we finally put almost everything in its place, painted a mirror, hung pictures, and Mr. Right even built me a shelf from scrap wood he had in our garage. I am so pleased with the finished result, which includes a craft room for me! I now have a fantastic set-up for sewing and crafting in our back spare bedroom, including a dresser I'm using to organize all my supplies. Pictures coming soon. And Mr. Right has an even better-looking office with a vintage-lookig mirror he painted and stained. We realize that once we fill our home with children, my sewing room and his study will probably be relegated to our closet, so we plan to thoroughly enjoy the space while we have it.

During the house decorating, Mr. Right hung up our wedding thumb print tree (we used this in place of a guest book at our wedding and showers... you can buy it off of Etsy) in our living room, and I was so happy to see it up that I cried. I know - I'm a bit sentimental, but seeing the signatures of all of our favorite people absolutely made my day.

It'll probably hang in our house until we're old and gray, and then it will follow us to the nursing home. The verse on there is from 2 Thessalonians 3:5 - the scripture Will began secretly praying over me after our first date.

Swoon.

The barking dog

Dear Neighbor:

Your barking dog woke me up again this morning. He does this every morning. It’s not like I sleep late… sometimes your dog wakes me up before my alarm goes off at 6:30. On the weekends, your dog usually wakes me up around 7:00 a.m. I really do like animals, but I don’t want to hear your dog bark before I have the chance to stumble out of bed to have my first cup of coffee. I’m a patient individual, but not until after 8:00. Before that, I’m a bit irrational.

Part of me wants to march over to your house, knock on the door, and very sweetly ask you to muzzle your dog. But I don’t know you yet, and I’m not sure how you’ll take my request. I’d hate for you to shoot me or vandalize my house or something.

I have considered leaving you a note. Maybe I could type it, or cut the letters out of a magazine and paste it together so you won’t be able to track it back to me. But that seems kind of passive-aggressive, and I’m really a nice person. At least, when I’ve had my sleep.

I’ve thought about calling the city to report you. Or maybe the Homeowner’s Association. Or I could always shoot your stupid dog with a tranquilizer dart. Not to kill it, of course, but to shut it up for a few hours.

I’ve had a lot of time to think about my options as I lay in bed each Saturday morning, unable to sleep because of the constant, incessant barking. Over and over and OVER.

So please at least consider the muzzle. Or a tranquilizer. Or maybe move. Just please, PLEASE stop the barking. Even my dog, the Wonder Schnoodle, is annoyed.

Thank you,
A concerned neighbor