Freebie Dresser Progress and Ads from 1895

I'm taking my time working on my freebie dresser and I'm a little too lazy to work on another project at the same time, so instead of an exciting furniture reveal, you're getting Slacker Emily progress pics! By the way, I just realized I'm working on the most recent piece of furniture I acquired. Do you do that too? I think there are 4 other projects that should be ahead of this one, but I guess I like to take on the one that's fresh in my mind.

Here's what the pathetic dresser looked like when I got it off the curb.

And here's what it looked like at the end of last week after I removed the peeling veneer from the top and second drawer, and took out the last two drawers.

This past weekend I sanded the top and the second drawer with an electric sander, and today I removed the veneer from the first drawer and started painting the dresser with Behr Creamy White. Initially I wanted to keep the veneer on the first drawer because I didn't want to lose the little wood detail in the middle, but realized I was able to remove it and keep the detail intact! Hurrah!

After seeing the first coat of paint, which is also acting as primer, I can already tell I'm going to need at least 3 coats on the entire dresser. Considering I had to remove the veneer from the top and it was a little bumpy before I sanded it down, it looks better than I thought it would. And can I tell you that it was crazy hot in Houston today and I sweating like mad when I was working on this dresser in the garage? Ick. I took like 3 showers today.

And as promised awhile back, here are some ads from the New Zealand Herald from October 1895. I know, I know...they're awesome.

I LOVE the owl in the bacon trade ad. I'm thinking of framing it but am still mad at myself for accidentally tearing the company name off the top which was "MOREPORK." Best name ever! And I bet I can guess which ad Sue from Sullivan and Murphy likes best :).

Which one is your favorite???

Pick-up the Lovely Beasts Button!

Hooray! Lovely Beasts has an official button. It would be awesome if you linked up to it!

My mom helped me customize both this button and the banner using free images she found at http://vintagefeedsacks.blogspot.com/. I really love how they turned out. They represent Lovely Beasts perfectly. Thanks mom for your help! And for putting up with me :).



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Most Exciting Estate Sale Find: Vintage Faucet!

I was saving this for a special day, and today that day has come! This was the very first estate sale find that got my heart pumping and my palms sweating. I found it in the garage in a box full of rusty junk. I tried to keep calm when I heard the price, but inside I was pumping my fists and screaming happily.

Here she is!

A gorgeous vintage faucet with handles. The label reads the company 'Stylecraft' and it looks like it was sold locally in Houston. I don't know how old it is, but I have a feeling the copper stem/lift rod is older than the rest of the faucet set. Doesn't matter to me either way, I think it's amazing! Not sure if I'll be able to use this in my future home, but if not I know it would look lovely in someone else's. And ignore the plastic sticking out of the faucet in these pictures, I don't want to remove it because it's keeping some parts from getting scratched.

Isn't it great? I loooooove! And just for fun, here's a vintage chalkboard I bought for $1.50 a couple months ago at a resale shop. 

I actually bought two of them, but my husband broke one last week. Wah! But don't worry, he didn't get in too much trouble! I've destroyed a couple of his things since we've been together, so now we're about even. If you're wondering about the story behind the picture, I lent this to my father-in-law when he came to visit a few weeks ago. We had my in-laws stay in our room which didn't have a mirror in the bathroom at the time. To help them get ready in the morning, I gave them these chalkboards instead! This is what he saw when he woke up. "Grumpy" is the name we're trying to get my daughter to call her grandfather. So far, it hasn't stuck.

And of course, happy Memorial Day to everyone. Thank you to all of those who fought and continue to fight for our freedom.

Linking to:

Losing focus and gaining perspective

Do you find yourself seeing other people's projects, etsy shops, consignment booths, or business ventures and think, "Hey! I could do that!"? This happens to me every single day. My problem is that I start losing focus and can't decide which road I want to take. What will I enjoy more? Is my idea unique or does it already exist out there? Can I do it better than everyone else? What will make me more money? Will I be successful? And what do I consider success? I think that question confuses me the most.

Sigh. These aren't bad questions to be asking yourself. It's a sign that there are opportunities available to you and ultimately you have a choice. But, I think we all realize that you can't have everything. Now I know there are amazing bloggers out there who seem to have it all, but are they actually doing it successfully? Sure it may be the business/career they've always dreamed of and they're making $$$ to help pay the bills, etc. but if they have a family (especially a relatively young and new family like mine), are they spending as much time with them as they would like? I find that most of us out there are stay-at-home mothers and chose not to work a 9-5 job to raise our children. I know this is not everyone, but it seems to be the majority. But at what point does the crafty-artsy-blogger go from full-time to part-time mom? It seems to happen overnight for those "successful" ones. If I take on a new venture, how do I make sure not to compromise and ultimately defeat my initial purpose of being a full-time mom? But also how do I fulfill my own wants and needs as, what I would call myself, a creative person?

This is what's on my mind today before the long weekend. Usually I don't write posts like these, but I have a feeling I'm not the only one out there who's constantly battling these questions. And unfortunately for those who are seeking closure at the end of my post, you won't get it. I think I will have this internal conflict for a long long time! But I think it's always best to be self-aware and stop to gain perspective, or else you'll get swept up in a whirlwind of regret.

Emily

Thrifty Frames and Bye Bye Veneer

Yesterday my mom and I went to a thrift store that was rumored to have the best furniture around. I saw a few nice things, but nothing spectacular and nothing in the price range that I was looking for. They did however have picture frames at the cheapest prices I've ever seen. I bought these two 8x10's for a total of $.60 (including tax). The one on the left was only $.06. Crazy!!! I really like the one on the right, but it was made with two different colors of wood (not sure if you can make it out in the pic, but you can see the separation line on the bottom towards the left).

So I decided to paint both in Sherwin Williams Mineral Deposit Interior paint. It's another one of my free grey paints, but this one has a bit of blue in it. The left frame I finished with some Briwax that contains a dark brown stain in it.

The right frame was finished with regular Briwax. I actually think the inner layer of the frame was leather, but it was dirty to begin with so I didn't mind painting over it.

I really like how the grey turned out on these! Can't wait to put new pictures in them for little Annie to look at.

And I can't believe it myself, but I got the veneer off my curbside dresser! You might remember the top of the dresser started out like this:

 And yesterday I left it at this:

Well after taking a putty knife and a hammer to it tonight, I got it all off in about 15 minutes! No iron needed! I figure that's some kind of record. I think I got lucky though, the veneer was desperate to get off.

The first drawer is missing a little bit of veneer, but my plan is to sand it down and paint over it instead of tearing it all off. The second drawer however was not as fortunate. 1/3 of the veneer was gone, so I took the rest off. The stuff was so thin and crackly, it was almost like paper.

And here it is all naked without the veneer. Woo-hoo! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But I know it's because my dresser was in such terrible shape and had been neglected for a long time. Water and humidity got to the veneer and essentially made my job easier. 

Now I don't think the last two drawers will be going back into the dresser. Not only is there a lot of veneer missing, there's also a lot of wood missing underneath that. No amount of sanding will help. Instead I plan to make two open shelves and put some baskets in there. What a shame though. I forgot to show you before, but this is why the dresser is my best "FREE" find.

Dovetail joints! Eh...now I'm thinking I can find a way to save the drawers. I keep changing my mind! We'll see. For now, I'm using one of them to collect all the veneer I've pulled off!

Lovely ain't it?

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Another Curbside Rescue and Getting Down and Dirty

So yesterday I politely asked (and by asked I mean forced) my husband to get a dresser that we saw sitting on the curbside the day before. I was hoping against all hope that it would still be there, and it was! What luck! My 3rd FREE find this week. This may be the most pathetic-looking of my finds, but in my opinion the best.

This poor girl was left to fend for herself. Lovely Beasts to the rescue! Well technically, the husband to Lovely Beasts to the rescue!!!

As you can tell, she ain't pretty. The veneer is missing all over the drawers as well as flaking off the top. She must have a terrible skin condition and dandruff! Also, she only has 4 of her original pulls (4th one not in picture).

The legs are in decent shape, but completely filthy and one side has a shallow slice through it and needs some wood filler. I've never used the stuff before but I think I'll be able to figure it out.

To clean the dresser, I used a vaccuum hose to suck up the sawdust that was inside. The vaccuum was also the perfect way to get rid of spiderwebs and a few spider egg-sacks I found underneath the dresser. Pretty nasty stuff. Next I used a mix of vinegar and water to clean the inside and outside. She looked a little better afterwards, but still sad.

And of course, I decided that I couldn't go to bed tonight without tackling the veneer on the top. I started slowly pulling it off with the help of a small flat-head screwdriver. The veneer was already warped and dried-out so most of it pulled up pretty easily. But the middle portion is being stubborn so I'm going to have to break out the iron.

But that's for another day. Right now, I should really be in bed. Goodnight!