Trash to Treasure

As the gaping time between blog entries can tell you, life's been a bit of a mess lately. Figuratively speaking, it's been a year of messy transitions. 2011 was a year for switching careers, switching homes, switching routines, and switching priorities. But literally speaking, it's been a mess lately too, as any visitor to my small apartment could tell you.

Call it an early New Year's resolution, but I decided last week that it was time to clean up the mess. Time to knock off those nagging to-do lists. Time to follow up on emails, follow through on promises, and get my life in order to kick off 2012 the right way. And there may not have been a better symbol of the mess in my life than my disgusting, broken, get-what-you-pay-for dresser, which can best be described by this online review:

Rating

Do not Recommend

tprice80

from Auburn, AL, Nov 24, 2010

This was the worst money ever spent. It is a total piece of junk. Not sturdy, falls apart, completely unusable about a month after purchase. Drawers will not open. Drawers fall apart. Screws fell out.

I wish I had taken a picture of this thing, for the sheer humor of how BAD it was. As of two weeks ago, exactly 2 of the 6 drawers still worked and the top of the dresser had warped into a U-shape. It was like the dresser was a mouth full of bad teeth, sneering at me. So, none of my clothes could go into it, leading to piles of wrinkled filth all over my room. As I tried to push it out of my bedroom, it literally collapsed into a million pieces, and I collapsed with it. Anyone who has seen me fall in real life before, please take this moment to laugh a little evilly in your head.

When it comes to furniture, I have commitment issues. I've moved every year of my life (sometimes more than once in a year) for the PAST 7 YEARS. This is clearly not the time in my life to spend cash on actual furniture. Actual furniture prices make my head spin. I think I always planned on winning my furniture from a Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right or something. When do people actually go out and buy this stuff?

But there simply was no way I was going to buy another iteration of fake furniture: No more clear plastic drawers, particle-board trash heaps or milk crates. So I decided to go to Goodwill, and embrace the DIY- "design on a dime" spirit. And that's where I found this:

What a beauty. And for only $45. I could tell it needed a little -- ok, a lot-- of love. It was filthy. It was missing handles. The stain and polyurethane was chunked off and melted by an... iron? Well, melted by something. Time to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

I drove straight from Goodwill to the Home Depot and picked up just a few basic miracle workers: Rags, Sandpaper, primer in a spray-can, and black acrylic paint. And, battling cold and the setting sun, I began the attack.

One intense session of scrubbing, a very sore right arm (sanding is really tough labor! I swear!), 3 coats of paint, and only a few minor cuts and scrapes later, I couldn't believe how AWESOME it came out. I'm so proud of it and it's totally changed my whole room! Now my clothes have somewhere to go- and I have a piece of furniture I'm proud of.

This silly dresser project was a great way to kick off the "clean up the mess" campaign in my life. My to-do list is getting smaller and smaller. I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way. Epilogue to the story: I told my mom about the brand of dresser that this is, and she told me that it was worth $700-800! Incredible!! Thanks to my Mom for the painting advice, Meredith for the use of her SUV, and Ron for his incredible lifting powers! Peace and love.