I have developed an obsession with dressers. Not only are they fun to find and buy, but they are such a great way of storing stuff, especially in our house which doesn't have much storage. Every day I am filled with joy when I can put things out of sight, and have them somewhat organized. So, here's their stories...
This is our first one we bought. I was looking for a "baby dresser" before Luke was born and came across this one at a garage sale. The lady wanted wayy too much money for it, so I was torn whether to buy it or not (since it was absolutely perfect!) My mother-in-law (in her wisdom) said, "why don't we hit a few more sales and then come back and see if it's still here?" Well, we did...and the lady's teenage kids were manning the sale. The mom had left no prices on the dresser so I made them an offer, they accepted and and we loaded up the dresser and got out of there. I have loved every moment of owning it. My father-in-law made the changing table to match it as a baby gift when Luke was born. Sooo love both of these!
This next one we acquired for free since we've moved up to WA. It was my cousin's (2 boys) dresser growing up so was not only covered with stickers when we got it, but also dings, dents and in general rough shape. We put a coat of paint on it, and brought it back to decency. I've been looking for new knobs for it, but unfortunately that size are hard to come by (2"), so I gave up looking for now. The boys have put their own set of stickers on it, so it's back to boy glory again!
This next one, I just love. It's in my spare room (going to be my girl's room someday) and I have mostly white furniture, so wanted a dresser that went with that. I happened to see one that was perfect in little old Kalama on a rainy weekday at an antique store. When I stopped to inquire about it, it met all my needs perfectly. I didn't have the money with me, so told the lady I'd be back to buy it later that day. Unfortunately, I didn't leave my name and number, nor a "down payment", and the store owner sold it to someone else before I came back through town that day. Hard lesson learned! I looked and looked and finally found this one at a Goodwill store, many months later. The bonus to this one (over the other) is that it has one extra drawer. I was also able to get a much better price because one drawer was broken. It only took less than 5 minutes with some wood glue and clamps and we were back in business. Love this dresser too. We keep movies and games in it.
This next one is Greg and my dresser. My talented father-in-law made it too, after we were shopping for one and figured that we'd rather pay him to make one than pay someone else. I think it ended up being an anniversary gift though, and we really appreciate it. I had hoped to clean the top off before I took the picture, but of course that didn't happen. My goal would be to one day have it clean always, but that's just not the way life goes these days! This is also the dresser that little Lukey (3) pulled every drawer out of (they are on sliders) and pulled over on top of himself. Thankfully the dresser fell to the side and hit a door jam so that it didn't fall the whole way. It's now bolted to the wall so it doesn't happen again. I also now can't ever rearrange the furniture in our bedroom. And I looove to rearrange furniture! :/
This next one used to be Elise's and was painted/decorated by my Mom. She loves painting stuff, and had found this at a thrift store and painted it up. Unfortunately, little girls have wayyy too many clothes, and we had to upgrade Elise recently to a larger one. This one got moved to the bathroom where it holds hair things and various other random stuff.
This one made me so happy too. It's a bit boring to look at, but when I was shopping for it, I needed specific dimensions (to fit our laptop) and it fit the bill perfectly. And I found it in Kalama. And I didn't wait around, I just bought it. I love the wood grain of it, and it works well to hold our books that we are reading right now, as well as other stuff.
This next one I found at a garage sale, and it's absolutely perfect for it's need. It holds tapes, cds and records and each drawer is the perfect size for each. It's rather boring but sturdy, and suits it's purpose well. The cd player also has to be at the side, since the cord isn't long enough to center it on the top. Oh, well!
This one I got at Goodwill too. It had rather funky colored pulls, but I spray painted them all gold (since I already had gold spray paint) to unify it. It's also rather ho-hum, but works for toys, toys and more toys.
This cabinet came as an answer to prayer. I had been needing something to keep our homeschool stuff in the dining room, but my criteria was quite specific. It had to be narrow (to fit in the width and not cover the nightlight), it had to be shallow so we could get by it. It had to have doors to keep babies out and it had to have tall enough legs so that the register underneath wouldn't be covered. I prayed about this specific need, and one day Greg's aunt called me and asked if I wanted this chest. I said "yes", sight unseen, and here's what I ended up with. Greg's own Grandpa Somero had built it for his aunt, and she was moving to FL and wanted a family member to have it. It is absolutely perfect, and was FREE too!
This is my latest new one (and hopefully last one, as I don't have room for (m)any more). It's Elise's new clothes one, and I absolutely love it. I paid a bit more for it than I would have liked, but I figured that was okay, because most of the others were either free or very cheap. It was already painted up, so that saved me refinishing any as well. She loves it as well, and it fits all her girly clothes like tights and slips and 40 pairs of underwear!
