Dresser Day 2 & 3

I had high aspirations for day two of dresser work. I was all excited about finishing up the boring work and getting started on painting. I planed to get up early, finishing scraping and sanding and then start slapping on some paint. The night before I set my alarm for dawn and went to bed dreaming of paint brushes and drop cloths. Of course, my dreams had to battle with my laziness and the laziness quickly won out. I must have hit my snooze button a dozen times as I tried to gather the will to get up and start working. It was a gray, gloomy day and I didn’t feel like moving my dresser outside…much less starting to scrap and sand. But the distant promise of paint finally lured me out of bed and down the stairs.

Scraping didn’t really get more fun the second day. In fact, without my brother-in-law and sister to talk with, it was actually more mind-numbing. I did scrape off all the paint from the decorative trim on one side of the dresser, carefully easing all of the paint from each tiny crevice. It helped me remember why archaeology is not the field for me. Jen is not a patient, careful worker. After finishing that side I felt like I needed to smash something. I curbed that impulse but I just couldn’t make myself do another hour of tedious work on the other trim so I just sanded it a bit and called it good. Then it was time to break out the screwdriver and get the knobs off the drawers. Despite one holdout, I managed to remove all the knobs. I think I’ll end up replacing them…but I them and their screws just in case. Finally I went to town with the sandpaper, and then set everything back inside. Rain was in the forecast for the afternoon (plus I needed to go to Red Robin and eat my birthday burger!) so I put off painting for the next day.

Day three was bright and sunny and perfect weather for painting. Well, at least I thought so. To be honest, I haven’t done a lot of painting (non-art-wise) in my life. I grew up in rental homes so I never got a lot of experience painting walls and most of the other times I’ve needed something painted, I’ve just used spray paint. It was nice to be able to paint the dresser because I really didn’t know that much about it. I love new experiences.

I did learn lots about painting. Things like how you should thinking about where you are placing your items because it’s hard to pick it up after it’s all wet. Or how you need to monitor how much paint you put on your brush or you’ll end up with drips all over your shoe. I even learned that the green I chose for the dresser was apparently very attractive to bees, since I kept having to swat them off all day. I also learned that while listening to the radio keeps you happy, it can also distract you and cause you to damage things when you get a little too excited while singing along to Bohemian Rhapsody. I also learned that sunscreen probably would have been a wise choice. The same sun that dried my paint for me also turned me a bright lobster red. But I soldiered through and got two coats on the drawers and three on the dresser.  All in all, a very productive day…and my dresser is looking awesome!