DIY Friday – dapper dresser

I’m not sure if you could call this week’s DIY Friday technically a DIY, but it’s a revamp no less to a piece of furniture I bought 4 years ago. Our apartment didn’t come with storage for one’s small items in our bedroom, so I went online and bought this old wooden dresser. It was cheap as chips and did the trick. It held my garments, husbands manly stuff, and a drawer dedicated to pyjamas. Perfect. 
In the early years of my apartment designing, I painted the top of the dresser with leftover paint; it was a weird greeny-grey paint, and I don’t know what the hell I was thinking to be honest. I quickly gave up on doing anything with our dresser and then 4 years happened. Yeah. For 4 years it sat like this in our room … 

I think the word you’re looking for is ‘fugly’. I hated it and it was such an eyesore in our bedroom. Last month I finally had enough, so I got on my bicyclette, cycled to Rua on Capel Street and picked up a tin of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint.

Back in the day I had a major crush on the EDLAND line of furniture from IKEA. I daydreamed of having a house and filling it to the rafters with beautiful EDLAND armoires and dressers. Sadly, that line became extinct, but I was lucky enough to swipe a little EDLAND bedside table in their final sale {sadly, it was the only piece we had room for}. To date, it’s still one of my favourite IKEA pieces. I adore the dark grey, and it inspired me to pick Annie Sloan’s moody warm ‘Graphite’ grey.

Enough of that. Onto the makeover! I cleaned the dresser of any dust and whatnot, took out all the drawers and flipped it over to start. He was in bad need of a pedicure, so I sorted that out while I was down there. Yes, I’m claiming this dresser to be man as no woman would let her feet look like that.
After two coats of paint on the feet I turned it right-side-up and gave the body two coats. Pretty straight forward.

While I was at it, I updated the drawer pulls as well. I’m afraid I picked these up years ago in IKEA – they’re from the GLIRA range which is also now extinct. You can actually see one of these drawer pulls in the ‘before’ photo that I replaced years ago in premature revamp excitement. Our dresser kind of looked like it was winking for a very long time …

I took the old rusty drawer pulls off, filled the holes with decorators calk, let it dry, painted the drawers with two coats of paint and finally added my ‘new’ GLIRA pulls. And ta dah! It was much easier project then I thought it would be.

I’m so happy with the result and I really don’t know why I didn’t tackle this project sooner. I guess it was just one of those things you keep reminding yourself to do, and after years of mental torment, you break down and do it eventually. Please tell me I’m not the only one with ‘guilt projects’ that eat your brain like a zombie?
Anyways homies, it’s Friday and I cannot wait for the weekend to hurry up and get here. Happy Friday! xx A

Thrifty things – bust must plus

I struck charity shop gold again this week. For some time I’ve wanted something nifty and a little out of the ordinary to display my favourite necklaces. I had seen busts being used all over the internet machine for this very reason, and I wanted in on some of that action. Since I’m cheap as hell, I casually kept my options open for sourcing a sturdy bust perfect for the job. I dropped into Second Abbey {where I found my new / old footstool}, and there he was. Mozart. At the time I wasn’t able to bring him home, so I figured if he was there the next time, I’d buy him. Lo and behold, the next time I ventured in, he was still there. Lonely amidst the chaos …

The poor guy looked like he had been massacred by fake tan. His face says it all. For a steal at €15, I took him under my wing {actually, I placed him in my bike basket}, and cycled home. A little scrub behind the ears and a fresh coat of Montana’s ‘sh. white‘ spray paint, and Mozart regained a little bit of his former dignity. That is, until I draped him in jewels. 
Mozzy, as I now refer to him, is currently taking first place as the focal point in our bedroom, which I’m slowly but surely revamping bit by bit on a budget. He’s perched on our dresser, which I also recently revamped. I’ll be sharing that little upgrade as soon as I can, so keep your eyes peeled! I just gotta get around to taking some decent ‘after’ pictures. 

Chin up, buttercup.

xx A

Also featured – our living room painting

I hope you …

Today I’m another year older and bolder. Today is also the first day in months that it is rainy and rather gloomy. I’m ignoring that by watching a favourite movie or two, a beverage in each hand, stuffing my face with food I’m usually cautious of, spinning with arms wide open and fancifying my nails. Nails first though, then booze. Word to the wise; don’t do it the other way around. Especially with gel nail polish. Learn from my mistakes. 
Thanks to incredibly adora-balls husband who braved the weather this morning, I had a croissant with tomato, mozzarella and pesto and a carrot cupcake fresh from the bakery for breakfast. F*ck yeah. 
So, what are your favourite things to do on your birthday? Boozy breakfasts, couch marathons, or fancy restaurants? Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy your weekend and it isn’t too rainy. I have every intention to spend the rest of my day much like so –

xx A