Me: "Who has the best seat in the house, me or daddy?"

Adam: "Well, Daddy's is nice, but yours is best. Your's is squishier."

Friday, March 5, 2010

Almost free

Before:

Remember that old dresser I found in a junk pile on the side of the road while I was on my temper-tantrum drive?
Here's the after...


I think it turned out so cute I just had to follow up with pictures of the final product. And the best part? Nearly free!

Dresser - free
knobs - $1 each on clearance
flowers - 22 cents each
White paint - about 5 bucks

OK, so not quite free... more like $15, but still not bad for all we got out of the project. We bonded, baby. It was a real group effort. Small price to pay for that kind of quality time.

The planets really aligned with this one. See, the old dresser had handles - the kind with two holes. They don't sell that particular size handle anymore accept for special order for about $8-12 a piece! At that rate, with 8 handles to replace, a new dresser would have been a bargain.

So I found these little wooden flowers at the craft store that nicely covered the holes, and while standing in the checkout line, what should I see? A clearance bin of very cute knobs!!! Score!!!

We painted, drilled and screwed it all together, - together. It was a real group project with every family member helping. The kids are so proud of their efforts. They each know which color of flower they painted, and they gained a hands-on understanding of one of their mama's favorite pioneer sayings:

"Use it up
Wear it out
Make it due
Or do without"

This dresser will never see a trash pile again.

*****

P.S. On a totally unrelated note, but a note that is note-worthy, baby celebrated our reaching 17 weeks on Wednesday by getting the hiccups for the first time.

Happy sigh. :) Love it.

2 comments:

rebekahmott said...

I love it!!! Your kids should be so proud. It turned out great. Thanks for the up date I just can't get over how cute it is!

Jackie said...

You are full of great ideas! I love the flower idea. Kind of reminds me of a certain masquerade dance that involved flowers! Remember that? I was so impressed then too!

I think the dresser is beautiful and clever and that you were clever to find ways to involve your young children in the process without feeling really stressed!