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The Long Awaited Dresser Post - Part 2

(Click here to read part 1)

So where were we? Oh yes, I believe we left off somewhere around here:

A hunk of burning dresser love

The dresser had been sanded and stained, leaving us with a gorgeous grain (seriously, look at it) and thismuch closer to a finished product.

The next step was to put on the top coat - the one part of the process that I was actually able to do myself. Cue the giddyness.Who has two thumbs and gets excited about applying sealer? This girl. The product I used is called Safecoat Acrylacq and it looks a little something like this:

At nearly $30 including shipping, it's not exactly a bargain but it had my vote for a couple of reasons. The first is that it's non toxic, low odor and low voc, which meant that I could apply it without worrying that my unborn child would sprout a last minute third arm (mission accomplished!). Secondly, it seals in any offgassing that might arise from the wood and stain, which makes me feel okay about putting it in the nursery. And thirdly, it comes highly recommended from Young House Love, my oft-referred to DIY blog resource. Also note my stylish respirator mask, left over from painting the nursery, which, combined with applying it in a well ventilated area, further protected my little man from any unwanted extra limbs. Yeah you're welcome, Harrison.

I ended up putting on three coats of the sealer, sanding lightly with fine steel wool in between each coat. The steel wool was able to sand down the tiny rough spots that popped up without taking off the sealer (it just dulled it down a bit), so it worked perfectly. After rubbing the surfaces quickly with the wool, I ran a damp cloth over everything to get rid of the dust and then applied my next coat of acrylacq, letting it cure overnight. Rinse and repeat.

Oooo shiny

Once the final coat cured, my step-dad loaded the bad boy up in his truck, hauled it up to our second floor apartment and now it sits all pretty-like in the nursery!

I have plans for the wall behind the dresser, hence the "in progress" label. While the dresser itself is finished the nursery isn't quite there yet. Here's the previous list I posted:

• Set up the crib (my wonderful mother and step-dad got it for us and it should be in this week!)
• Fix up the dresser (I finally found one...more on that soon!)
• Finish the mobile
• Possibly find a twin bed for guests/those late night visits to the nursery - however this might be a "Phase 2" project
• Make/buy curtains

For now we're shelving the bed idea, but I also need to add:

• Build book shelves (my next big project)
• Hang up wall art

And now for more photos of the dresser, including a proper before and after:

It's hard to get across the exact coloration of the dresser, but the photo on the left below the "before" picture is probably the most accurate. It's a nice rich golden color and I love it.

Total cost breakdown:

Dresser: $43.30
Stain: Free (on hand)
Steel Wool: Free (on hand)
Paintbrush: Free (on hand)
Mask: Free (on hand)
Safecoat Acrylacq: $29.48

Total: $72.78

The Long Awaited Dresser Post - Part 1

I'm a big fat liar... I believe it was in my March 6th post when I said that I'd be back later in the week with a dresser update. Admittedly things have been a little crazy, what with delivering a baby and what not. But let's put all of that behind us...and onto the dresser update reveal!

Well...not quite the reveal. That will be in Part 2. Liar again, I know. I'm workin' on it. In the meantime I'll be over here hanging with Jim Carrey.

So the dresser that we ended up buying was one that I had seen early on but at $60 was a little more than I was willing to pay at the time. Then after spending two weekends striking out at garage sales and Goodwills (not to mention the previous months of combing CraigsList all stalker-like), I decided to revisit the resale shop. It was closed. Sonofagun. Well not closed per se. The owner of that space was relocating to another part of the property and was supposed to be open again by the next weekend. He wasn't. But in a stroke of luck, another man on the property let us into the space because we were looking for a particular piece and were ready to buy. The best part was that I offered $40 and he agreed (this, friends, is what we refer to as a "steal"). So $43.30 later (yay tax), we had a dresser! Holy bananas I thought we'd never get there.

May I present to you: the before shot, even though we had already begun the sanding process.

The dresser was pretty scratched up, especially around the edges, and the finish on it was really dull, but I was drawn to the shape of it (I continually drool over the legs) and you can't beat that storage - currently every single drawer is full. It's a mid-century piece and I wish I knew its history, but we couldn't find a manufacturer/brand label, just this on the back:

Owosso is apparently a town in Michigan, but other than that I've got nothin'.

Luckily they stamped the word "dresser" on there, you know, in case we forget.

I was really excited about refinishing this dresser because I had never made over a piece of furniture before. One hiccup: I was pregnant. And even though I was ready to jump in (with protective face mask in hand), my parentals voiced their concerns, particularly with the sanding process. In the end we struck a compromise: I wouldn't take part in the sanding or staining, but I would get to finish things up by applying the top coat (which was non toxic & low VOC, but more on that later).

So in one afternoon my stepdad knocked out the sanding step and we were left with this bad boy (minus the feet, which he tackled later):

Poor thing is naked and here I am parading him on the internet. Tsk tsk.

I then had to decide on a stain. My original plan upon getting a dresser was going to be painting it stark white to go with the crib and the deep blue walls. However, because of the quality of this piece (dovetail joints!) and the detailed grain that was exposed after we sanded it down, I reversed my plan and decided to keep it au naturel.

I was initially drawn to the dark walnut (I'm not a fan of the blond stains or anything too light), but I was worried that it would be too dark. In the end I went with Early American, which ended up looking far and away better on the dresser than it did in the brochure. My stepdad had buckets of the stuff on hand, which was another bonus, so on went the Early American. Side note: who names these things?

We did one coat to start, which I thought would be too light, but ended up being perfect. Once the stain was on it was really easy to see just how beautiful the grain of the wood was. I'll save most of that for the next post, but here's a sneak peek...

Ooo la  la!

Harrison Oliver

Three days ahead of schedule, Harrison Oliver made his debut on April 5, 2012 at 5:20pm. He weighed 8lbs 10oz and was 20.5" long with a full head of black hair!

Since then I haven't been able to stop staring at him, or taking pictures. He's the most precious thing I've ever laid eyes on and it's just now beginning to seem real that he's actually here. Sometimes I miss my big belly though!

The thing I worried about most with labor was the pain. I've never been good at dealing with it and having heard that this was the most painful thing a woman can go through, I knew very early on that I'd be getting an epidural, and sure enough I did. God really had his hand on me throughout this process though. I dilated to 5cm without experiencing active labor (or painful contractions), which means I was halfway there without any pain. This in itself was a blessing. The epidural did wonders for the rest of the process and the emotions I experienced when he was placed in my arms were stronger than I could ever have imagined!

My mom is making her way through the Jesus Calling devotional by Sarah Young and she pointed out the entry for April 5th, the day Harrison was born. I found it so fitting, I had to make note of it:

Let ME fill you with my Love, Joy and Peace.  These are Glory-gifts, flowing from my living Presence.  Though you are an earthen vessel, I designed you to be filled with heavenly contents.  Your weakness is not a deterrent to being filled with My Spirit; on the contrary, it provides an opportunity for My Power to shine forth more brightly. 

As you go through this day, trust Me to provide the strength that you need moment by moment.  Don't waste energy wondering whether you are adequate for today's journey.  My Spirit within you is more than sufficient to handle whatever this day may bring.  That is the basis for your confidence!  In quietness (spending time alone with Me) and confident trust (relying on My sufficiency) is your strength.

Cradling in Style

I've been meaning to post about a couple of nursery updates, but these past couple of weeks have been super busy! In the meantime, look what I stumbled upon today:

The so-ro cradle via zulily

I love how simple and clean it is. I could see myself rocking my little one in this stylish cradle...but not for $800!

Twenty Five

Today I turn the big 2-5! Being pregnant makes you have an interesting take on birthdays. You really start to think about the intricacies of that first birthday, your day of birth. When your parents were just as you are now, anxiously awaiting their baby, wondering what it would look like, feel like and smell like. In just a month (or less...or more) I'll be in the exact same position, about to meet my little guy for the first time. Nature will determine what day we'll celebrate as his birthday for the coming years and I'll probably be in some crazy pain! Good thing the little beans are so cute, they make it all worthwhile. It's also interesting to think about the fact that when he turns 25, Charles and I both will have just turned 50 (his birthday is the 31st). We'll be exactly a quarter century older than our guy. It's a good number I think, 25. At least I'm looking forward to the year it brings :)

What a Bum(mer)

Our crib came in this week and I was super psyched about getting it set up. It's Charles' first big daddy-to-be task and I was armed with my camera to document the whole thing. We opened the gigantic box, started unloading all of the parts, and that's when we came across this:

That lovely beauty mark is not only on one of the main, large side pieces...it's also on the top. I could totally deal if it was on the bottom of the crib and it would never be seen again. But it's pretty much front and center and not only does it look bad, but it creates a jagged, unfinished edge that our little boy would inevitably be in contact with at some point. No can doosville, babydoll. 5 super cool points to you if you watch that show.

So I'll be calling customer support today to see what can be done about the damaged goods and in the meantime waiting impatiently to get the thing put together.

In other news, look what else came in the mail this week:

Diapers! Yep, we crazy kids are going the cloth route. My insane idea entirely, of course, but my husband being the wonderful man he is didn't even blink when I told him "so I was thinking..."

But these aren't your grandmother's cloth diapers. Gone are the days of the plain white cloth rag that you tediously pinned and sent off to a diaper service. These days cloth diapers are offered by a huge number of different companies, come in a crazy assortment of colors and patterns, and - most importantly - are much more intuitive. These diapers, for instance, have a series of snaps that allow the diaper to "graduate" with the growth of the baby, essentially lasting until they move onto big-boy/girl underwear. Here's a diagram on the package:

I love their "How To Use" method!
1. Adjust Size
2. Put on Baby

Those cheeky buggers... hey I'm allowed one butt joke in this post.

I did a lot of research before buying these diapers and heard really good things about the Bum Genius brand. They offer a bunch of different types and in the end we opted for the Elemental One-Size All-in-Ones made with organic cotton. I like these because they have the graduated snaps instead of velcro (which should last longer after so many washes), I <3 organic, and mostly because they're all-in-ones, which means no stuffing inserts separately...it's all one unit.

The cleanest they'll ever be....

So why cloth? I'll admit, the thought never crossed my mind before I got married/pregnant. I'm not exactly someone who's "one with nature" in the hygiene department. I need running water, a clean toilet, and a good amount of soap. (Yeah, and I'm having a boy...) So while the thought of getting more up close and personal to my little man's business doesn't exactly excite me, these three main things are what sold me.

1. Cost - this is a biggie. Diapers may not seem expensive when you're buying them one box at a time, but they certainly do add up. BabyCenter.com estimates that disposable diapers cost about $72/month, or $864/year. Assuming three years of diaper use, the total cost for one child comes out to $2592 (obviously this is just an estimate). Our set of 12 cloth diapers cost $265 (there are cheaper options). We'll probably be buying another 6 so we don't end up running out and having to run to the store to supplement with disposable, which at $135 brings our total cost to $400. Steep upfront cost? You bet. But even with the cost of doing an extra load of laundry every other day, we still come out ahead. The same website estimates roughly $19/month for washing cloth diapers (I think that's a little steep but we'll go with it), which is $228/year. Again, assuming three years of diaper use & wash, the total cost is $684 + the $400 upfront for a grand total of  $1084. That's a savings of $1500...just for the first kid! Since cloth diapers can be reused, each child after the first will only have the maintenance cost associated with washing the diapers since we'll already own the hardware. Pretty sweet if you ask me.
2. Convenience - Boxes of diapers are big and bulky. And I'm lazy. We don't even buy soda during our weekly grocery trips mainly because I don't want to haul them up to our apartment. Also because part of me is convinced Charles is going to get diabetes/lose all of his teeth if he keeps downing Coke the way he does. But mostly the lazy thing. I'd much rather do an extra load of laundry every other day than buy a huge box to lug home every month. We also live in an apartment with a dumpster down the road, so any time we can lessen the amount of trash we generate means the longer we can put off taking out the trash.
3. The Environment - I don't usually make a habit of hugging trees, but I am conscious about the waste and energy I generate. It probably comes from my education in architecture. Either way, I try to recycle as much as possible, turn off lights when we're not using them, and limit our water use. So far our bills have been nicely reflective of this (as well as our bank accounts!). The thought of throwing out 8-12 diapers a day gives me great pause. 8-12 diapers a day becomes 56-84 diapers a week, 224-336 per month, and 2688-4032 per year. It will make me feel better knowing that we're keeping them out of the landfill. 

I've also heard that using cloth reduces the frequency of diaper rash and other irritations and that it's just overall less harsh on that sweet baby skin. With all this having been said, I don't think less of anyone who uses disposable diapers - I think it's purely a personal choice and this just happens to be my jam. Maybe I'll post a (much shorter) update in 6 months and we'll see if I'm still singing their praises!

What are your thoughts on cloth vs disposable? Also have you ever been excited to get a new piece of furniture only to find out it was damaged?