Nursery Update - the Refinished Dresser

Amidst continued work on the front landscape project, we also managed to complete the dresser for the nursery.  I was super excited about this project.  I was just so anxious about the transformation.  This is the one project that I kept bugging Byron about getting to.  Fortunately for me, there were a few rainy days spattered in there that prevented work on the outside, so this project is now done.
After the dresser was sanded, it only took about two coats of paint.  I never know how many coats something will need, especially when we cover a color with white, but two seems good.  And we didn't go through too much of the paint, which means we can use it for the other five pieces that are still in our basement waiting for their turn to be refinished.
So now that it is done, here is what it looks like in its new space.

It looks so clean and bright.  I am in love with the simple chrome knobs and pulls.  They are sleek and yet appropriately masculine, though if we were having a girl I would have wanted to spring for some bejeweled knobs and pulls like they have at Anthropologie.
As far as what comes next, I definitely want to line the drawers with some pretty fabric or paper.  I am intending to install a changing pad on top of the table and to use the top drawer for all of the necessary diapering supplies that will need to be close at hand.  The other drawers will probably go to clothes, but I haven't exactly figured that out.  I am also still debating what should go above the dresser.  Should I put a mirror for baby to look at himself during diaper changes?  Should I hang some art?  Should I consider shelving?  I would really like some shelving somewhere in the room to keep track of display items and books and stuff, but I am just not sure where they should go.  I guess I'll just have to keep plugging away at the room and hopefully everything will just fall into place.  And of course I am still doing plenty of research for additional inspiration!

The Best Before Picture I Could Get

In addition to the outdoor project that's going on, we simultaneously have an indoor project going on.  It's the dresser that I've been referring to for the nursery!  Unfortunately, again, the project was a bit underway before I was able to snap before pictures.  Drat!  I did manage to get a few pictures after the hardware had been removed and the dresser got a light sanding, so use your imagination to visualize what it would have been like.

This dresser was actually from a set that came from my mom's bedroom as a child.  Did I already mention that?  I have pregnancy brain and can't remember ANYTHING!  Anyway, for that reason, it is really special to me, but it did need a little updating.  If you can see it in the pictures, the color was a pea soup greenish-yellow, and the top is a wood laminate.  The drawer pulls were brass, and the best way I can describe them is that they look like that standard kind of pull that looks like pigtails.  Do you know what I'm talking about?  Maybe it's just me, but I've seen the shape of the pull before and I've always thought of them as a face with pigtails.  And, as the entire dresser, were probably 50 years old.
The plan is to paint it a nice white semi-gloss while keeping the top wood as-is, and to update the hardware with some chrome pulls.  The paint I got was just off the shelf Olympic no-VOC paint (base 2).  And I can not WAIT to put the new hardware on that I picked out.  Not only do I love it, but amazingly the screws are in the exact same positions as the old set.  Total score.
Unfortunately, Byron is taking on this project as well, and since he is swamped in the project space right now, it's taking a little longer than I hoped.  You'll just have to wait with bated breath for the finished product.  I know I will be.

A Small Switcheroo

We are planning some changes around here, and in the process, ended up with an extra bedroom nightstand.  The side table in the living room was never a conscious choice we made, it was just what we had, and it fit.  But now, if you put two and two together, we go from this:

to this:

It's a spur of the moment change I really like.  Of course, now, the picture which was once hung at the perfect height for the lamp, is now covered up just a smidge, but I think we can learn to live with that.  I also like the fact that we can use the drawers to store stuff.  I'm not quite sure what yet, and I'll have to clear the stuff out that had accumulated in them since being in our guest room, but I'm sure I'll get to that on my organization rampage here in the next month or two.  (I can't decide if that was a joke or the truth...)  But since we occasionally have a "clutter" problem around here, extra drawers will come in handy!

This is the One Thing

The youngsters posed the question today, "What's the one thing that you can't quite bring yourself to dole out the cash for, but always admire from afar?"  I knew instantly.

Picture found here.

It's the Eames Lounge & Ottoman in the walnut/ivory combination.  Isn't it beautiful?  I'll have to admit, the first time I saw this chair, I wasn't exactly smitten.  In fact, I thought it was ugly.  But with time, I have developed a love for this chair and *swoon* whenever I am in its presence.  What is your one thing?