I would be remiss if I went around here on blogland and pretended that everything I try to do to beautify my space went 100% according to plan, 100% of the time. So, as a kind of “wrap up” of my final week living here, I thought I’d finally get around to sharing two things that I thought were going to be totally cool and turned out to be totally meh…
- A gallery wall full of frames and postcards featuring places we’ve traveled or places friends have sent us back notes about:
I was going to jam-pack the hallway full of color and interesting things (described above). Part of this was because I was getting nagged about wall-items hanging around on the floor of the guest room (when we first moved in) and part of it was because I had a vision of awesomeness–I wanted to evoke a cool, eclectic bohemian cafe or something. Well, once we put some stuff up on the wall, we kind of reached a standstill because Hobby Lobby is about 100,000 miles away and I was working too much to think about shopping at the end of the day. Isn’t that the irony of having a good job? You make more money that you’re too tired to spend?
Anyway, that’s where we ended up. Some cool stuff on the wall with some stupid awkward blank space. So when we decided to move out and the in-laws decided to list the house, instead I hung some rad art painted by my great-great aunt in the 1930s. So, still awesome.
- Secondly, an awesome mini-dresser turned “landing strip.”
I nabbed this bad boy girl in Lawrence, KS for about $10 which made a very, very, awkward ride home for the person in the back seat (3 hours). The bottom drawer was in pieces so I decided to just chuck it altogether, and salvage the hardware to put into the top drawer. Let me tell you… this little dresser was filthy. I cleaned it with some hardcore chemicals and it still didn’t feel clean. I scraped about a zilion Hello Kitty stickers off of it, but my ultimate goal was to paint it anyway.
Finally, one day during a huge tornado warning we were stuck inside and I decided to crack open the paint cans. For a bit of fun, the drawers were painted teal and the outer was painted dark gray. And it looked fantastic! Then I had to go ruin it by filling in the scrollwork with gold paint. I hate how the gold turned out. I was going for a bright, brassy gold leaf effect and it totally turned out wimpy, cold, and pearlescent. Then I lost motivation and it brings us to where we are today.
I admit that it looks better in gray, but also that it’s half-finished and not worth the effort to move with us to CA. But, I’d like to point out that lacking one drawer does not need to be a death sentence for a dresser like this–it held shoes famously in the bottom section–a much better alternative to piles of dirty shoes clogging up the entryway. So I call this one a half-win, half-lose. If you live in town and want this, it’s up for grabs until Friday.
We’ve all been there–right? Got any stories of DIY-gone-awry?
My Friend Staci 
i think this shoe drawer is a great idea! this dresser has charm…did anyone snag it?
Amy
Thanks! And yep, a friend of mine offered to come take it off my hands :)
admittedly, i do prefer the hallway with those gorgeous paintings as the standout pieces but i love the *idea* of a collection wall. i had one in my last apartment that was kinda “meh” but i adore the one that we continue to add to in this space. i think the difference was made when i didn’t try to hang everything in one day but rather let it grow organically. also, that “shoe drawer” is quite possibly the best idea ever.
I never thought the landing pad was a flop. I thought it was a great “work in progress”.
Thanks. I really would have liked to see it through to the end. Oh well! There is always next time!
Don’t you hate it when something turns out great and then you take it just one step further and … ?! I do that with about 99% of my projects. Lol. I think the dresser looks great, though! Love the gray!