A Conundrum, A Question, And a Conclusion

For any given holiday or other gift-giving situation, I have become the go-to person for my brother to steal gift ideas from for his wife, but claim them as his own.  He has great taste and ideas without my 2 cents, but he also gives himself a three to four gift (per giving situation) quota.  So he runs out of ideas usually by the third gift..which is where I come in.  I was particularly proud this past Christmas when I was able to step in at the 11th hour and save him from getting her a gift that would really just be benefiting him in some way or portraying the wrong message all together (say like a vacuum or other such device or an XBox).  Being the fashionista my sister-in-law is, you can expect that her home isn't lacking any style, and it's not, except for one seemingly small relic of bachelor pad past (which actually was my husband's before my brother got it, because it wasn't old enough to be cool in our home and in the mean time it was annoying to look at because it only served a function.. and we all know fashion comes before function).  I'm referring to the black/gray/glass/maybe some silver, low-ish TV stand thing.  You know what I'm talking about, you see them everywhere.. who knows, you may have one in your family room right now and it's just begging for a listing on Craigslist, or a curbside alert.  So given the design distraction in his family room, I suggested that he refinish a dresser/sideboard that they could put their TV on, but it would also serve as a great versatile piece of furniture that would actually complete his family room as opposed to embarass the other pieces in the room.  He loved the idea..of course ;).. and before I knew it I had completed my first piece of furniture..and a great gift for Jen..from my brother..

The finding of the furniture, process of refinishing, and transforming results, was all so enjoyable and addicting I knew I was in for the long haul.  So in the end, it was a win for all of us, Jen got a great gift, Andrew got the 'atta boy', but I got the realization that you can actually "Do what you love and love what you do".



This dresser was the previous owner's grandmother's.  Prior to it's makeover it had been well loved by the last owner's daughter (original owner's granddaughter), who had carved her name into the top.  It wasn't very large and since it was pretty endearing, we decided to leave it there.  The hardware has been replaced with wrought iron handles, to give it a slightly more rustic look and 'de-feminize' it a bit (as per my brother's request).  This dresser is made by Dixie who manufactured a lot of case goods in this french style in the 1960's.  I love this style in particular because it's used a lot in French Provincial decor, which is a favorite style of mine.  Below are more of this style of dresser re purposed in various ways that I have found around the web and kept as inspiration.