"New" furniture, new life

Hope chest (still drying!) with new, nonfunctional pulls

Old pine nightstand with new pewter pulls!

Back when I was in high school, dreaming about the day when I would be out on my own and in a small apartment in the city, I always imagined that someday I would decorate that apartment with the espresso colored furniture I would see in the Pottery Barn magazines. While there's no way I'm going to be boasting a Pottery Barn kind of budget any time in the near (or distant) future, I do happen to have a lot of unfinished pine furniture and wood stain is $9 at Home Depot!

Considering that this could very well be my last summer living at home, I have commandeered the garage for the past week and have been sanding and staining and drilling and screwing my way toward faux fancy living!

With my nightstand and hope chest finished and drying, all that remains is the monstrosity of a dresser I have had for over 20 years. The beast is solid wood, hand made by an old carpenter at least 30 years ago--the problem with trying to refinish it is that the dresser is made out of several different kinds of wood...so staining the whole thing does not seem to be an option...the plan for the moment is to stain the frame and top "espresso" and paint the drawers "sandwashed driftwood"...

This whole project is going to be a headache, but I will persevere!