dress it up

I'm on a pretty serious home improvement kick. The past couple of springs, when lots of people do Lent, I've done this thing with my friend Val called 40 Bags in 40 Days. It's all about decluttering your house and donating/getting rid of stuff you don't need. I don't take it as literally as a bag per day (though some people do); my focus is more on deciding whether I can/will use something, getting rid of it if I won't, and actually putting it to use if I will. What this has translated to in practical terms is a lot of little projects. As I go through each room, I'm fixing all the little things that bother me on a daily basis, though never enough for me to make time specifically to deal with them. Like getting new curtain rods because the old ones are bent from boys hanging on them. Then busting out the sewing machine (yes, I have one! I use it approximately three times a year ... if I have to) and hemming the curtains to keep them out of the way of the vents. Or doing touch-up painting. All these little things that register only on a mildly annoying level, but now that I'm doing something about them, the relief is palpable.

Anyway, today's little project involved dressers. We bought a pair of dressers at a junk store (the now-defunct Angie's Junque Garden, if I recall correctly) when I was pregnant with Liam, then we (mostly Mike, because I was pregnant) stripped them and refinished them, adding these chunky round wooden knobs that were perfect for little kids. They've been great dressers all these years, and they now belong to Max and Henry, respectively. But in the past few months, a few of the wooden knobs got stripped out (because big boys are much rougher in pulling drawers out than little boys are).

Long story short, I decided to replace the knobs. I let Max and Henry pick out the new ones, and since we here at CFHQ encourage the thwarting of traditional gender roles, the results are pretty spectacular.

Henry's dresser, during and after:

 

And Max's dresser, during and after:

I feel pretty sure that these fabulous jewels won't be in favor for a really long time, but that's OK. They weren't expensive, and they make the boys happy ... for now anyway.