Inching Along

After a trip up to Indiana and all the busyness that comes with a new school year, I'm finally getting around to showing you the project I was working on this summer. (Deric's project is up next!)

In--I don't know, June?-- Deric and I were out on a Saturday running errands. In between stops I was browsing Craigslist on my phone and noticed a 6' dresser advertised at a garage sale in a neighborhood about ten minutes away. Clicked through to the ad and saw it was listed for $25-- what?! Deric needed no convincing and we swung by the garage sale to check it out in person. Once we saw it, I was ready to back out. I knew I'd be painting it and I noticed all those itty bitty squares lining the top of the dresser and thought "No way-- that'll literally take forever to paint." But Deric thought it'd be perfect for our dining room to serve as a buffet and storage, and thankfully he convinced me to bring it home.

Then it sat in our garage for a few months while we headed to CIY and camp, etc.

After some time, we figured out a game plan for the center of the dresser. We don't need fifteen or so drawers in this dresser but some shelving would be helpful. Deric took out one of the three drawer base-slider things (?) and installed basically a box from plywood. Now we have shelves and more space to stack dishes, games, or whatever we need.

Fast forward another month or two (seriously, why does it take us so long?) and we got around to sanding the dresser with a belt sander we bought off our neighbor for $20. Sanding took no time at all, but priming, painting, and poly-ing took quite a few nights. That's what we were doing every night after the Olympics were over and our lives felt incomplete. ;) We went with Inchworm by Valspar and we love the color. We hauled the dresser in one day, I outfitted it with knobs from Hobby Lobby and filled some of the drawers with games, cards, and extra table linens.

And then finally, I added the doors. Only took a few weeks to finish up what I thought might be a personal record for finishing a project. I should really get to know myself better. :) Its funny but the addition of this "buffet" makes the dining room my favorite room in the house. Its colorful and makes the room feel much less barren than it did before. Since painting this dresser, I've been eyeballing various other pieces of furniture around the house and envisioning them in different colors. But I'm not gonna get ahead of myself-- I've got various other projects I've started that I just need to finish!

As I type, I'm sitting in my paint clothes getting ready to tackle our wood-paneled, ugly-as-sin mudroom and freshen it up with a coat of paint. Four solid walls of paneling should only take what--six months to paint??

Out on the Lake

Yesterday we went boating with the youth group. The trip was originally scheduled for August but rain cancelled our plans and bumped it a few weekends later. We weren't sure how the weather would do for this weekend either but ir turned out to be perfect for a day spent on the lake. It was cool all morning (and so was the water) but the afternoon warmed up just enough to give us all some sunburnt cheeks without making us sweat to death like a typical summer day. The chilly weather combined with grilling for lunch, football and corn hole made me so ready for our annual camping trip coming up in October!

Up North// Stop Two

After spending time with the Fairs, we drove an hour south to hang out with Deric's family for the remainder of the weekend. This involved dinner at a hibachi restaurant (yum) on Thursday night with Deric's parents and the Hunger Games when we got home. It brought back good memories from the few months we lived with them while job hunting two years ago. On Friday, Deric and his dad went golfing while I went on a bike ride through the blissfully quiet back country roads. It was a nice change of pace from my usual scenery involving lots of traffic and steep(er) hills. Friday night brought Deric's brother's family and some of our friends into town and it was so great to have a house full of friends and family. On Saturday, both sides of Deric's family came over for a Labor Day celebration which always equals Purdue football (and Ohio State, my sister-in-law's team, much to the dismay of the rest of the family) plus wayyy too much snacking. Overall, our four-ish days in Indiana flew by and made us even more anxious for the holidays so we can get back up there.

top// driveway leading to the in-law's house. picturesque, no?

bottom// back country roads.

a house divided.