Right now I’m feeling really torn. For the next three days I am locking myself inside and going through my house to get rid of items that we don’t need. It’s time to lighten the load…by tons. I can feel it and my husband and kids can feel it. We just have too much stuff.
(Seriously…I have stuff coming out my ears…it’s time to do some real soul searching and, like the song says….”Let it go!”)
And while I could (and probably should) write an entire post about this process and how conflicted I feel about it that isn’t the point of today’s post. Today’s post is about two things:
#1. Asking for help.
#2. This item…my first official DIY project:
It is a dresser I bought at a thrift store for $6. It had been painted and repainted numerous times but the top layer was pink spray paint covered with yellow splatter paint. It was pretty horrific. But I was in love.
So I lifted that sucker into the trunk of my little Mazda and drove it home carefully with the majority of the dresser perilously hanging out the back.
Then over the next few days I lovingly striped away the gunk and repainted my prize. I even took my first solo trip to Home Depot to buy new hardware!
I loved this dresser and wanted it to be just the perfect piece for our newly purchased little town home.
And it was. While I spent time doing things like putting a faux finish on the top of the dresser….
…my husband spent his time painting the bedroom to match. It was perfect!
But a decade has passed…we’ve had three children…have moved twice…and grown up a lot. And….I’m not sure my beloved dresser fits my lifestyle anymore. 🙁
SOooooo….this is where you come in…what should I do with it? This dresser reminds me of all those first DIY projects that my husband and I did together…and how much fun we had as newly weds. But we are currently in the middle of redoing our bedroom and are designing it to fit who we are now and the direction we are going. (And the room isn’t formal red and cream…)
What should I do? Keep it and make it work? Redo my first DIY so it will fit into the design we are working on? or…Let it go?
I seriously can’t decide…I know I need to grow up and pair down but does this need to go? Advice? Input? Suggestions???? I am TERRIBLE at things like this…I’m just too sentimental and it clouds my judgment.
-liZ
PS—I worked on this dresser everyday after I was done teaching school. I would get off work, stop and get a soda, and then paint the dresser while watching “Trading Spaces”. Man, I loved that show……
I would refinish it! I love making pieces I already have work, and I love having things in the home that my children will maybe want later because we have always had it.
I would keep it and make it into something new. Repaint, refinish, possibly even reshape it. I can be perfect again. Good luck!
I agree – I’d keep it and redo it to fit where you are now in your life.
i would either strip it all down again and stain it or paint it all one color.
Do you love it?
Do you have a use for it?
Do you have a place for it?
If you answered ‘no’ to any of the above questions, you should let it go to someone new who will love it as you did.
If you answered ‘yes’ to all of the questions, strip it down and refinish it to suit your needs now. 🙂
I think you’ve already done it. You wrote to us lovingly about the great memories, you included some pictures to memorialize, and now it’s time to let it go 🙂 You won’t forget your first piece, and you can think of this blog post as a scrap book page.
On a personal note, I am also in the midst of a “let it go” overhaul in our home…I’ve been getting lots of practice saying goodbye!
It’s hard to know when to let something go. Often larger special things have to go because of space while smaller special things can be kept for much longer. IF you have room and IF the item still makes you happy to look at – keep it. If and when you decide to let it go, take a picture to memorialize the piece and know that someone else will love it as much as you have.
Honestly? If it’s still a good, solid piece of furniture, there’s no real reason to get rid of it. Dressers are expensive. My advice is to strip it down and repaint it one color that goes with your new room.
I would take the top off, or the front panel on one of the drawers and turn it into a picture frame. Keep the memories and let the rest go.
I’m a work in progress when it comes to letting stuff go. I’m a big fan of garage sales and resale sites, both buying and selling. So typically I would say let it go, let someone else enjoy it. But a dresser is a different beast. Good, well made, all wood dressers are expensive. I’d take a serious look at whether it can be refinished, even if it was a couple of solid coats of black paint, to be used in your room, a kids room, guest room. A buffet in a kitchen, tv stand in a family room, weather proofed to be a planting table. I could probably go on, but you probably get my point haha.
I think you answered the question for yourself – you have no space for it, it doesn’t fit in your life any more, it’s just a great memory. Why not frame one of those pictures you took of it (I personally love the legs!) and let the dresser be a blessing to someone else, perhaps another newlywed DIY couple?
I didn’t read the suggestions yet so hopefully this isn’t a repeat. I would put it out in the garage to store items there or put it in the mudroom or the laundry room or somewhere else (out on the deck to store summer items?).
I was in the same boat when I had an old German Shraank that I had bought in the nineties. A huge monstrosity! I just (yesterday) spent time painting and putting porch/outside furniture enamel on it so I could store boots/flipflops/crocs/balls/toys/garden items and everything else that collects on the deck. I actually got rid of the hulking top part and just used the base which is a ten foot long three compartment chest.
Oh Liz, why are we always in the same place at the same time? I am also in the midst of cleaning, sorting, pitching, donating so we don’t end up featured on A&E. (Boy! did my house grow legs and run away from me this winter!) I also am contemplating what to do with the first two DIY’s MHM and I did. The bookcase that we painted and decoupaged is going on to a new home. Although I love it, it doesn’t work for us at all anymore. The basket shelf thing we made is getting painted and repurposed in the garage.
De-hoarding is a rough process. Thank goodness I stocked on Cadbury mini eggs after Easter or I’m pretty sure the process would be unbearable. Good luck with whatever you decide. 🙂
Keep it and use it for one of these great ideas others have mentioned! Like they say, good furniture is expensive!
I LOVED Trading Spaces also. But times have changed. I also used to watch HGTV but times have changed. I don’t believe in CONSTANTLY redoing rooms (how do the decorating blogs find enough stuff to keep them going?) but I do believe in getting rid of old styled, not going to work with what I have now stuff. I would save your “save” for something small and precious–perhaps an item from your childhood or your kids very young days. But a LARGE dresser that has seen it’s day? My husband tried to use our old bath vanity in the garage for more storage–seriously? Now just more ugly stuff to clutter out there. Let it go…. but get a picture of it first–you can even hug it in the photo. 🙂
We had this issue as well when we moved, and I totally blame Trading Spaces also. But do you remember that show that used to come on right around the same time as Trading Spaces? Clean Sweep (had to google it). I learned a lot from that show too. What is important about that item is your memory of what it meant/means to you at that point in your life. The object is not your memory. Let the object go, and keep the memory. Be in your life today. I would donate it to a thrift store near a college campus. Some other girl is going to have a great time stripping it down and repainting it for her first place, and then she can have fun memories too.
I say refinish it. It has great bones and a great story. I think refinishing it allows for it to evolve as you and your husband have. I have a free dresser that my husband and I painted on the balcony of our first apartment (the thing was lime green and deep purple to start with. hence, free!). It is functional but doesn’t fit with the us we’ve become. Once we move, I plan on giving it a new paint job. I want it to stay apart of our story!
And please do a post about getting rid of all the stuff! My husband will be out of the country for work for five weeks. After he gets back, we’ll be buying a home. I plan on taking the time he’s gone to declutter. I’d love to hear how you went about it!
LET IT GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All your memories you brought with you didn’t you?
Let it now be someone else’s start.
New Mantra…. of declutter …
…. NO GUILT…
If it’s still a solid piece of furniture, then I think you should refinish it. I too have a hard time letting things go that have sentimental value. Whatever you decide, I’m sure it will be perfect.
the memories live in your heart, not the dresser. i would let it go.
I would repaint it again and make it into an adorable piece for your daughter’s room, a buffet for the dining room, or a folding spot for your laundry room. Good furniture is hard to find and as long as it is still in good shape, I say hold onto it.
I would really keep it. I’m not a hoarder and I am all for getting rid of things. But I would keep it and redo it again to fit how your life is right now! I don’t like getting rid of furniture unless it is basically broken and cannot be fixed. Keep it!! :))
Stephanie
Silverliningsoriginals.blogspot.com
KEEP IT! Refinish it, use it in your crafting area, your laundry room, your entry way, living room. It is storage for your stuff. You just can’t get good dressers with drawers that can hold more than 2 pairs of jeans anymore (or at least not without costing a full months salary). If it didn’t have storage capability then it might be worth passing on – but you can always find room for something with storage. A kitchen island perhaps?
I loved Trading Spaces as well!!!
Honestly, I would let it go. Sell it on Craigslist, put it up in a yard sale, donate it..so someone else can get their DIY fix. The memories, you already have and ..because you are a different woman than the one who restored the piece it is time to find a new project.
It sounds like a sentimental piece with great memories when you look at it. I would re purpose it into something great and let the memories continue.
Good solid pieces are hard to come by, if by redoing it, it will fit in your new home maybe as a hall piece, then keep it. If it will not then re purpose it to someone else to enjoy and re do. Good Luck, I too am getting ready for a garage sale to get rid of things I don’t need or use.
I feel your pain. I’m in the process of trying to get rid of some of my stuff. Some is hard to part with for sentimental reasons, and others because I can think of so many uses for the item, or I still think it is beautiful, even if it is not useful or has a place in the house anymore. I think taking a photo and letting it go is a great idea if you don’t think it fits in your house and life anymore. Or if you have storage in a garage or basement, you can hold onto it in the event that the perfect use comes up (I’ve been known to do this too much). Good luck whatever your final decision.
You HAVE to refinish and keep it. The bare bones, the detail and the cut outs, is beautiful. You’ll never find another piece with that sort of charm and character again.
If you don’t want it… Give it to me? I have a thing for amazing dressers. 🙂 I’ve got a twenty year old curved front dresser in my room that my mum hand painted (with with pink rose detail on the top drawers) that will never find another home. It’s going to turn into a family heirloom.
It is hard to say goodbye that you spent so much time recreating. I would not be able to part with it, but then again, that is why my home is so full now I can’t take in one more piece of furniture. I loved Trading Spaces too, and watched it regularly. When Paige married a guy with the last name Page and became Paige Page, how adorable.
First DIY project? Obviously means a great deal to you. While it may not belong in your bedroom anymore,,,perhaps in your sewing room/shop/workspace to remind you of where you started,,,and where you’re going. (There are “special” pieces that can be kept too,,not everything needs to be tossed.) JMHO