My Childhood Chest of Drawers

Greetings lovely friends & readers

On my last trip to Mum's, when I told my brother I would be taking home the old chest of drawers out in Mum's shed, he said some words I can't actually print on here 😉 ... but their interpretation went something like "was I barking mad?!"  No I was not !

It took some effort on my part to load them into my vehicle as they are native timber & not exactly light ... but I was determined.

This chest of drawers was used by my brother & I for the first 5 years of our life as we shared a bedroom together.  Eventually we got our own bedrooms & I think he used this for awhile longer before it got moved out to Dad's shed & became home to all his painting & wallpapering gear.  You see my Dad was a painter & paperhanger.  When I got the drawers home & loaded onto my deck I realised they were probably in much worse state than I had envisioned.  But that's okay - I still had a "plan". 😉😶

 

The drawers & the sides of the unit were full of borer holes.  I sanded & stripped the wood - it took me a week but that wasn't continually working on it - that was walking away from it quite often !!

I treated it by spraying with kerosene to kill any live borer lavae.  Then I set about filling all those borer holes with wood putty.  Believe me friends, there were about a gazillion of them !!

Lastly I oiled the wood using a woodstain that I already had on hand.  It has actually turned out darker than I wanted but I am fairly sure where I have placed it - on my covered deck area - it will soon lighten a bit & fade.  The stain looks patchy here but it is not this bad in real life.  I also replaced the 5 handles with new ones as they were broken.  I wanted a simple handle - nothing too fancy.  

My "plan" for this chest of drawers & my "vision" was to use it to house all my garden supplies.  These were previously sitting on our old dog kennel & often looked messy/unsightly when you walked up our deck steps.

Everything fitted in perfectly & I also ran an old candle along the base of the drawers as the wax helps them to glide open & closed easily.  I was really pleased with how it turned out but felt it needed "something more" ..............

I ended up purchasing this botanical transfer from * this * gorgeous shop & I think it just finished it all off nicely.  I am really pleased with how these drawers turned out & the fact that they are so useful is a double blessing.  

Safely under cover on my deck area & out of any weather.

Attractive as well as useful at the same time 💚

I also washed all my china plates & replaced a couple that had big chips/cracks in them using the plates I op-shopped in * this post * for $2 each. 

A "Beautical Sunray Pink Petunia" in my wrought iron chair planter - a gift from my friend Julie 💗

Lastly dear friends - I absolutely LoVe this photo above - look at the body language on Sid! Could he sit much further away? 😊 He is not especially fond of Santa, but he thought there might be a toy involved so he persevered. Makes me smile everytime I look at it.

Thank you as always dear friends, for your visits here today,

Enjoy the weekend, remember to be kind to yourselves & to each other,

With much love & friendship to you all,

Julie & the furry ones x0x0x