the dresser: revealed.

My, oh my. I have definitely not been on top of this transformation. It was a slow process. First, John had to put the entire thing together. We are talking approximately 500 pieces. While my mom and I were out shopping I received this picture from John...

...with the text, "You have got to be kidding me. ...Never again." HA. Bless him. Due to his macho skills, he got the entire dresser put together in under 2 hours. I was fired up and ready for him to stain it, but as you can imagine, he didn't share the same ambition (football was on the tube).

A day or two later, he appeased me by putting on the first coat of stain. We mixed together "Dark Walnut" and "Weathered Oak" to get the color that we wanted.

This is what the dresser looked like after one coat:

It looked good and I liked where we were headed, but it still had a lot of yellow from the pine showing through. Time for round 2! 

 Much better. And what John thought that I would hate, I ended up loving: the woodgrain! I think that it makes the dresser unique.

After another coat and a few touch-ups it was ready to be sealed. For this, we used a water-based polycrylic finish. Once the topcoat dried it was time to add the hardware. The knobs that came with the dresser were heinous. It needed some spicing up. I ended up ordering these cute jute rope knobs from Etsy:

We had to wait until the room was finished being painted to move the dresser into the nursery, which delayed my reveal yet another day...

But, the dresser is in place now! Oh happy day! I am so thankful for the hubs' hard work and devotion. He made this momma-to-be very happy. I think Brooks' will love it too. Here is the finished result:

Not bad for under $350.00, if I do say so myself!

The drawers are loaded up with baby goodness, but I am still waiting on the changing pad cover, the lamp, and two more prints to arrive before we can finish up this space. Gotta love backorders...