This post is kind of sad. Probably more for me than for you.

I had a wonderful vision for the dresser for Ari’s room. It involved copper pulls and Target, so what could go wrong? I thought.

Many things, it turned out. So many things that I did not even bother to take pictures with the real camera. Cruddy iphone pictures are all you get. I need a new iphone. But not really.

This dresser started life a long time ago, when Dave’s Dad was a kid. Then it was in Dave’s room when he was a kid, then we used it for all of our kids’ nurseries, and it underwent a few makeovers along the way. When it was in Abe’s ocean-y nursery, it looked like this:

Oh! and I found pictures of MILO’S nursery from our old house awhile back, so I can show you what it looked like before that, too. Milo’s nursery was pretty cute. Like MILO!

But once Abe’s room got its big kid update, it moved to our master bedroom, because we weren’t really sure where else to put it, and there it had stayed ever since. It was not ideal. So when we needed a dresser in Ari’s room, and I had this great idea for what I wanted it to look like–black with copper pulls–it seemed like a no-brainer. Yet another incarnation for the old dresser!

I seem to have exactly one picture from the makeover process:

I’m not actually sure why I took it. Maybe it was an accident? Anyway, I liked the idea a chalk style paint for the whole no-prep thing, so I went with the Magnolia Home paint and wax from Target. When I painted the dresser last time, I used a homemade version of chalk paint with wax over it, and it held up very well for eight years.

This time I did not have such good luck.

So I kind of suspected that putting the paint over a wax finish was…questionable. But I didn’t want it to be true, so I pretended it would be fine. I really didn’t want to sand the dresser you see. Just now I googled and found that Annie Sloan claims that her own chalk paint will go on fine over her own brand of wax. But I am here to tell you that Magnolia chalk style paint does NOT adhere well to what I think was probably Minwax.

I tried. I really tried. I kept touching up the paint as it came off and then putting more wax over the top, but it was no good.

But I WAS very happy with how it would have looked if it had gone right. I love the copper pulls (affiliate link). So I resolved to sand the stupid thing down and try again, even though sanding is terrible.

But when we moved the dresser into Ari’s room, another problem emerged.

It just doesn’t work in the room. The scale is all off.

I have decided that (I still don’t know where to put this dresser and) we need a bigger, horizontal dresser instead. But I don’t have one of those lying around in my house. I can see something mid century, along the lines of the one in Abe’s room in here (but ideally a little bigger):

I’ve been scouring facebook marketplace for a couple of weeks now with no luck. And the rest of Ari’s room is getting close to finished (! more on that in a few days), so I’m antsy to get this dresser situation resolved. Here are a few options I’m considering:

*Keep looking for a mid-century dresser: I think this room needs something vintage in it, and it’s lacking that right now. And I guess leave the current dresser in there in the meantime and just feel sad about it?

*Get a cheap dresser from Ikea or somewhere as a placeholder: perhaps a Malm, as that would fit the overall feel of the room pretty well. And Ikea furniture seems to hold its value surprisingly well, so I could probably sell it when we’re done with it. But I really don’t want to Ikea-fy the room any more than I already have (no offense, Ikea–I like you a lot in smallish doses and in certain roles).

*Get a cheap dresser that IS the right size and shape and do the same thing to it (only better) as I did to the dresser that’s in there now: I could either look for a used one or buy an unfinished wood one like the Tarva from Ikea.

*Buy an expensive BRAND NEW mid-century style dresser like I have in mind. Or pay more than I want to for an older one. This is the least attractive option.

So. I still don’t know what I’m going to do. Thoughts? Right this second I’m going to check Marketplace again. Fingers crossed.

This whole thing was pretty discouraging. But! Then we worked on another project in the room, and I’m super happy with how it’s turning out, so a happier post about that coming soon!