The Longest Build, Ever

Hey everyone!

Happy New Year!! Yes, we're 1/24th into 2015 and I'm only just getting to my first blog post of the year.

What can I say? I'm a procrastinator!

Which will explain why building this dresser took a year.

Yes, you read that right. See, I started this dresser early 2014 based on Ana White's Fillman Dresser plans because Mr. Goats and I were using one drawer in a tiny night stand as a shared sock/underwear drawer, and the darned thing was never closed because it was alway too full.

I'm sparing you the pics because it wasn't pretty (and I didn't get any ;-) ).

We also had that nightstand under the TV in our bedroom and it always had electronics on it, so I knew that I'd do a shelf instead of the top drawer.

The carcass and the drawers were built in a day, and then I stopped. After looking more closely at the drawers in the plan, I realized that I just didn't want that style, so I took a break!

And didn't get back to it until we decided to play musical chairs with all of our DVD players and the one that wound up in our bedroom was almost as big as the tiny nightstand that it was sitting on.

This was done the next day (using reclaimed boards for the drawer face - I'll show close-ups later in the post!).

All that was left to do was to stain/seal it. This was stained with General Finishes gel stain in Java. The GF gel stains have urethane in them, so the need for polyurethane is lessened (it's still recommended for added protection), and I wanted to try a hand rubbed finish. Ended up trying Minwax's Paste Finishing Wax.

This was something that I'd wanted to try for a while, but most of my recent builds have been for other people or have needed to have polyurethane for my peace of mind (play room table = extra abused), so this seemed like the perfect piece to try it on. Local stores didn't have the "Special Dark" wax, so I used the natural finish with NO problems on my darkly stained dresser.

The wax added a slight sheen, but is definitely not semi-gloss (or even satin), so it's noticeably different than any polyurethanes that I've ever used. It's also not oily, like I expected. ALSO! It's one of the easiest (actually, I can say for sure that it is THE easiest) finish I have ever applied and it didn't stink up my garage..! I can't vouch for it's durability as I've only just applied it, but so far, I love it.!

Something to note, I had read that waxes should be applied over a sealer, so if your stain doesn't have any urethanes, you'll have to seal it (your choice as to how).

I heart how it looks. I heart having room to search for my own socks. I heart having proportional furniture. I heart having this!!

I also heart having a post written this year! I miss you guys!!!