Granny's Eastlake Dresser & Orange Julius

Today has been a long day. I woke up with both cats on the bed - yes, there is now a second cat. His name is Julius, and he is an orange and white tabby. Get it, Orange Julius? Here he is playing with his favorite toy, known as Gray Mousey.


This morning I spent cleaning up the house. We have just finished the second bedroom, and have the master closet back. Prior to that all of our clothes were in the dining room- so either you took them upstairs with you, or you walked downstairs to get them after a shower. Not very convenient! Anyway, that is all done with now, as the bedroom is back together except for some furniture pieces that have yet to be found and purchased in the antique store they now reside in.

My office and the Franklin Bedroom were also reclaimed. The bed and the desks are back in order, and with the exception of a few books everything is back in its place. Even the carpet got a good vacuuming, and at one point I found enough cat hair in the corner to create a new cat.

Not one, but two trips to Lowe's later (I forgot the foam insulation for around the window in the stairwell) - and we were on our way to making the upstairs hallway the next project. That involves very little in comparison to the last few projects. It's a much smaller area for one, and all it needs is new molding around the doors, paint on the walls and ceiling, and some window trimming and dressing. Oh, and before all that, there's spackling to be done. The hardwood floor is already down in the hallway, thank goodness. The walls will be a parchment white, with a light yellow ceiling. I know - a departure from my usual colors. However, I've got a great wide border, about 12 inches wide, of a New England harbor scene that will go around the top of it, sandwiched between molding. It will look great when it's done.

One of the best parts about this project is that when it is finished it will be home to my great-granny's Eastlake dresser, which is made of mahogany. I plan to use it as a linen chest, since it will be located just outside my rather small bathroom. We ordered new hardware for it, since the old hardware was missing all but three pulls - and found some fantastic gold pulls for it at Lowe's through special order. They're on it now, and for the first time in over three years, that dresser is back together again.

I don't have any pictures of any of this yet, but when it is all done and finished I will post them here for you to see. Thanks for reading, and if you need me - I'll probably be at Lowe's!