Spring cleaning....and painting....and laundry....

I was super motivated to clean earlier this week.  Why, you ask?  Because my family was coming to town for the weekend!  Despite the fact that they know the true me, the one with piles of papers and laundry perpetually on my living room couch (hey, at least it's clean and hopefully even folded), I still wanted to pretend that, yes, our apartment is always this clean.

In addition to cleaning, I've also been working my way though my list of  "things to do eventually".  For example, when Isaac and I got married, we acquired two wooden dressers that were in great condition except for the paint.  However, paint wasn't a priority at that time, so they went in our room as is and down to the bottom of the eventually list.

However, with the incentive of my family coming and the fact that it was finally nice enough outside to crack the windows while painting, I am happy to report that the dressers are finally finished!

Here is one of the two dressers I painted.  I love how the soft grey color blends with the other colors in our room:

I painted the inside of the dresser drawers this ^ beautiful light aqua color.

The bedspread, sheets, and throw pillows in our bedroom.

A note about paint: keep in mind it can be very expensive.  The reason I paint old furniture (besides the fact that it is really fun) is to save money on buying new.  But depending on the paint you buy, it could negate a good chunk of the money you would save -- especially if you get name brand paint from a paint or hardware store.  While my budget did not allow for a $44 gallon of Benjamin Moore, it did allow for a $14 gallon of ColorPlace (Wal-mart's in store brand).  I have used ColorPlace paint for several projects and, in my opinion, it covers just as well as the pricier brands.  It is thick enough to cover but goes on smooth -- I completely covered our previously black dressers with two thin coats of light gray paint (I didn't even use primer).  Now I'm not trying to say that there isn't an increase in quality with the more expensive paints; I'm just saying that for my budget and taste I can't tell a big enough difference to warrant spending an extra $30/gallon. 

Wal-mart can also color match paint chips from any other brand.  The paint colors I wanted happened to be Benjamin Moore, so I took the paint chips to Wal-mart, and they worked their color matching magic.  After they mixed the paint, we compared it to the original paint chip and it was a perfect match!