Sage – Author at Plaster & Disaster

Happy Monday! I was hard at work on the guest room over the weekend, and will have a reveal of the full makeover on Friday! Just in time, too, since Maddie is arriving in less than two weeks. (If you missed Part I of the makeover, where I coated everything in white paint, be sure to check it out.)

Today I have just a quick update to share. In a recent post, I shared one of the guest room projects: painting the dresser a bold shade of green.

The project wasn’t quite complete, though, because I still needed to pick new hardware — and I was seriously struggling. So I turned to you, our stylish and talented readers, to give me some advice. I gave you various shapes to consider:

And then I pleaded with you for some help choosing. I believe my exact words were: “My boat is sinking. Sharks are circling. Insert more terrifying water metaphors here.”

You guys totally delivered, pouring forth with advice. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the brass knobs, but many of you also expressed concern that they might be too small. Some really liked the brass bar pulls. Others wondered if brass wasn’t the right finish.

Well, I’m proud to say that armed with many new perspectives, I made a decision! I shared your worry that the brass knobs would be too small, though I love their shape. I also totally love the brass bars, but worried they would feel too big for the piece. So what did I choose? The brass ring pulls, from Organza Design on Etsy! [Update: Years later, these are no longer available online, sadly!]

I know they might feel a little “out of period” for the mid-century lines of the dresser, but I’m going with a more classic/”old world” feel in this room (what does that even mean?) and I felt like these really tie into it. Maybe that will make more sense when I share the full room reveal on Friday?

In the meantime, let’s enjoy looking at them.

Emerald green dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Ignore the pathetic styling, I just threw some things on there for the photo but have some other styling plans for the full room reveal/longer term use.

They were $6.99 each, so $42 for all six. Not inexpensive, but not bad for six pieces of hardware to finish off this dresser. By contrast, the bar pulls on the white dresser above were $36 each. EACH. Granted that seems unreasonably high, but it still makes me feel better about my $42 splurge.

As for the process of installing them, it was relatively simple. I wanted the pulls to be centered on each drawer, so first I found the horizontal center point on the top drawer and marked that. Then I used a level to identify and mark the horizontal center points on the two drawers below that. That ensured that the pulls on all three drawers were on the same vertical line.

Then I used a ruler to mark the vertical center point on each drawer, creating a point where the vertical and horizontal centers met. This marked the exact center of each drawer, which I then drilled through with my power drill and installed each pull.

I repeated this process on the three drawers on the other side. Not too hard!

So what do you think about my choice?

(Sharing at August Before and After, Think and Make Thursdays, Your Turn to Shine Link Party, Remodelaholic, Two Uses Tuesday, Totally Terrific Tuesday, Create Link Inspire, Thrifty and Vintage Finds Link Party, Pin Worthy Wednesday, Create It Thursday, Weekend Re-Treat Link Party, Pin Junkie Pin Party, I Heart Naptime, One Project at a Time, Friday’s Furniture Fix, and Tip Me Tuesday)

Ready for a super easy and inexpensive project that works for anyone with a smart phone? Great!

Meet my phone. It’s a fine phone. In fact, it’s kind of snazzy because it’s yellow. But the case has seen better days.

All I needed to remedy the situation was a clear case (I got one for really cheap on Amazon (affiliate link — read our policies), but just make sure you get the right case for the phone model you have), a free paint swatch from the hardware store, scissors, and an x-acto knife. You could pick any color paint chip you want, but you’ll probably pick turquoise because it’s the best color ever.

Step #1: Trace the outline of your phone onto the back of the paint swatch.

Step #2: Cut out the shape you’ve traced.

See if it fits in the back of the case, and trim as needed.

Step #3: Use your case to identify where the hole for the camera needs to be.

Step #4: Trace the outline of the hole on the back of the paint swatch, and cut out the hole with an x-acto knife. You might need to do some touch-up with little scissors, if your x-acto knife is as dull as mine.

Step #5: Put the paint swatch inside the case, facing out, and then put your phone in. Rejoice about your new, colorful, $7 case that can be changed up at any time.