Bookshelf dresser



The Shelfdresser

I think I talk a lot about my fears and obsessions in these blogs. Fact: dressers creep me out. When I hear dresser, I think of abandoned childhood furniture covered in stickers and paint. Dressers are things in my parents and grandparents houses. If you actually do want to purchase a dresser they are expensive, or really old and sticky. Opening and closing drawers everyday??? Pahleeez! I have way better ways to waste my time.

I could go on, my point is- why not have a Shelfdresser? A Shelfdresser is far superior to the aforementioned clothing storage method because it utilizes the "pile system" in an organized way. 

Piling up clothes is a natural human tendency and a God given right. Why not embrace it and create a space where you can pile up your clothes by use, and easily get at them? Plus, simply put, the Shelfdresser is a bookshelf with some wood attached to the front of it!


 




I started at the Ace Hardware mistint's shelf. Messed up colors sell for a tiny fraction of the original cost. I got the paint for $1 a quart. Then I thought up something to do with the paint, thus the invention.

I put on my awesomest clothes and set up this ikea bookshelf I found on the side of the road. My neighbors don't even flinch anymore when I start dragging things onto my front porch.

Even though I'm painting the wood a similar color, it's a solid, brighter color, and a good finish to the damaged surface. I didn't even use a third of the brown quart to paint all the insides of the shelves.

Then I picked this pretty blue to contrast.

I only painted the base, top, and sides, because I am going to nail slats on the fronts. You can buy wood and they will make 2 cuts in each board for free, or you can find it on the side of the road in the spring and fall. 

Paint the wood the same color and attach it with 1" brad nails to the sides and shelf itself. Start the nails into the board on the floor.

Get some wood that will form nice deep boxes for your socks and pj's. Then some smaller boards for the shirts and pants shelves, so they are fancy too.

A Shelfdresser is born! 

Thanks for reading. Okay, I love you, bah bye

Canning Fevah

Today we have a special guest star on the Greaser blog. Give it up for my beautiful little sister Megan Greaseball- Canning Extraordinaire...yeah, woooooo!   

 

On my recent visit home to Ohio, all my lady friends and family were in the midst of a canning craze. Once my little sister taught me how to can, (which is how I've learned most things in life), I could totally understand why one would spend hours in front of a stove with multiple steaming pots of boiling water and cooking fruits which require constant stirrage. I'm serious, canning is fantastic. There's something really fun about the precision and sterility required to safely preserve something you've grown or made.  
Also, in order to maximize the canning experience, you should have a partner to help you, which equals FUN. I'm not much help, but Megs is letting me do a bit while she teaches me how to can!



The recipe today is for peach jam, but the technique of canning is very versatile.

Vegetable Samiches

    Mark recently went home for a visit. The way he tells it, everybody in his life commented that he's gotten fat and bald. Upon his return he informed me that we're going to get healthy. Now I can't eat meat, eggs, or cheese in peace. Thanks Ohio. 

     Mark has always led a healthier lifestyle than me, but he's completely lost perspective. He yells, "You're trying to kill me," if I use a Teflon coated pan or the tiniest bit of oil. If I tell him he's as handsome to me as the first day I met him, he screams, "Liar, I don't believe anything you say."

     In spite of the vanity at the heart of his aspirations, I am cooking vegetarian these days. Today I have a delicious sandwich recipe from a cookbook my sister Megan uses, The Vegan Table. I don't like most of these ingredients on their own, but this sandwich is truly spectacular- even if you're not a psycho health nut!

The fillers are artichoke hearts, red peppers, pesto, and mayo. You need a nice crusty bread (the day-old rolls are perfect) because the toppings are so juicy! 

For all you rockers and grannies out there!

I eat drill bits for breakfast.

  The original piece of furniture, nay, the only piece of furniture you could sit on, other than a folding chair or desk chair, for at least my first six months in Salt Lake City, was a rocker glider chair. I re-covered the cushions my second night in the apartment while watching the 1974 sci-fi hit Zardoz-where In the far future, a young Sean Connery is a savage trained only to kill. Wearing little more than a diaper, Connery finds a way into the community of bored immortals who alone preserve humanity's achievements.

   Good memories- so of course I couldn't throw the chair out when it eventually cracked under the weights of Mark and I. Also being too lazy, and fat, we didn't throw the broken chair away, but let it continue to sit in our living room and then on the front porch for six additional months. Today I attempt to turn that old broken down chair into a guitar stand for my baby's new 12-string.

I get my work jacket on and compile my pliers, screwdrivers, hammer, and appropriate wrenches and allen keys. 

Taking things apart can be one of the most enjoyable or frustrating experiences. The best way to approach the task is to go for the most obvious and easiest connections, and your path will unfold in front of you.

Quick tips and ideas

I've been experimenting... which has been complicating the blogging process. My kitchen is covered in scrap wood and things are a little out of control right now. So in the meantime I thought I'd share a few quick ideas to get your creative juices flowing while I get my new projects up to snuff. 

1. Personalized Spice Jars- My mom made me these for Christmas using magazine cutouts, paper labels, and tons of varnish. I asked for them because I buy a lot of spices in bulk bags, but I was blown away by how cute hers turned out.

  

Preparing the Victuals

Today I am preparing my freezer for the coming weeks of winter hardship. I guess I never really got over that Y2K scare, or growing up with so much competition at the dinner table. Now I have a tendency to amass huge stores of food, or I totally FREAK OUT

It's actually not a bad system, because I sometimes get slammed with work and I can still throw a decent dinner together on the fly before rushing off to report a story. So every once-in-a-while I spend an afternoon making perogies and pizza crusts to freeze. I wish I had figured these out in college!

Follow these steps and you too can make 45 Perogies (5-7 meals) and 3-4 pizza crusts for about $8!

Old Job Chandelier

Today I made a craft to use up all those old papers from my stupid old job that I had to resign from after not getting paid for too long. 

Other than burning for heat, I can't think of a better use of all those old contracts, to-do lists, spreadsheets, and business cards!

To begin, I took about 50 pieces of scrap paper and dipped them in a 9x13 pan filled with tea so they would look old. They had to dry overnight. This step is totally optional if you actually have a life.

You need an old coat hanger and pliers. Metal coat hangers can be hard to find. They just don't make things how they used to! Luckily I found one in the parking lot of my grocery store.  I'm guessing a meth head who collects scrap metals must have dropped it while stealing a shopping cart, so I gave it a quick wash.