Have you ever had one of those projects that, as soon as you hand over the cash to make the payment, one of the legs falls off? Probably not. This Empire dresser tested us as soon as we took possession and forced us to learn new skills to complete the rebuild; "rebuild" may be an understatement for what we did to it. We hope you enjoy the journey we went through with this piece. We also hope this prevents you from learning some lessons the hard way as we did.

Sydney is in love with these easy herringbone DIY projects, but it was time for a change in style. We had some scrap lumber and it was time to get it out of the shop. We used some leftover 3/4" plywood for the backboard, and the herringbone pattern was made out of cut paint sticks. 

We purchased this Stanley Furniture piece in Lynchburg, VA, where it was stored in a basement. Unfortunately, mid-century modern (MCM) pieces are hard to find at a reasonable price point, even those that need a little bit of love. We ran across several challenges with this piece that made its restoration a bit frustrating at times, but we think it turned out great. More finished pictures are featured at the end of the blog. 

Fun fact, Josh interned at Stanley Furniture when he was an undergrad student and has always enjoyed restoring some of their beautiful pieces.  

If you have never been to a lumber yard, then you are in for a treat! With wood prices skyrocketing over the past year, lumber yards are your friend compared to big box stores. They have better prices, have more variety of wood species, have a variety of sizes, and have staff available to offer assistance.

We use Wall Lumber Company out of Mayodan, North Carolina, and the trip is always worth it. Most lumber yards have a similar feel, so here are five things you need to understand before planning out what you need and making a trip to pick out your wood pieces. 

We bought this awesome Drexel dresser from a lady in Winston-Salem, NC. It had been in a storage shed behind her house for a long time, and we were able to provide some much-needed love to it and give it a second life. The Drexel dresser is now being used in our Son Judah's room (Check out this blog post on some of the design elements in Judah's Room). ​

After our son Judah was born, we started creating pieces for his room to help tie in multiple stain colors. This was the first piece of wall art that Sydney created and added to his room. You can see some of the other pieces of his room at our other blog post about his nursery. We will share the materials that we used as well as some alternative options you may consider.

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Judah was born in January 2020 and surprised us with his presence two weeks early. He entered the world and hopped right into a wild ride over his first year of life. He ended up spending some time in the NICU while Sydney was also recovering from some of her own health difficulties after giving birth. After being released from the hospital to go home, the journey was actually just beginning as we faced the pandemic and Josh's health concerns. The beauty of the pandemic meant that we had some time at home to work on putting together some unique custom pieces of furniture and décor for Judah's room. It also meant that we got to spend more time together as a family and supporting one another

​This post overviews the work that we did, but there will be more posts to come to show off the details and process of each piece. Judah can't wait to show you!

Also, please check out our more detailed blog post on Judah's dresser.