ebj123's Profile

Well, regardless of whether or not your finished dresser will look like what you want - the way to get the stain color you want is:
1. strip/sand off all the old finish
2. buy and apply an oil based dark stain, but instead of wiping off the stain as per the instructions on the can, leave the stain to dry completely on the wood. (make sure to stir the stain before applying!). It might take two or even three coats to get the complete dark brown look you are after.
3. I would rec'd finishing with a rub on poly in a satin finish.

It will be a lot of work, but this is how to get the "not quite paint but not a see through wood grainy" stained look.

I just explained my own schoolhouse creation at the end of this blog post...I really love the look and it cost me less than ten dollars to do.
http://princessnebraska.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/like-watching-paint-dry/

I could never go in that pool because every time I got in I'd be overwhelmed by the urge to give someone the old pressed hams.

Some of our favorite wedding gifts: an espresso machine, a night at a VERY fancy hotel where we went on our honeymoon, good knives and a chopping block, black and white pics taken by a guest and put in an album, champagne flutes from Tiffany, a toaster, and really nice wine glasses. If I don't know what people want I usually knives or cloth napkins and napkin rings or a platter. Platters are always useful and if you give it from a run of the mill store it can be returned.

Well they obviously don't have children.

I would so write a letter to Anthropologie. I've had a lot of success with that for various companies - just make sure to send it to the highest up department of the store you can find, and mention how much you shop there.

I can't help but wonder where these boys um, you know. Do number two? In my bathroom? No thanks!

I also own this bookshelf!

Pros: it looks great, a very nice modern take on midcentury design - we get lots of compliments on it. And it holds a lot of books. And the price is great, and it IS solid wood.

Cons: Because there are no vertical side shelves to hold books on, you need to use something on the end of each shelf of books, if that makes sense. Bookends or what have you. And it doesn't look right to me unless you create a triangulation with your books, so for example we have a full shelf of books on the very bottom shelf and only a few books on the top shelf. Also, our shelf, at least, is VERY tippy, and so we have had to anchor it to the wall in two places.

Ultimately, I really love how it looks, but it's not that sturdy. I would never use it anywhere it could not be anchored to a wall.

Here's a picture of it in our house:
http://flickr.com/photos/e_and_e/2849411985/

I bought plain green glass knobs from here, and they were about 1/4 the price of the ones from Anthropologie. If they don't have what you are looking for, I would just google the general idea of what you want and see what comes up.

http://www.lookintheattic.com/designer-knobs.html

I never win anything. Maybe this time?