A Craig's List Find

Last week, I mentioned that I am doing something about this eyesore in my house.

Well, this pile officially no longer exists in my house.  I think I will put a plant there.  I just have to figure out what kind of plant doesn't need light, or water.  Anyhoo, I digress.  Want to know what I did with all of that mess?  Here it is:

Can you believe that I found something that fit, such a specific wall so perfectly?  Well, it took me about 2 weeks of hunting, but I found it on Crag's List.  It looked like this:

There was one little spot of paint on it (of course it was red):

I lightly sanded all the areas I planned to paint.  Wiped off the dust with a damp cloth, and then primed it.  

After priming it I let it dry overnight.  If you live in a dryer part of the country, you probably don't need to let the primer dry that long, but I didn't want to risk it.

Then I painted it a color of green that is slightly darker than my kitchen, and coordinates nicely with the blue in my living room.  Since this dresser lives in the hallway between two rooms, it needs to look like it can live in both rooms easily.  I painted three coats of semi-gloss paint with high density foam roller and a sponge brush for the corners.  When if looked finished, I allowed it to cure for two full days before bringing it inside.  Again, I live in a moist climate, and wanted to be sure it was dry before displaying items on top, or shutting the drawers completely.

After I painted it, I put contact paper in the bottom of the drawers.  I found the contact paper at the dollar store, and I love the pattern.   The knobs that were on the drawer fronts when I bought it, didn't match, so I bought a new set at Home Depot.

And here is the finished product:

I plan to add my Great Grandmother's lamp to the top as decoration, but it is currently being re-wired.  

All that stuff from the counter (along with the two junk drawers from the kitchen) now live in this beauty.

I paid $80 for the chest, plus the cost of paint primer and knobs.  Out of that I gained four drawers of storage, a clean kitchen counter, and 2 free kitchen drawers.  I call that a win!

What are your greatest Craig's List finds?