The Dresser

bycosmicradio

5.9K followers

7 years ago

Thinking back, I think it first started happening about 2 years ago...

I saw a fabulous pair of satin, high heel Manolo Blahniks in a store window one day...

NO. Come on...do I seem like that kind of guy? (Had you going there for a second, though, didn't I?)

Actually, what happened was that the front of one of my top dresser drawers pulled completely off!

(What I felt like doing to the dresser!)

But, I just groaned, got some Gorilla Glue, and glued it back together.

Actually, it was quite a bit tougher than that just made it sound. Allow me to explain...

First of all, there was no Gorilla Glue in the house, so I had to drive down to Home Depot, in the next town, and buy a new tube.

Back at home, I had to take all my stuff out of the drawer, and remove the drawer.

Then, I had to get a wet washcloth and moisten the joints. (Because that's what the instructions said to do. That's right, I actually READ the instructions! Aren't you proud of me, ladies?)

Finally, I had to glue it and fit it carefully back together, which is not easy, because the dresser has dovetailed joints, which means it shouldn't have come apart in the first place, but it did.

I wiped off the excess glue, and then it had to sit and dry, with a few heavy books on it, before I could load my stuff in the drawer again.

Quite a process!

I would say my repair job lasted about 3 months before the front pulled off the drawer again!

A helpful person at work said, "Why don't you nail it?"

The dovetail joints are so small, however, I was concerned about cracking the wood, even with very small nails. So I was stuck (Get it?) with Gorilla Glue.

Over the course of the next two years, that sucker probably popped off of there 10 times!

I patiently dealt with it in the same manner as described above, probably cursing silently to myself (and sometimes not so silently!).

One day I finally reached the point where the dresser had to go!

Thus began the Great Dresser Hunt, which probably lasted several weekends here and there, over a 3 or 4 month period, due to the fact that furniture in new furniture stores is quite expensive, and it is difficult to find a decent dresser in a used furniture store that is in acceptable shape, and that also appeals to my Cosmopolitan taste in dressers. (and if you're buying that, I've got some Florida swampland to sell you!)

Anyway, this past Saturday, I drove to the Odessa Flea Market, on Gunn Highway, near Tampa, and after wandering through the various buildings for nearly an hour, I saw a dresser that looked like new!

Actually, it was the same one I'd seen in a Haverty's Furniture store recently for $1,200.00.

The lady had it marked $350.00!

Closer inspection revealed it had a small chip in the back, bottom corner, but was otherwise in near-perfect condition. It really looked like it had never been used!

I offered $200.00...She said the least she could take was $250.00...I asked her if she would let it go for $225.00, and, after a moment of consideration, she agreed to the deal.

Now I had a dresser that wasn't falling apart.

But, when I tried to lift one end of the dresser, I was amazed at how heavy it was!

It took myself, three other people, and the use of a large metal cart, to get it loaded into the back of my SUV.

I paid the lady in cash, and started off for home.

When I arrived home, I realized I had an issue with getting it into the house, due to the weight.

I tried removing the drawers, to lighten the burden, but they had some kind of "stops" under the drawers that would not allow them to be completely removed.

With a great degree of effort, I managed to slide it out of my car, and on top of a wheelbarrow, padded with a thick blue blanket. It immediately became apparent that the wheelbarrow was less than stable under the weight of the heavy dresser.

But, there was no getting it back into the car, so I slowly began to pull it, at the same time balancing it on the wheelbarrow, so it would not tip over.

My plan to take it around back, up onto the back porch, through the French doors, and down the great room steps into the master bedroom seemed to be working...Right up until I got to the fence gate!

The dresser would not fit through the gate, and would have to be turned on its side in order to make it through, something which I could not do by myself.

I stood for several minutes, balancing the dresser on the wheelbarrow, checking the sky for rain, and wondering what to do next, when I saw my twenty-something-year-old neighbor walk out into his front yard.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Could you give me a hand for a couple minutes?"

I explained the situation to him, and, after we each tested the weight, it was determined that he and I could carry the dresser, on its side, through the gate, up onto the back porch, through the French doors, and down the great room steps into the master bedroom, and we proceeded to do just that.

It was inside and ready to be loaded with my stuff, in about 2 minutes flat!

I thanked the young man for his help, we talked briefly, and he returned next door to his wife and new baby.

So, what did I learn from this?

First of all, that while it's good to have a plan, it's even better to really think the plan out thoroughly in advance before actually putting it into operation.

Had I measured the dresser, lying on its back, and measured the width of the gate opening, I would have realized that the dresser was not going to go through the gate in that position!

Also, if I had simply enlisted the help of a buddy or two to start with, the transfer of the dresser from car to master bedroom would not even have been an issue.

So it is with our business here:

Careful planning is likely to succeed better than planning that is not quite so well thought out.

And if you need help, for Heaven's sakes, just ask. There are plenty of people here willing and able to give you a hand.

Don't get stuck with a heavy dresser in an unstable wheelbarrow, trying to squeeze through an opening that was too narrow in the first place!