Sometimes it's best to not even start

I know. The VP debate was soooo last week. And there wasn't anything remarkable about it at all. I was hoping for some major blunders and there weren't any. Sigh... instead we shall talk about my blunders....

Ben says that I overestimate my abilities and underestimate the amount of work a job takes. He says that I don't set reasonable goals for myself. I say that he doesn't dream big enough. Can we clean the whole house, mow the grass, discuss our marriage AND plan our financial future all on a Thursday evening? Yes we can! Dream big!

But... recently I think that I might have taken on a project that morphed into a time-sucking-waste-hole and maybe it was over my head. Maybe. It all started with this dresser:

I had redone it a couple years ago and had decoupaged antique postcards on the drawers and top. It was a unique dresser and I liked it, but it was time for a change. It was time for all of my furniture to match. Like a grown-up. The plan was to paint my headboard and dresser white. In one Saturday. Simple right? Just prime it, paint it and seal it. Yeah.

Well when I painted the dresser last time I was lazy and didn't prime it and the paint started peeling and then the cards wouldn't come off.... and it turns out I needed to strip the whole thing!

Every project always morphs into something that is so huge it's ridiculous. So I drove off to Lowe's and I convinced myself to buy a soy-based paint stripper because I care about the environment and am secretly a closet hippy. It actually worked surprisingly well - it just took longer to soak in and required a little more elbow grease than the burn-your-skin-off stripper. And when I say it took longer I mean that it took all of Saturday and most of Sunday to strip the dresser to look like this:
I can't decide if it looks like a designer urban grit piece of furniture or if it looks like it should be on the side of the road. It also smells like paint so all of our clothes are currently chilling on our futon and the headboard is hanging out in the hallway. Ahhhh!

Now that I've put this much work into the dresser part of me thinks I should just strip it down to the wood and stain it. But that would defeat the purpose of the whole project - to get my furniture to match. So on Saturday I hope to finish stripping it and paint it white! I hope. Anyone who wants to help is more than welcome. I still have a headboard and a nightstand to do. Dream big!