Have you ever reached a point in life where you feel you have no worthy answer to the question “What’s new?” I worked for years to reach the point in my life where I was financially stable, had a steady job in my career of choice, found a man I loved and a group of friends I was truly myself with. After settling into this absolutely blissful reality for a few short years, I started to feel … something. I was over-the-moon happy with so many aspects of my life, but I yearned for new experiences. There were moments in my day where I could literally see my future, see myself doing the same job, walking the same streets, enjoying the city I lived in while also feeling frustrated by its limits … I decided it was time for change.

I picked up & moved to Toronto three weeks ago. This was incredibly tough for me. I am very comforted by routine, and while I knew I needed to feel positively thrown into something completely foreign, it was and is scary. I now live in a brand new condo in a tall high rise building instead of my centuries-old apartment in Saint John. I am no longer a journalist by trade, but a senior editor at a public relations company. I know absolutely no one when I walk down the street. And the most difficult thing so far, J. and I are apart until mid November, when he and our cat will join me here.

Facing this alone is daunting, but also important for me. If you have a partner you know how comforting and, practically speaking, how helpful it is to have a teammate at your side at all times. Without him, everything feels different and incomplete. I say this knowing how lucky we are and how there are couples that have to face far worse. But it’s thrown me quite a bit, and I don’t think I’ll truly feel like myself until our little trio is back together. I feel this is an opportunity for me to also thank the people in my life for not only giving me the best send off I could have asked for, but also following up with me since I’ve been here. That means so, so much more than you know. Thank you so much!

I decided to share this much because my blog has fallen by the wayside as I’ve become so busy, and I trust that at this point I’m among good friends. So hi :) And thanks for reading! XO

(As for this blog, it will continue to be updated and I look forward to sharing so much more as I get settled in the weeks to come. Muah!)

When I started following the blog Little Green Notebook I quickly realized that unique pieces of statement furniture could be mine with some patience and amateur DIY skills. I purchased this dresser from Kijiji years ago for $15. I decided it was the perfect piece to test my makeover project on, since it didn’t really matter to me if it completely failed. Luckily, I’m pretty happy with the results :)

First I dismantled and cleaned the entire dresser. Then I sanded it (not down to the bare wood, but just enough so the surface was rough), primed (not pictured) using SICO’s GoPrime water-based primer and then applied the first coat. I applied two more coats after that, using SICO’s water-based interior paint in Sparkling Blue.

Then I spray painted the hardware a metallic gold – this was my favourite part! I used Krylon spray paint in Brilliant Gold and I did three coats.

And voila! This project cost me about $60 total for supplies. I spent a full day painting the dresser and an afternoon spray painting the hardware + putting the dresser back together. I can’t say that I’ll now be a dedicated DIYer, and this project would have been easier if I had a garage, but otherwise it was fun and I learned lessons along the way :)