A drawer story

Ever since I moved to a smaller house, I've been searching for the perfect piece of furniture for the front hallway. I didn't really mind what type of furniture piece - it was all about the function.

There had to be room to dump my handbag, keys, mail, and shopping when I walk in the door. There also had to be storage where I could hide all sorts of ugly things that live at the front entrance (plastic bags, extra keys that belong to goodness knows what, spare change, random notebooks and pens, MP3 players, batteries... and the list goes on).

As I brought along all the furniture from my old house, I've trialled quite a few pieces. Most of them have just been too large and imposing for my smaller house. They also just didn't have the right feel, as they were bought specifically for somewhere else.

For the last month or so, I've been making do with a pine bookcase that I made myself in woodwork class in Year 9 with Mr Mac. It was a bad option as I could just see a huge pile of mess everytime I walked in the front door. Not really the welcoming feel that I was going for.

But, I do believe that sometime things happen for a reason. I just happened to be at my mums house last week, and discovered that one of my old chests of drawers will still in her garage. I thought that it would be the perfect size for my entrance.

The drawers in my bedroom circa 1989 - note the very technologically advanced stereo (turntable and tape deck), and secret shoeboxes under the bed holding all of my treasures

I've had the drawers since I was in Year 10 (they were secondhand). They were painted a brown colour at this stage. I took them with me when I left home at 17 after I finished Year 12. They moved house with me 6 times while I was studying at Uni, and then moved with me another 3 times after that, before ending up sitting unloved in mums garage. The current paint effect is something I did circa 1998 (you can blame the UK version of Changing Rooms for that - back when Carol was the hostess with the mostess). I'm not quite sure how long they've been sitting there....

I organised last weekend that I would get someone to pick them up and bring them over, and I would have been quite happy just to have them.

Then on Monday, I decided to pop down to the local oppies as I hadn't visited for a couple of weeks. I spotted this old shelf unit at the Salvos with no price label. I was willing to pay up to $25, so I asked one the employees if they could find out the price for me. I was delighted when they came back and told me it was $10! At this stage, I thought I could use the shelf unit on my craft table.

On Monday night the drawers arrived and they were sitting next to the shelf unit, and I realised that it was a marriage made in furniture heaven..... all it took was a couple of screws to secure them together, and a completely new piece now adorns my hallway.

I think the search is finally over.