After living in Las Vegas for a few years, I grew accustomed to seeing the occasional old downtown casino being imploded on the local news. Once I moved to England in 2012, I was fascinated by the country’s dedication to restoring old buildings instead of tearing them down to make room for something new.

A few weeks ago, I bought a dresser for our new apartment here in New Mexico. My other dresser had yet to arrive from England and I began to ruminate on the stark differences between them. The new one has a mid-century modern design with a white and walnut finish; while the pine dresser is from IKEA’s Tarva series that I’ve had for over four years. At the sight of both dressers in our bedroom, I was totally set on ditching the old one. However, after some serious thought and a few glances at my checking account: I looked at my dresser with a new set of eyes.

Following some brief research, I decided to give my dresser a face lift by sanding, staining, and painting it. I’m not a fan of matching furniture sets. I find it uninspiring and very dated. However, I wanted the dressers to better compliment one another.  You know how they say your eyebrows should look like sisters? That was my rule of thumb for the project. My goal with the pine dresser was to make it look like the darker, richer version of my new dresser.

I found what I needed at Lowe’s and devoted my Sunday to refinishing my dresser. I stood in my backyard with the early morning’s nip and old school R&B playing through the open window as I sanded each surface. Sanding is a arm workout, by the way. Drop the dumbbells and Smith machines, get some sandpaper and wood. I digress, to keep myself entertained and distracted from the burning pain in my arms and fingertips: I repeated Beyoncé’s line in The Fighting Temptations (2003) about sandpaper.

Eventually, the wood was smooth and polished, which allowed for the stain to permeate the wood beautifully. I allowed the paint to dry over the course of the afternoon and in the meantime, tried to figure out how to get the wood stain from beneath my fingernails. (Note to self: wear gloves next time.)

As I added the final spray of gloss and fastened the new knobs, I couldn’t suppress the swelling of pride within: I applied a paint brush to each and every surface. I sanded every inch of it by hand. I fastened the screws to keep the handles in place. Seeing my work, complete and in its place: I felt far more connected to it than I did before. It has changed my mind about what material objects I consider “disposable” or unworthy of repurposing.

I wasn’t expecting that committing to giving this dresser a new finish would in turn make me feel renewed. But alas, it has. Now, the dresser aids in our bedroom feeling like a fully realized space; a space that’s prepared to welcome my husband and I to comfort, pleasure, ease, and rest.