Styled Containment of Dresser Clutter

For the longest time I have been on the hunt for one thing.  A tray.

I know, I know, I have a ZILLION trays, what do I need another one for?

I get it, I get it, there are a LOT of trays featured here.  But there’s a special one I’ve been on the hunt for, because my mom has one.  And I am betting your Mom has one too.  You know the one.  The pretty one with the mirror bottom on her dresser.  The one that had your mother’s perfume on it that, as a little girl, you thought was the PRETTIEST and COOLEST thing.  And if your Mom is like mine, it also housed her makeup and all the cool things that made you a big girl.

Well, gosh darn it, now I AM a big girl, and I want a tray to hold all of my perfumes and make-up too!

Then a little fate fell my way at the ReStore.  I shared our recent trip earlier this week where I found this little beauty…

It had clearly seen better days, but I knew some elbow grease and a scour  pad could fix that!

There were some rusty bits here and there, so I knew it would take some care in removing without breaking it if the rust was deep enough.

After a good bit of time turning and scrubbing and rinsing and scrubbing again, here’s where I was…

Yes, that was all that was left of the SoS pad.  I also wrecked our bathtub in the process.  gotta love cleaning projects that end up requiring additional cleaning!

Trouble was, the soap in the SoS pad seemed to NOT come off, no matter what I did!  I kept getting this hazy white chalky layer settled into the crevasse of the frame:

This was the BEST I could get it to with using dish soap and a scrub brush.  So I decided to try some nail polish remover and a q-tip.  I tested a small spot first to be sure it wouldn’t take any finish off.

Thankfully, it worked PERFECTLY.

Then a little glass cleaner for the mirror, plus I added an extra layer of cardboard behind the mirror for additional support for the bottom layer.

Then the fun part was taking my old all-i-could-find-at-the-time-boring-white tray…

…and swapping it for my new, Big Girl mirror tray!

With my little milk glass piece holding some earrings (also a ReStore find!) and my most-frequently used perfumes and lotions, now my side of the dresser looks grown up and so pretty!

And now I HAVE to keep it organized otherwise it won’t be pretty.  That motivation works, right?

So have you restored anything from the ReStore lately?

~ Beth