Furniture improvements

When my wife and I moved into our new apartment, I had to promise that we'd do something with the dresser and night stand that I have had since college.So this was my canvas. We picked up a little paint...
...and some new handles.
I knocked these things off of the top drawers.
(too 80's for what we're going for)
We then primed and painted the whole thing red.
We did two coats of red and then picked a graphite color. Basically dark gray with a touch of blue. I added some white Elmer's school glue to a some areas.
I read that if you paint over it (after allowing 10-15 minutes for it to get tacky) it works to crack the paint so that that paint underneath can be seen.
We did a couple areas where we didn't paint over it completely and other areas that we sanded down the outer paint so the red would come through - mostly on the edges and corners. Added some simple vintage bronze handles .....

Final product:

Overall, I'd say it look WAY better than it did, and for $70 worth of supplies, we saved a bunch on what a new dresser would have cost.

Emily and I are headed to the Big Apple for our anniversary. Made it through a whole year of marriage. Instead of contemplating how that actually happened, I was wondering why they call it the Big Apple. A google search later....

In the early 1920s, "apple" was used in reference to the many racing courses in and around New York City. Apple referred to the prizes being awarded for the races -- as these were important races, the rewards were substantial.

Based on the research of Barry Popik, the use of "Big Apple" to refer to New York City became clearer. Popik found that a writer for the New York Morning Telegraph, John Fitzgerald, referred to New York City's races "Around the Big Apple." It is rumored that Fitzgerald got the term from jockeys and trainers in New Orleans who aspired to race on New York City tracks, referring to the "Big Apple."