My Idea of a Vacation (and a Pinterest DIY Challenge)

So recently I took a full ten days off work. I was convinced to take a vacation by both my "joint venture" and my boss. It was my JV's birthday, and I only had until June to use up two weeks of vacation, so my boss didn't give me much of a choice.
The guy and I spent the weekend in Atlanta, Georgia, and we were able to visit IKEA! It was my first time in one and I was like a Trekkie at a con! Gaping at everything, drooling over the set-ups, convincing myself that my kitchen can't be remodeled yet (I live in a rental), etc. I'm sure you act the same way...no? Yeah, I'm weird, I know. Anyway.

Once back in 'Bama and with a week left of vacation, I decided that instead of playing Mass Effect 3 all week, I might actually get some things done. You know, the crafts and DIY projects that have been piling up since I moved into this house two Februaries ago? I also saw the Pinterest Challenge at YoungHouseLove and decided, what the heck? LET'S DO THIS!
So, to start my vacation right, I started (and finished) my first planned project: turn a dresser into a wine rack for the dining room.
I don't have a great BEFORE picture for this. (The fact that I didn't have a picture didn't occur to me until after I had sanded it down.) The important thing is that you understand that the dresser (a side of the road find) was sturdy, and in good shape. It's problems were the outdated pulls and the sunshine yellow crackle paint that matched NOTHING I owned. I had it almost 18 months before I got around to this project.
Here's the closest match I could find of it, just to give you an example. My dresser was BRIGHT yellow all over instead, though the crackle finish was the same.

 When I started the project I didn't have a clear idea of how I was going to turn it into a wine rack. I knew I wanted to lose two drawers and fill the void with a rack. But how? Then I found this page. It was like the gods had answered me. In case you can't visit that site, here's their picture.

They used mailing tubes under a shelf to create an easy DIY wine rack. SOLUTION, I thought. Sadly, my local post office didn't carry tubes large enough to hold standard bottles. So what to do?

I spent the next day store surfing for cheap wine racks or something that would hold my bottles and could be easily stacked inside my dresser. Target had the answer:  bottle holders on sale for 3.88$. Each bottle holder held three wine bottles. They were white on the outside and random colors on the inside (red, black, blue, and orange). I grabbed a bunch of them (14 to  be exact) and I'm sure the cashier thought I was crazy.


You can see the wine racks here in my "in progress" picture.
So how did a sunny yellow dresser become a gorgeous wine rack/buffet for my dining room? Here's the short of it:
After sanding down the dresser to get rid of the bumps from the crackle finish, removing the drawer pulls from one drawer (since I was only keeping one) and sanding that down too, I knocked out with a chisel (RE: screwdriver) and a hammer the supports between drawer 2 and 3. That left a nice gaping void. Sadly it also left holes in the side trim because of the dowels used to support the drawers. After the sanding and hammering, I made a list of what I needed and visited Lowe's.
I purchased:
a quart of gloss finish Valspar paint in shade Voyage
a quart of Valspar stain blocking primer
a brush
wood filler
a sanding block
heavy duty metal glue

I already had the bottle holders, screws, power tools, and the new drawer pulls (two from Anthopologie that were on sale for 2$ each!).

WIP dresser and dining chairs in priming stage

After that shopping trip, I filled the dowel holes with the putty, let it dry, sanded in down again, primed it (one coat) and then painted it. It took three coats, but I probably only needed two. I didn't use even half of my paint.
After it had dried, I started putting in the bottle holders. The holders were originally screwed together in groups of three in a triangle shape. I realized quickly that if I wanted the space filled completely, leaving the holders in their triangle form was not going to work. So with the chisel (screwdriver) and hammer I knocked out all the little clamps holding the holders together. Now I could work with single cylinders. After that it was easy. Every third cylinder I screwed into place through the holes the clamps had left, securing the holder to the dresser. I did this to the top and bottom row. The middle row was wedged securely in and metal glue was applied (way too heavily; I wanted my wine to be secure!) After that dried, I put the new pulls on the drawer, slid in it, and carried the dresser to the dining room. And it's awesome.
I was a little worried about the bright pops of color from each holder, but after I share my new dining table project (something else I did on my week off) you'll see that it fits. Here it is!

AFTER!!!! So fun!

That wasn't the only thing I tackled on my week off (I'm going to share all the projects soon!) but it's probably a favorite. And it definitely exceeded my expectations! We're turning the whole wall into a drink area here soon, but that's another post.
So what do you think? Did I do a good job?
(Those are West Elm light covers on the dresser. We'll be using those in the future.)
Every time I walk through the dining room I smile. I love it!