Learning compromise -or- Sam's dresser Part II

I spent another 2 hours today sanding Sam's dresser. I don't like to use a lot of stripper chemicals, because this is very old and I don't want to damage the wood. I sand w/ medium to fine grade sandpaper in small incriments w/ my orbital sander. This is what the dresser looked like after sanding and wiping down w/ a wet cheesecloth to get all the dust off.

We took off the bottom "wooden dust ruffle" piece because it was broken. I don't know what shape I want on in its place (it was scalloped.) I guess I don't have to decide today.

So, because the crib is a very, very dark brown (called Coffee), we had picked out what we thought was a very, very dark brown stain for the dresser (called Ebony). I swear, in Home Depot, it was a dark brown, but when we "tested" the stain on an extra piece of wood today, it was BLACK. That is not what I want for the dresser, but being someone w/o the patience gene, I wanted to start staining today. So I went with 2 coats of Red Chestnut, which right now looks very brown, and not red at all. I don't think the dresser & crib have to be too "matchy-matchy" so I'm not going to worry if some red comes out w/ the poly sealer coat. I'm still doing the dresser 2 toned, with a light honey on the drawer faces & the top.

The sides of the drawers were very, very warn and since the sides don't show, they were made w/ lower quality wood. I could barely sand, for fear of splintering off the wood. So I made another compromise and painted the sides very dark brown paint, instead of stain (since I couldn't strip the old paint off, I couldn't stain.) At top is what the sides looked like after 2 coats of paint.

Finally, I have added a picture of Sam's Africa quilt. I hung it from a mirror in the nursery, so you cannot see top edge well, but heck, it's hard to photograph a quilt when you don't have the crib in the room yet!! The photo doesn't do it justice. It is so beautiful!