Two Night Stands

This site is no longer in use. You can see all this information and new posts at my new blog Maggie Muggins Designs.

Once upon a time my husband and I were using one of the end tables meant to be in our living room (as if it would have fit in that little matchbox) as our night stand. Yes, just one. Our bed was against the wall. There was only room for one. When we moved to our next apartment we got a cheap end table and used a bookshelf on the other side.

So when we finally moved into our new home I had hopes of finding the night stands of my dreams. Those were quickly dashed as I discovered just how much they could cost. Finding something I liked under $100/per stand was impossible. So I hunted Craigslist. Eventually I found two that I thought had hope. Pine night stands. 2 of them for $30. My husband wasn't so sure about them, they needed work, it was obvious from the picture online, but I was sure I could do it.

They were in terrible shape. They were covered in cobwebs, one was missing a foot, the other the back, the tops were disgusting with rings from cups, marks from pens and I think a highlighter, they smelled of smoke, and they were the absolute wrong color. Light pine. Not so cute with my dark cherry bed. They were way worse than pictured online and when I brought them home even I was dubious as to their potential.

But despite my doubt another DIY project began. First I stripped the varnish and sanded those suckers down. Ha - one sentence for hours of work. It seemed endless. Or should I say it was endless? When that was finally finished I painted them with a flat black paint. After the paint was dried I distressed them. That took a bit of work to get a good look too.

Center Black drawer = Painted, Bottom = Distressed, Top 2 = Stained

Then I did something I was rather excited/nervous about. I stained them with a dark red stain that matched the bed. Let me say I had no need to be that nervous. After staining them enough and coating them with some varnish I couldn't believe the results myself. I only wish I took a real before picture. So instead you get to see some of the process and the end result.

Painted

Seeing as these were finished long ago, they are already stock full for the after pictures. I have a lot of craft books for inspiration.

After

Once again post is part of Trash to Treasure Tuesday over at Reinvented. My husband is very excited about Trash to Treasure Tuesday and wants me to do this every week! I wonder why? Something to do with the fact that I've accumulated a lot of "Trash" over the few years we've lived here? Probably...