January 3, 2012

Nightstand DIY

If you weren’t around yesterday, I recapped my last couple weeks.

And now today… back to normal posting!

I’ve been talking about my nightstand DIY for way too long to not have shared it already. So here they are. Sadly, they don’t look at all that professional in person. The paint was much harder to work with than I expected, but overall, I love the look of them. 

The Before:
Purchased from a thrift store. Not super cheap, but really good quality and nice storage. Definitely not my taste but we lived with them for two years.
So then I took them out to my deck. Painted them using Rustoleum White Protective Enamel Paint (gives a really nice lacquer). I had read all these reviews on blogs about how easy this stuff was to use. Wow. Not for me. It is so thick. Hard to paint evenly. It also drips. Oy. And silly me… it does not come off your hands. Ohhh and you have to let it dry for 24 hours in between coats. I needed 3. And to get 3 days of good weather in a row in Chicago. Needless to say. It was an adventure.
The After:
I purchased these new pulls for $4.78 a piece. Can of paint was $30. After that I thought they were done. But after a couple weeks I decided they needed something more. Then I saw these on a blog, $4.99 for 8. Done and done.

The makeover was $44.55. Well worth it.
I know my pictures aren’t the best. But I have to keep the rest of the room under wraps :) Hope you understand!

68 comments

  2. I have been looking for a good lacquer forever! Nothing is shiny enough for me. Sad to hear it was not easy to use…it was totally worth it. It looks amazing. P.S. I am kind of jealous of the tan you are rocking in the previous post!

    Reply

  38. Happy new year, Alex!!! Looked back and saw your post from yesterday. You looked gorgeous on NYE!

    Also, love your nightstand makeover and I totally appreciate your honesty about the difficulties you had with that. It would be way worse if I attempted it so knowing that an expert like you had some challenges makes it easier to take :)

    Reply

  51. Those look amazing! I have some similar furniture I’ve been dying to revamp, and have some questions:

    - Did you prep the surface first? The process of stripping the varnish from something scares me.
    - How many cans of paint did you need for 2 nightstands?

    Reply

  53. That is so cute! When I saw the before picture I didn’t think the table looked so bad, but after seeing the revamp, it looks amazing! You’re definitely in the right career :)

    Reply

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