Finally some warm weather here! Where was this weather when I was chattering through the night on that canoe trip! Things have been a little busy around here lately, my dear mom had to have one of her kidneys removed as it was no longer functioning. It's the first time we have had to deal with a serious health issue in our immediate family, so it was a learning curve for us all on how to handle the bundle of emotions that comes with something like that. True to form she handled it like a trooper, and we are all so happy to have her safely home convalescing.
I picked up these nightstands as part of a three piece set. When I saw the set in the store, I love the bubbled drawers on the tallboy and longboy and chunky feet straight away, when I got them all home...hmmm...not so much. But alas, I had already committed, so may as well start painting.
The nightstands were tackeled first as they were small and easy. I really liked the restoration hardware style mirrors I did HERE, so I decided to recreate that look again.
I sanded everything down and then cleaned all the dust off, aka the boring part.
Next I painted everything matte black.
Another good sanding to smooth everything out and to distress all of the edges.
Lastly I protected the piece with wax. It has that hand finished look to it which isn't really visible in the pictures. But I think it suits the pieces and echoes the look I was going for.
I also traded out the hardware for something a bit more chunky and rustic looking. It also matches the metal feet on the bottom of the legs.
The before!
I actually painted these cute little nightstands before the Emerald/Green 9-Drawer, but I was so excited to post about that one (I love the way it looks!) I posted that one first. These little guys are solid wood and were in great shape when I picked them up.
I went back and forth about what I wanted to do with them. I knew I wanted a two-toned, but I couldn't figure out what to leave wood and what to paint (off)white. In the end I kept it simple. I refinished the tops and painted the rest of the piece in white.
First I stripped back the tops and sanded the body and smoothed everything out. I then taped off the underside of the top piece and stained it using a dark walnut / light walnut combo. After the stain had a chance to dry I primed everything using Zinsser BIN as I was worried about bleedthrough. I used three coats of my Dulux in an off-white, and finished with a few protective coats of polyacrylic.
Easy peasy, this was a really great small project which I did straight after the China Cabinet that almost did me in (read about it here). Sometimes after you finish a mammoth piece you really need to cool your heels and do something small and textbook.
I filled the holes from the old hardware, and opted to use these contemporary looking gold pulls instead which I have used before (here) and (here). I think they give the piece a nice and chic feel. I also love the way the wood grain looks with the new finish.
