Nightstand Roundup

Nightstands are by far my quickest selling type of furniture! They trump buffets, dressers and side tables by far. So whenever I see a pair that I can redo, I snatch them up because I know I'll sell them easily.

Over the years, I've created lots of different looks on nightstands from distressed to decoupaged. Today, let's round up all of my nightstand projects and walk down furniture memory lane.

Let's start with a really old one when my photography was in its beginning stages and I didn't know anything about lighting!

Antique White Nightstand

I painted this little nightstand for my friend, Amy. It was the sweetest looking piece and had tons of detail.

This was one of my first projects using General Finishes Milk Paint, and I think it turned out quite well, despite the yellow lighting and poor staging!

Aviary Nightstands

Before Miss Mustard Seed came out with the color, Aviary, we were given the formula to mix it as retailers. I whipped up a batch and painted this gorgeous pair.

These two were salvaged from a vintage vanity that didn't have a mirror.

Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint was the perfect paint choice for these. It chipped here and there and I followed up with sandpaper to distress the rest of the edges.

I loved these *almost* matching brown transferware pitchers too. They were scooped up by a friend of mine at the last outdoor market I participated in.

Coastal Blue Waterfall Nightstands

General Finishes Coastal Blue is the dreamiest shade of navy. It goes on like silk and covers incredibly well. It was the perfect color choice for these salvaged waterfall nightstands.

I painted these as a commissioned project for my friend Leigh Ann. The wood grain on the drawers was beautiful, so I stripped and refinished it using General Finishes Java Gel Stain.

Didn't it turn out so nice?

I swapped out the super retro handles with a more understated oil rubbed bronze bar, toning everything down and giving them a more modern feel.

Bespoke Gray Nightstands

These pretty nightstands were once together as a vanity. I purchased the whole piece at Morgantown Market and took it home for separation. They were painted in a custom blend of Typewriter and Trophy by Miss Mustard Seed.

The gatoring in the original finish was lovely and I let it show through when I distressed.

These required a lot of repair work including removing veneer and sanding the wood down. This is one of the sides where I removed all of the veneer that was damaged from splitting the vanity apart. The channel on the right is where the middle part of the vanity sat.

This ledge is where the mirror sat. I didn't fill the ledge up with another piece of wood on these types of projects because it speaks to what the nightstand used to be.

The furniture company's label was still on the back too!

These nightstands had the sweetest turned legs in the front.

And killer original hardware!

Ikea Rast Nightstands

I've completed two rounds of these nightstands for two different clients. I also won third place in General Finishes 2018 Design Challenge in the "Unfinished" category with these as well!

Here's the first pair I created.

And the second.

For both of these, I used the same product - Varathane's Weathered Wood Accelerator.

It's really easy to use and needs to be applied on bare wood. Just open the can, mix it up, and paint it on.

As it sits, it causes a chemical reaction with the wood and weathers it. This patch was only sitting for about 2 minutes or so. I usually apply two coats of it for a deeper weathering.

You can repeat this look on any piece of raw wood furniture whether it's from Ikea or not!

Linen Map Nightstands

This pair was completed the most recently of all of my furniture projects. They're actually still sitting in my staging area waiting to be moved out when something sells at Morgantown Market or Homestead Studios. These two were on opposite ends of a booth at Morgantown Market. I saw them both and thought they worked well as a "his" and "hers" set.

I wanted to paint them in a light color but they both had original finishes that could potential bleed through. So, that required 2 coats of primer. After the primer, I still had staining on one of the drawers, so I opted to decoupage all of the drawer fronts with pages from a 1920's atlas. To match the color of the pages, I went with General Finishes Linen.

Once the nightstands had the same color, decoupage and hardware, it wasn't as obvious that they didn't originally go together. They were close enough in shape that it seemed intentional!

White Waterfall Nightstands

This is the other pair of waterfall style nightstands that I completed.

These started out just like the other set - attached to a vanity - so they required a split and some repair work prior to painting.

I mixed up equal parts Marzipan and Ironstone by Miss Mustard Seed and painted on three coats to get full coverage. After some minor distressing and a layer of Tough Coat, they were looking mighty fine. I absolutely loved the their lines.

The hardware had a piece of bakelite on the top but I removed that and let the beautiful scrolls shine all on their own.

While these projects have all been pairs, I've painted my fair share of single nightstands.

I bought this Ethan Allen nightstand off of Craig's List and whitewashed it using Old White Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan.

I painted this greige nightstand for a fundraiser last Fall. It's a mixture of Schloss and Marzipan by Miss Mustard Seed.

This Farmhouse White nightstand actually belonged to my grandfather. I finished this during my early years of photography.

Here's another one I did in Miss Mustard Seed's Farmhouse White. I made the chalkboard by painting a special vintage green chalkboard mix on glass. It's 3 parts Boxwood to 2 parts Artissimo. I used the Bonding Agent to make sure it adhered.

I hope you've enjoyed my roundup of nightstand projects. It was fun for me to dig up these old projects and take a minute to see how far I've come in my photography skills. At the time, I thought these fuzzy photos were really good and I was so proud to put them up on social media. As I've grown in my understanding of photography and have been able to buy better equipment, I've seen an exponential increase in the quality of my photos. I'm still working on this skill set but I hope these blurry yellow images encourage you wherever you are in your creative journey!

To shop for any of the paint products I've mentioned in this post, visit Morgantown Market or Homestead Studios.