There’s nothing better than taking an ugly pieces of furniture or home decor & making it pretty again! When I saw this little nightstand at a rummage sale my daughter’s school was putting on, I had to check it out. I made sure it was sturdy & it really was. I asked the woman in charge how much she wanted for it & she said $4! SOLD!
When I first brought it home, I wasn’t sure where it was going to go or what color I wanted it to be. At first, I was going to go into my bedroom and be a nice green that I had but then I thought I would use it in the living room & started painting it taupe. I hated the color when it was done & almost gave up. But, I knew it could be so much better! So, I thought about it again & decided I did want it for my bedroom & I wanted to use the same exact teal color I used for my candle holders on my living room mantle.
The first thing I did was clean the heck out of the nightstand. I sanded it really well (and sanded it again when I switched from taupe to teal). The back of the nightstand was so terribly ugly. It had a thin sheet of particle board on top of another piece of wood. I figured I might have to replace the entire back but first I started chipping away at the particle board. I was VERY pleased that it all came off & I could sand the back somewhat.
When painting with the teal spray paint, I did about 3 coats of spray paint to make sure I covered everything. I’m still learning to spray paint things so it’s always a learning curve for me. After letting the coats dry, I thought the drawer needed a little something more. What came to mind was a project that my friend Dinah over at DIY Inspired did. She used a map to cover up the front of some drawers & it came out beautiful! I decided to cut a piece of thick scrapbook paper to the size of the face of the drawer. I was out of Mod Podge so I mixed some traditional white glue & water and did a layer of that on the drawer then carefully laid the piece of paper on top, smoothing it out and getting rid of all the bubbles underneath. After letting it dry overnight, I mixed up some more glue & water and added a few coats on top of the paper as well (let each coat dry in between). There is more blue in the scrapbook paper then what is showing in the pictures. Then I added a knob that I had gotten at World Market for $4.
This fun little piece has now found a home next to my side of the bed. I added a trusty little friend to greet me and will be adding books and more. I absolutely LOVE how it came out!
Looks perfect! I love the color and the paper choice!
Thank you so much, Jesi!
What a great & inexpensive way to brighten up your daughter’s room! Love the teal color!
Thanks so much, Sylvia!
that is such a great job! i actually have a couple piece of furniture i that i wanted to refurbish this summer ( i actually wanted to do them last summer but i had no clue where to start and just gave up) after reading this post and seeing the pictures i feel like its actually possible now! and seeing how great it looks after its all finished is really encouraging! now ia m super excited for summer to come so i can give some small pieces of furniture i have laying around my house a makeover!
Thank you so much, Myra! I would love to hear about your DIY projects!
i love DIY, my hubby loves it to, will be planning to chance some of furniture soon. Love the blucolor and pink together
Thank you, Lily! I’m on the look out for my next project. I am always stalking the free section of Craigslist 🙂
This is a good idea and wish I could make one!
It is fun to bring new life into a tired old piece of furniture! Just be sure that it isn’t an antique. You don’t want to diminish the value.
This looks great! I love the shade of blue you used. So pretty!
Thank you so much, Monika <3
What an improvement! Looks super cute.
Thank you, Sam! I appreciate it 🙂
You did a beautiful make over on this, I love the new color’s, it adds character!
Thank you so much, Rebecca!
Thanks so much, Katherine!
Cute! I really love the color you chose 🙂
Thanks so much!
This is soooooo cute!!! Makes me wanna refinish something old in my house!!
Thank you so much, Nicole! I’m already on the lookout for my next project lol
Oh my goodness Tara! You are a pro DIY’er!!! So proud of you!! LOOOOOVE that color! LOVE it!!!! You did good!!!
Barbara at Chase the Star
Thank you so much, Barbara! You are my inspiration girl <3
You did GREAT!! It is so CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
Thank you so much, Jenny!
I adore following step by step how people change simple furniture pieces =)
You did a great job! I never thought to spray paint something like that.
Thank you so much, Dana!
This is such a great article. This past christmas my husband and I reused an old desk and made it into an American Girl Armoirre for our 8 year old daughter. I had looked on Ebay and stores and such for something, but everything was so outrageously priced. My husband had the idea to use that, and I added little touches like a rod for hanging her american girl doll clothes up. We even made Diy american girl doll hangers. It was so much cheaper than buying it, and it looks beautiful, its one of a kind, and all her friends love it 🙂
Amanda, that is a fantastic idea! I love reusing things like that 🙂
Great makeover! I love it and love the knob! 🙂
Thank you so much, Susan! I really appreciate you reading my blog & commenting all the time 🙂 Makes my day!
great job! I love doing stuff like that, working with my hands. It’s so satisfying.
I love garage sales and flea markets and I am always bringing home a ‘treasure’ I like the way you refurbished the little table and I love the little owl too! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Maria!
Gorgeous! It looks so revitalized and vibrant and I love the art nouveau print!
You are kickin’ some serious DIY booty!!! This looks great!!
Thanks so much, Dinah!
Love it. Very cute
Super cute ~ I love the new color!
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Looks great and I absolutely love the color! We have some ugly night stands around here I wonder if my boyfriend would let me make them beautiful! Thank you for the tips!
Love It! Great all the way around. The color the pattern, even the owl 😉 We have done several projects similar to this in past years, though never thought to take photos 🙁 Something to think about in the future! My husband brought home a nice computer stand for me and made me want to redo my chair, it is so comfy, just needs a makeover.
if you want you can take a look, I am open to suggestions 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10200170717088445&set=vb.1166948271&type=3&theater
Wow this came out really cute! You’ve inspired me to redo a few pieces that could definitely use a little help:)
I love the idea and so very easy to do.
Thanks so much, Liz!
wow thats really pretty i love how you have great creativity that would be perfect for a little girld room or a tweens room
Thank you, Krystel!
I am inspired by your post – I am going to a flea market today and I will be looking for a piece that I can refurbish. I’ve never done anything like this before —
Awww, thanks Maria! You always have the nicest things to say 🙂
great job..it came out really nice..and you use one of my favorite color…thank you
I have an old night stand my mother gave me that has three drawers and I was trying to figure out how to make it beautiful again and this is wonderful thank you so much!
You are welcome, Stephanie!
I love it! What kind of spray paint do you use and did you use a clear coat on it? Everything I have tried to spray pain ends up looking awful and the paint feels sticky. I don’t know why.
Hi Suzanne! This one was Krylon and I didn’t use a top coat. Mainly because I didn’t know any better and 2, it’s not something that gets a HUGE amount of daily use so it still looks amazing 🙂
This turned out really cute! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Layne!
I must say you did a great job in making your daughters end table more personalized to her tastes. I love garage sales to. I bought an old dresser and re- did it for my son by antiquing it a blue color and it lasting till he moved out. There are so many way to repaint furniture to the colors you like and even patterns to. Its so much fun.
Thanks so much!
I have been re-purposing a lot of old furniture lately. I took an old long dresser and had a friend make it into a media center for a 65″ tv. It looks so great too. Your nightstand turned out so great!
That is EXACTLY what I want to do next, Melanie! I wanna see pictures 🙂