Nightstand Makeover

This is a cute nightstand that I bought at the back door of the Salvation Army.  I know, it sounds like a drug deal but seriously, have you seen the stuff they have out there?  Holy cow, who needs to go in the front door when you can drive-thru the back.

No, this is not how it looked when I bought it; remember I'm still working on taking a before picture.  It's a solid wood nightstand made by Dixie, a furniture company in Charleston, North Carolina.  I'm sure you've seen their pieces; they're usually white with the groovy gold painted trim.  I used to have the whole set when I was little; complete with canopy bed. 

Anyway, I liked the lines of this nightstand and I new I could nix the gold trim and give it some character.  Stripping all the white and gold off of it was not very glamorous or exciting.  I won't bore you with those details; we've all been there.

First I painted this a light green but I found it a little on the pale side.  So I took a darker green, watered it down and wiped it on with a rag.  I was beginning to like what I saw.  This green is pretty vibrant and reminds me of the green on the Princess and the Frog poster.

I did think it was missing something though.  Those ovals at the top of the front legs were screaming, "Do something."  I shouted back, "But, what?"

Without seeing it, my friend Patti suggested I free hand something.  I thought maybe she bumped her head but I was getting desperate.  So I did.  I painted on some flowers, complete with stems and leaves.  Not bad, not bad I say.

A little is good so more must be better, right?  I added some flowers to the front too.

To soften the flowers, I gave it a light sanding with 120 grit sandpaper after it dried.

I even busted out the power tools to mount the pull handle.  Yes, I did.  Me, myself, and I had some bonding time with the old De Walt drill.  I even used a level so you can be sure that handle is straight.

I lined the inside of the drawer with some scrap booking paper.  Pink of course.  In case you couldn't tell, my daughter is really into the pink princess thing.  She's a girly girl and I love that.  Don't mind the pencil scribbles on the left of the drawer; that's abuse from its previous owner.  Nothing but love in my house people.

On the walls, I stenciled those vines and stamped the crown and castle as a border going around her room.  I made the stencil and bought the foam stamps.  I used four different colors and used canned paint (not the creamy stencil paint) because I like a challenge.  Not really but it sounds good.  I recommend doing none of this, but then I saw how excited she got about her girly girl room and I thought, that wasn't so bad.

Update:  I just walked into her room and there was this large, hideous sticker of Dora stuck on the front of the drawer.  I about died.  I couldn't peel that sucker off fast enough.  Dora did put up a bit of a fight though, but I won and into the trash she went.  Sigh.

Kaye