I’ve been talking about our lack of nightstands for WEEKS. Because we received that awesome gift of a HUGE king bed, our old nightstands were way too small. They worked with our old bed, the one that was basically on the floor, but with a king size bed that has a mattress over 30 inches off the ground, we needed to upgrade our nightstands. They basically looked like step stools to get into the new bed.
But finding a nice sized, not expensive, nightstand that is over 30 inches tall is no easy task. I’ve been searching and treasure hunting for weeks. I wasn’t willing to spend over $40 for one, so I was creating even more restrictions for myself and my search. But then, while recently treasure hunting, I found this little lady:
Little bit country, little bit beaten up. But a good start.
She needed a good bit of help. I found her in a bargain barn, with a few knicks on her legs and rings on her top. But I could SEE the potential, especially with her price tag. I decided to clean her up, give her a new knob, and put her in her rightful place in our bedroom. Plus, she was exactly 31 inches high, the perfect height for our bed, even if she’s kind of narrow. But then, I realized, I only had ONE table! And you know how I feel about matching and symmetry. This caused me to immediately scour all my thrifty haunts to find a match or friend for the other side of our bed. Enter this guy:
Hey man! You need some help, but you could do!
He needed some help. Someone had REALLY used him hard, marking up his top, painting on him without covering him, and it kind of looked like he got dropped on asphalt. But he, like the other table, was a deal. I could just invision him with a snazzy paint job and a pretty new handle.
I’ve recently decided to start adding color to our bedroom and the first thing to change was our bed covers. We had a nice cream and green quilt for our old bed, which I loved and still use as a throw on our bed. My grandmother gave us her green quilt for our new big bed, so why not embrace the green? We have dark wood furniture, so it compliments it well. Plus my favorite chair, with its awesome paisley pattern, has a few shades of green in the upholstery. So let’s do this, let’s go green! I found a fun, grassy-colored green for these new nightstands. Step one, clean off the tables. These were dirty, so they needed a nice scrub down. Step two, prime those babies!
Primed and ready to go!
As I’ve written before, I have a love-hate relationship with Valspar spray paint. They make the BEST looking colors, are available at my super nearby LOWES, but they can sometimes leave a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, there are times when I go for the easiest, closest solution, and that is going to LOWES. It’s just right down the street, really nicely put together, and easy to navigate. It does not, however, have the contract to fill the aisles with Rustoleum paint. Valspar is LOWES brand, so they obviously have more of that. So that’s what I went with for this project and it actually turned out okay!
So perky, so fresh. Definitely an upgrade.
Don’t worry about the shiny-ness of the paint, it was still wet. But I couldn’t stop myself from snapping the picture. I really need a workshop. These were done under our deck! Our neighbors probably think I’m crazy. Always spraying, staining, hammering under that porch. Anyway, back to the tables.
Doesn’t she look like she’s growing out of the grass? Perfect shade of green, I think. I updated the hardware (which was a gross wooden knob) to a pretty, crystal knob from Lowes. Super easy install.
Unfortunately, this guy’s holes from his old hardware did NOT fit my pretty crystal handle. So I had to exchange it for a pretty, chrome pull instead.
After letting them dry, I pulled them inside and immediately moved them to their new home. I think they look GREAT in our bedroom.
My side of the bed. Some storage boxes that match the colors of our room, a button collage I made a year ago, and our new nightstand!
S’s side of the bed. The upgraded table with the cup handle. Looks GRRREAT!
And on their way? Our new nightstand lamps! I had some gift cards saved up from Amazon, so I found these beauties online and they’re currently en route. Plus, the cost included the lamp shades! Bonus points abound.
Crystal AND chrome. Perfect for these tables.
Overall, I think this project was a success. The two tables aren’t identical, but they are the same width and height so it won’t effect how tall the lamps are next to the bed. That way, they still sort of have a symmetry to them. Also, because the bed is SO LARGE and I opted to get tables that are the same height as the mattress, you can’t even see the other table from the doorway. There’s only a rare perspective from the master bath when you can see both tables at once.
This is what you see when you walk into the room. Notice how my table kind of disappears behind the bed? At least you’ll be able to see the matching lamps. It’s like a symmetry optical illusion.
Overall, I think this was a good compromise for what we needed in our bedroom. They really work well, can hold all of our things and add a nice touch to the bedroom. Plus, they open up a TON of possibilities for color inspiration in the room. But I know what you’re waiting for, the price breakdown!
Two tables: $42. Yes, that seems super reasonable if the tables were the same price…but they weren’t. One table was $39 and the other was $3. Believe it! I’m not going to tell you which is which, I’m going to leave you guessing!
Spray paint/primer: $9. I got one can of primer that basically covered it, plus two cans of green.
New hardware: $7. The crystal knob was slightly cheaper than the chrome pull, but they were pretty close with tax.
Total cost? $58 total.
I think that’s a pretty good price. What do you think?
XOXO,
Ashley
Mid-Century Mod Podge 