Upcycled Bedside Table

Homes.com
by Homes.com
Brought to you by Megan from The Homes I Have Made over on our sister site ForRent.com. For the full tutorial with details on what supplies, paint, etc. to use, visit the ForRent.com blog here --> http://www.forrent.com/blog/diy/forrent-com-bedside-table-turned-rolling-printer-cart
Some elbow grease, paint, and creativity can go a long way from turning a curb-side castoff into an apartment treasure! With a wide variety of products now available on the market, almost any piece of furniture can be given a fresh life.
That is the before and after image of the project.
I first started by examining the nightstand and figuring out how it was put together (so that I could determine how to pull it apart) to make some structural changes for both aesthetics and function.
Then, I unscrewed and pried off the decorative wood frame along the bottom of the nightstand (bottom left). This gave me cleaner lines and a flat bottom to which I could adhere the casters. Next, I removed the skinny drawers from the base of the nightstand, as well as the tracks that were screwed in on the base of each shelf (bottom right). With these elements removed, I could then see that making these two drawer slots into shelves would be no problem at all (bottom center).
Next, I had the local home improvement store cut some ¾” plywood to fit the internal dimensions of the nightstand. I secured the shelves with wood glue and then puttied up all the raw edges, as well as all the dings and dents on the tops and sides, with wood filler.
After several rounds of sanding, it was time for paint!
Once my paint was fully dry, I taped off the striped pattern on the tops and sides. I started by making an “X” across the top of the nightstand. This initial “X” will only serve as a placeholder and will ultimately be removed before painting.
With the tape securely in place, I gave the top and sides of the nightstand two coats of the Martha Stewart Cumulus Cloud using the small foam roller. After the second coat and while the paint was STILL wet (very important!), I carefully removed all the tape.
After everything cured for one more day, I brought the rolling cart in to its new home!
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  • Terry M Terry M on Aug 19, 2014
    I have almost the same printer and I have been wanting to do this for a long time but have not happened upon the right night stand that is wide enough! This is crazy good!
  • Bernice H Bernice H on Sep 08, 2017

    ha..this post was from 2014..... but I am loving to see this ! What a great job on making this old piece look happy! I see these pieces a lot still. I definitely will keep this in mind!

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