"Jillian" Becomes a Little Girl's Nightstand
2 Materials
$28
4 Days
Easy
I don't know why I'm always so surprised at what a little bit of TLC will do for a project...but I always am.
My DD and I found this nightstand and nearly passed it up because of how dirty and ugly it was. She had the vision, so we took it home and worked on it together.
Her Steps Toward Beauty
1. Clean her up – she needed a good scrubbing. We sat her outside after to air out and let the sun do its job.
2. Lightly Sand – to give her tooth. We want the paint to stick!
3. Prime – Zinsser's spray primer was easy and provided a good cover up. We weren't sure if any icky stuff would bleed through, so we primed. It also helped to bind the paint to the laminated surface.
4. Paint the Edges and Flower Motif – We used Rustoleum spray paint - just hit the parts on the cabinet where you plan to distress.
5. Paint a couple of coats of Annie Sloan's old white chalk paint. It went on very smoothly!
7. Reattach the hardware – In this case the flower was the "knob". We painted the flower to match the blue spray paint we added to the edges of the nightstand and distressed it just a bit to give it dimension.
8. Topcoat the cabinet to protect it. We used Polyvine Dead Flat Wax Finish. I always lightly sand with 400 grit or higher in between coats to guarantee a smooth finish.
If you take too much off while distressing, just repaint and try again. You want a controlled randomness. You should only see wear in the areas that it would naturally occur, but don't be too perfect in your distressing either.
I'm thinking "Jillian" would be great as a little girl's nightstand. I picture her books sitting stop with a picture of her puppy. She's just low enough that it would be easy for a little one to reach an would sit well right next to her bed.
It's amazing how a bit of simple but creative redesign can change a piece of old forgotten furniture.
For more tutorials, go check out Love My DIY Home at the link below. We also have a group on Facebook called Furniture Flipping Forum if you're interested in chatting with other flippers or have any questions about techniques or products. See you there!
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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4 comments
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Thanks for sharing! Looks great!
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Looks very pretty! A little colour addition can be everything!
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Thanks!
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