Tired Wooden Night Stands Get A Shade-y Makeover

Prep work

• Removed the hardware and filled the holes with wood filler, as I planned on using different pulls. 
• Sanded using an orbital sander. 
• Cleaned thoroughly with soapy water, plus one final cleaning with TSP degreaser.
• Painted them using Fusion mineral paint in picket fence colour, 2 coats.

I had an Ikea roller shade that had stopped ‘rolling’ but I absolutely loved the pattern on it so I decided to decoupage with it. But because white-on-white would be a little too subtle for my liking, I decided to paint a backdrop colour on the areas I planned to decoupage.

I didn’t have any of the white mineral paint left to mix my new colour – so I headed down to the basement to see what I might find. The only thing I found in white was interior semi-gloss enamel paint & primer in one! I had never used this type of paint on furniture before because I was worried about it being tacky (sticky tacky, not lame tacky). But since it would be covered with the shade I figured why not! I mixed 8 TBSP of the white with 1 TBSP of Azure blue mineral paint. And that was more than enough paint! 

And I was also very pleased to discover that there was no stickiness at all! I actually used the white paint/primer to do one more coat on the sides of the stands, as something brown was leaking through the 2 coats of fusion. My guess is that at some point these may have held an ashtray! But who knows, I could be wrong. It’s funny the things you find yourself pondering when you spend that much time up close and personal with an old piece of furniture: Where have you been? Where did you grow back when you were a tree? What interesting items might have been hidden inside these drawers over the years? Who was the smoker? LOL

Decoupage

I cut out pieces from the shade to fit. Then I applied a layer of mod podge over the blue paint using a sponge brush and then applied the shade over it. I used a decoupage roller and spatula to ensure there were no bubbles. Once dried I applied more mod podge over the top to start sealing it. I started out using the sponge brush, but found it was getting little specs of black sponge stuck to the shade, so I switched to a round bristle brush. And this was way better!! Went on faster and thicker and no residue left behind. I did 3 coats of mod podge to seal it.

This is the shade on my dining table while I cut out the pieces for my night stands.

Other than the pulls, I was done! BUT then I remembered I still had a little bit of the blue paint mixture left – so I mixed it with water (about half and half) and did a colour wash on the sides of the drawers. And can you believe I still have some of that mixture left – not bad for 9 TBSPs of paint!!

The pulls

I found 4 pulls in my hardware tickle trunk that I loved! But the colour wasn’t going to work. I soaked them in TSP cleaner for 10 minutes. Then I spray painted them with primer. 

Afterwards I painted them with metallic gold using a precision brush. My use of this gold has been 'commented' as tacky in a previous tutorial (and I’m pretty sure she meant lame tacky, not sticky tacky – lol). But personally I love it. And that's what is important, given that they will be living in my home.

Once they were dry I went over them with a coat of mod podge to make sure the paint wouldn't rub off over time. And while the mod podge was still wet I added a small acrylic gem to the center of each pull. The hardware already had little circular frames in the center, so it was basically begging for a gem!

Attaching the pulls

I was nervous about this step! I have a tendency to mis-calculate and end up with pencil marks all over things, or worse! So I made a template from a piece of cardboard. I tested it to make sure the pulls lined up with my holes and then I used that template to drill the holes in the drawers. I’m so glad I went with a template, because sure enough, my first calculation was indeed off!  

Done! I moved the night stands into my bedroom and admired how soft and pretty they are. I think they blend in very nicely and I’m happy with my shade-y make over!