Shabby Chic Nightstands

So here they are! Solid wood, but the shiny cherry-ish finish just did nothing for me! I thought about removing the trim under the drawer with the carving but decided to paint it first to see if my feelings changed about it... spoiler alert PAINT CHANGED EVERYTHING. I ended up keeping this little detail, but don't let a detail like this deter a purchase, it could be filled in with wood filler, or removed easily with a few screws and would have given it a completely different look.

Even though I primarily use chalk paint, and its claim to fame is that it is "prepless" I always sand areas that will be more high traffic to get a better grip, and if using white I will still prime to avoid the knots showing through over time, they do tend to bleed through really light colors.

Paint, I like to do thin coats until I get the coverage desired, this was after one coat, so its still a little streaky. I ended up doing 2 coats on the body of this piece and 3 on the top.

I like the more distressed look, I took a sanding block to the areas that would naturally wear, and added some dark wax. I will just brush it on and rub off with a flour sack towel to give it some depth.

I love color in sneaky places, the insides of the drawers were pretty stained, so I primed them with some Kilz primer and painted them a bright sunny yellow, just used some acrylic paint I had from an old project. This step is obviously optional, but I always like to clean and paint the insides of drawers to make them feel fresh and new.

Added some new hard ware and she's done!

I love what a few coats of paint and new knobs can do!

What do you think about the little carving now? Do you love it as much as I do or would you have removed or filled it?