Nightstand Makeover

These nightstands had a beautiful shape to them and were definitely solidly built but were in need of an update. Years of normal use had taken a toll on the factory finish and the pair definitely had lots of good years left so we took on the challenge to update. First we cleaned the pieces with Krud Kutter, rinsed and let dry. Then we lightly sanded over the old finish with a 220 flexible sanding pad and removed the dust with a tack cloth. This is called scuff sanding where the whole finish is not removed, but rather the intent is to break up the top coat and allow the primer and paint to have good adhesion. There were a few areas that we needed to sand a little deeper to smooth out any spots that were chipping. After that, we applied a clear primer by Wise Owl over the entire piece. We ended up doing two layers, lightly sanding in between each coat and removing dust once again.

Next we used General Finishes French Vanilla Chalk Style Paint over the primer. We lightly sanded in between each coat with a 350 grit sand paper and repeated for a 2 coat total.

After both coats of paint were dry and lightly sanded smooth, we applied General Finishes High Performance in Satin over the entire piece. We did two coats, lighting sanding between each with 1000 grit and removing the dust with a tack cloth.

After cleaning the hardware in Barkeepers Friend and lightly sanding with 350 paper, these beautiful backplates and pulls were sprayed with Rustoleum Metallic in Gold and then top coated in 2X Ultra Cover Clear Spray also by Rustoleum. It is terrific what a shiny new coat of paint can do!

Here is the finished pair, thank you for following along!