Before and After Nightstands

I have always wanted matching nightstands for our bedroom. I figured if I was going to get them they had to be one cheap and two fit into my car. I came home with these hideous nightstands from the 70's. I picked  them up at a used furniture store for $20 each. I've never refinished furniture before, so my husband thought I was crazy. But he joined in the transformation. Before the weekend was over, they were finished and we had a great time!

Ugly what was I thinking?

I love them and I knew we could do it!

There were a few challenges. Do we keep the doors or ditch them? Another challenge was that  it rained that weekend, so the humidity caused the drying times to double. We ran out of spray paint and had to run back to Lowe's. They didn't have anymore of the color we needed in stock. That lead to a search all over town for one more can of the right color. Grrrr.......Also the tops didn't stain as dark as we wanted. I originally wanted to glaze over the white, but I was over my budget and just left them white. So, as a first project I learned as few things. Patience, patience, and some more patience! Total spent on the stands and supplies was $80 making them $40 each! Not bad considering the ones I had picked out at the furniture store were $250 each. And I wouldn't have been as proud as I am of these. 

Here's what we did-

1. wash with vinegar and water solution to disinfect (so gross someone else's nightstands from the 70's)
2. sand lightly on the bottoms and all the way to the wood on the tops
3. use oil based spray primer on bottom only (wow they already look better)
4. paint bottom (I used spray paint also)
5. stain tops (why is this not getting as dark as I want?)
6. polyurethane tops (stinky!!)
7. let them dry, let them dry, and let them dry some more
8. change hardware

Yeah! We're done!