a midsummer nightstand's dream

(i realize the title is incredibly cheesy. i apologize, but can't resist.)

for a girl who is generally more acquainted with linens than lumber, there are few things more fulfilling than walking into a home improvement store on a mission and leaving with every item needed to complete said mission in a matter of twenty minutes. as a kid, i felt that lowe's was a "men only store"--not because women can't or shouldn't shop there, but because i only went there with my dad (you see, lowe's is really the only place he willingly "shops"). i now relish the opportunity to confidently walk past all the manly tools, lawnmowers, and pvc pipe and find the one thing that someone as "girly" as myself can get excited about. crackle paint!

ever since we moved into our home, i have been longing for a dark-colored nightstand for our bedroom--a girl needs an attractive place to set her phone, burt's bees chapstick, and reading material!--but was disappointed by the price of many i saw in stores (true story: my resourceful husband tried to get me to use the box our imac came in as a pseudo-nightstand for awhile). jake bought this espresso-finish, queen-sized bed which i fell in love with a few months before we got married (you can see a little of it below), but we decided to use his dressers for awhile rather than spending a ton of money on new bedroom furniture.



before trying it out in the bedroom, i had been using this small table as a place to put our keys and the dog's leash in the foyer. in an effort to better utilize a perfectly good piece of furniture and hopefully save some money, i decided to refinish the table in a more desirable color that would compliment the bed and use it as a nightstand.

i don't have much experience refinishing furniture, but i did take on a fairly large project the summer before my junior year of college. i painted an old (like really, really ancient) set of bedroom furniture--a bed frame, desk and two dressers--before moving into my college house. i used a white crackle with a gold base coat on these pieces. it was a learning experience (they were by no means perfect!), and WAY too hot outside to be painting furniture, but i loved the results and kept that furniture until i no longer had room or the need for it.

for my little nightstand project, i decided to use "earth black" (which really ended up being dark gray) on top of a tan base color. i skipped sanding the furniture and went right into the three step process. base coat, crackle glaze, and top coat. the whole shabang took less than 24 hours to paint and dry.


i also said farewell to the old, ugly knob that was on the nightstand, and found this little guy at world market for $4.99 to replace it.


although the color ended up being slightly lighter than i had expected, i am still really happy with the results. it has definitely brought the bedroom together, and refinishing, rather than purchasing a new piece altogether, saved me a lot of money (the paint and supplies cost $58, and i have plenty left to refinish another nightstand when i come across a good deal!). can't really beat the accomplished feeling of "home improvement" success, either. :)

here it is!

i'm hoping to be making another trip to lowe's soon--but this time, to buy paint for our walls. why, oh why, did we not paint before we moved in?!

happy friday eve!