A Four-Legged Nightstand Makeover

These past couple of weeks it's been really great to focus solely on our master bedroom.  It wasn't looking too bad before but, like everything, a freshening up is a good thing.  Last week, with my gas tank almost empty forcing me to stay home because of the whole gas panic-buying craze, I got to cross several things off my "Master Bedroom" list.  Silver linings.  👍

One of those things was finally getting some legs onto our nightstands to raise them up to the same level as the bed, something we've been wanting to happen for years.


I bought two sets of these legs* months and months ago with this intention, started one day, felt like I had gotten in over my head with complications, and never went back...well, until last week.  A big splash of courage and determination came over me and I got 'er done.  Phew!

This project flowed directly from this project - when I added legs to an old dresser.  These nightstands were handed down to me by a friend in college who didn't want them anymore and I've always liked the look of them.  They're nice and simple so they've stood the test of time and trend.  I've had lots of plans floating around my noggin for them over the years including paint (which may still happen), adding mirrors to the insets of the drawers, adding texture to the insets of the drawers, new hardware (happened!), and dun, dun, dun...LEGS! 

It seems like an easy thing to do, right?  At least I thought so.  Turn them over and screw the legs in.  Flip 'em back and done.  

Nope.

When I went to knock out this "five-minute project" a few months ago, I turned them over to find out that this bottom part of the nightstands only sits at the front and sides - the sides going all the way to the back, not inset like the corners are in the front. 
  


I could have figured that out just by looking at the nightstands (aka with a little more careful planning...hehe) but I had planned on screwing the legs into the piece of wood above it, in front of that bottom piece of wood but the fact that the sides went all the way to the back made that impossible.  Ok, so what?  I take the bottom off and my five-minute project turns into a ten-minute project.  That bottom piece had peeling veneer I would had to have taken care of later anyway so really, removing it makes my life easier.  

Nope.

The first couple of screws holding that wood in came out with a little bit of force but the rest were so stuck with rust and age that I stripped the tops of them trying to get them out.  After sweat and almost-tears, I gave up and turned them over and put them back until Anthony could rectify the situation.  Well, life happened and here we are, months later, me with my new batch of determination...and some better tools.

I didn't take enough pictures to justify all these words but let me just say that one multi-tool* and a pry bar* later (plus about an hour and a mess) and I was in business, ready for the legs, which were all dry and ready after a few light coats of this gold spray paint*.

I installed them just like we did the legs on the dresser, flipped the nightstands over, and badda bing, badda better.


They're not quite the perfect color yet (what that will be, I don't know) but they've got the height down.
  
The mirrors* sitting atop each won't stay - they're for our master bathroom - but the nightstands are really good placeholders until we tackle that space.  I found them at Dirt Cheap for half off retail and couldn't pass them up but when you don't have a place for them quite yet, you have to improvise.  ;)

A few other things I got done in here last week:
  • I hot glued buttons back onto our headboard (tutorial on how we made that here).  When we moved two years ago, a few of the buttons were loose because I hadn't glued them in well enough and so, to make sure we didn't lose any in the multiples moves we were looking at, I took them all off thinking I'd simply glue them back in when we were settled and done moving but that, I'm ashamed to admit, didn't happen until last week.  Things take time around here.  😆

  • I pulled out this thrifted frame I bought months ago for over our bed and gave it a quick makeover much like I did this big thrifted frame in our breakfast nook.


  • I painted the metal side rails of our bed frame to match the color of the headboard and footboard.  

I'm currently on the hunt to find a cheap fitted, gray sheet to go over our box spring to make that look like it's a part of the bed too.  Eventually I'd love to cut and upholster some wood to cover those side rails but I think I'll take another two years to think about doing that project.  ;)

I cleaned a little here and there all week for a deep clean in the master and now I'm spending this last week hoping to find a big frame or two to makeover and hang above our long dresser on the opposite side of the room as the bed.  

Fingers crossed.  If I don't get lucky with that, I still feel like I accomplished something these last few weeks and I'm ready to move on to the next room.  We're ready for a kitchen remodel so maybe that'll be it.  :)

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Have you been working on your master bedroom along with me?  How's it going?  I'd love to hear about it!

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*These links are affiliate links which means that, if you click over and/or make a purchase through the link, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  I am an Amazon affiliate and also use other sources to link to products.  All of these links will lead you to things we actually paid for or that are similar to the item we paid for in case ours is thrifted/sold out/secondhand.  This extra money helps us with the costs of running the blog and buying paint.  Ha!  Thank you for your support and for fueling our love to share all things DIY!

2 comments

  1. Sheena, have you seen missmustardseed.com? She has amazing bed skirt tutorials. :)

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    Replies
    1. I've heard of her but haven't seen her bed skirts. Thanks!

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