{Re*Made}: Nightstand Revival

I'm slowly trying to get back in the swing of things with my design work and completing my goal list.  I know I won't be able to get it all done this year as I had hoped, but I think, for me, it was a great start. 

So, I finally have a new {Spit*Shined} project for October.  Woo hoo! 

Regrettably, I have inherited a few new pieces of furniture.  Some are going in storage until I have a home large enough to showcase them and properly utilize them.  Others are replacing pieces I currently own as they are much better quality.  But in the case of one small little piece of furniture, it was going to fill a void in my bathroom, after a makeover, of course.  :)

For as much storage as our little house has, we still need more.  But isn't that the story for everyone?!  I especially needed a little more storage in our bathroom for all my junk:  hair do-dads, specialty make-up, nail polish, that sorta thing.  All that has been in our bathroom cabinet but gets hidden behind our first-aid box, linens and shared daily toiletries. 

You may remember that our bathroom has a large vanity counter that is open underneath:  the perfect place to add in a little extra storage.  I've had my eyes open for something that would fit underneath it, but most pre-manufactured things I have found are too tall. 

My mom had a nightstand in her bedroom that she'd had for as long as I can remember.  It needed a little TLC, but I really thought it would be the perfect piece to go under our vanity.  The two extra drawers would give me plenty more space to stash my stuff and clean out our cabinet.

However, it, too, was too tall.  By like only two inches!!  But, after looking at how the piece was originally constructed, we saw that it would be pretty easy to eliminate those two inches (and a couple more) although I would have to lose the front base piece.  I really liked that little detail, but I needed this piece to work, so off it came.

Next was the painting part.  You may also remember that my bathroom has baby blue and baby pink colored tile.  Not the greatest color scheme in the world, but hey, gotta work with what I got.  I have slowly begun incorporating grey accents and I think it's working well.  So I decided to paint this little chest grey, but I wanted to 1) use cream also so it wasn't just a flat Navy-ship-grey piece, and 2) do a little painter's tape "stenciling".

First, since the cream was going to be my "detail" color, I painted those areas first in the cream.  That included the moulding at the top, the sides and the drawers.

After a couple of coats and drying, I applied the painter's tape to those areas I wanted to stay cream:  the moulding at the top of the chest, the edge and face of the drawers, and a trompe l'oeil moulding on the side.

I cheated a bit doing the moulding stencil on the side.  The right and proper way would have been to measure, use a level to make sure my lines were square, etc.  We still have tons of boxes from my mom's move and when I saw one open, I thought the flap would make a great stencil.  So I found a box that was the right size, cut off the flap and taped it to the side of my chest.  I then applied the tape to the outside of the flap, eyeballing the levelness.  My square may not be perfectly square, but you can't tell and it was a super quick way to get it done.

I used a separate circle object--a plastic bubble container you get in those gumball-type toy vending machines to be exact--to draw my curves, then cut off the excess tape. 

Once all the tape was in place, I applied the grey paint.  I went glossy with the paint, which is something I never do.  I'm just not a glossy girl.  But I thought being surrounded by glazed tile, a glossy chest would look best.  (ha ha, I was a poet and didn't know it.  Yes, I'm always cheesy like that.) 
Again, a couple of coats and let it dry.

Finally dry, it was time to remove the tape.  I love this part, seeing the idea revealed.  Plus, it's fun peeling the tape. :)

When we redid the bathroom, we used vintage-inspired glass knobs on the cabinets.  I wanted to keep that same look with this chest, and remembered I had some truly vintage glass cabinet handles stored away, waiting for their perfect place.  Perfect place found!  And I got lucky that the existing holes were the right size and space apart.

So, paint is dry, tape removed, handles installed.
Presenting a revived nightstand turned bathroom storage chest.

It really is a new piece of furniture.  I love looking at the before and afters just because it is so dramatic.  And it fits perfectly in our bathroom, now housing all my goodies.  Yay!

So, whadya think?

Hope you found a little inspiration.  :)

ta-ta for now...

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