A Beginner’s Guide to Upcycling Furniture

DIYHome

Jun 17

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As many of you know, when we bought our house 3 years ago, it was a total fixer-upper. We replaced all the floors, the stairs, got all new appliances, knocked down a wall or two, redid a bathroom, and got a new front door. And all new paint. Can't forget the paint.

Did I mention we also did this renovation 6-9 months before our wedding??

Not only was it a wee bit stressful, but it was expensive as heck.

Once the months of construction were over and we finally got completely moved in, we were missing a lot of furniture. Hey, it was our first home. Nobody buys their first home with enough furniture to furnish 3 bedrooms.

We were at the point where if it wasn't ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, we weren't buying it.

In case you were wondering, nightstands were not absolutely necessary.

We had an old microwave stand and a small plastic shelf, and those have been our nightstands for the last 3 years.

I don't love admitting that to you guys, but I'm sure you can relate.

I recently decided it was time. I mean, I’m in my late twenties, I’m married with two dogs, I think I’m established enough to own a nightstand.

I began low-key looking for a set of small nightstands. I didn't want to spend a lot, and they had to be the right size. I've browsed Wayfair, and Facebook Marketplace in the last few months (from my last project, The Loft Makeover), and nothing had jumped out at me.

Two weeks ago, a pair of nightstands popped up.

They were hot pink.

But they were the right size, and I got them both for $25.

Let's be clear, I do not like hot pink. For anything.

But, my neighbor, Kerry, is the queen of painting furniture. She snags the cutest second-hand items and paints them white and they look amazing every. single. time. She's magical, I swear.

I told myself that I could do the same thing. I've never redone furniture before but it seems like a fun little project and I could learn something new.

So I brought my little, horrendous nightstands home with me, and after what felt like a year of sanding multiple layers of paint, I decided to chalk paint them white.

Here's how I did it!

First, I spent approximately 583 hours sanding. I could peel off a lot of the pink paint, but it was so bright that I wanted it all GONE. I bought myself a handheld sander and it was a lifesaver. This is the one I got. I’m telling you, if it wasn’t for this bad boy, I would still be sanding. Like right now.

When the sanding was finished, I did prime it with a thin layer of flat spray paint primer.

Side Note: I know that the whole appeal to chalk paint is that you don’t really have to do much prep, but here’s my thing. I don’t like to paint. I don’t like it, so I don’t want to have to redo it if it turns out poorly. I want to do it once, and I want to take every precaution to ensure its a decent end result. So I sanded the heck out of them, and I primed them.

After they each got a light layer of primer, I went ahead and painted them. It is a matte paint, and it dries quickly, so it took a few minutes to get used to it. The detail in the legs was tricky, but not too difficult.

Once the chalk paint was dry, I applied a thin layer of wax with a brush and/or rag, and buffed it before it dried completely, so it wouldn’t have a super shiny finish. I did also get the dark antique wax color to add a little age and charm to it. I only used a tiny bit in some areas, because they’re white and I wanted them to stay on the brighter side.

I was going to buy new knobs on Amazon, but my sister had a bag of these cute gray and white ones that matched perfectly!

Much to my surprise, they actually turned out really cute!! Check out the before and after!!