Upcycling Thrift Store Nightstands

My daughter's roommate needed new nightstands for her room so the two of them went thrifting. They found two matching nightstands at the Habitat for Humanity Restore that were hotel cast-offs. They were only $5 each so I said, "Sure, I can fix those up"

While the drawer and molding are real wood (not great wood), the rest of the nightstand was not. I knew I could make a few changes to update this outdated piece. I really wanted to change out the hardware (such an easy way to update furniture) and I wanted to get rid of the curvy legs and apron on the bottom.

I sanded the piece, completely sanding the drawer, and then removed the bottom shelf and apron/legs. These were attached with screws so they were fairly easy to remove. Using a jigsaw, I trimmed off the thin tongue part that fit into the apron groove. I then painted the body of the nightstand white, making sure to use primer.

I stained the drawer dark walnut and added a wood bottom shelf and wood block legs. These were also stained with the dark walnut.

My daughter's roommate has a light blue comforter so I painted a thin 2" wide strip of wood light blue and glued that to the front of the drawer to cover the large holes left behind from the old hardware.

Clear coat over everything and a new, white, sleek ceramic handle, also from the Restore, was the final step to update and upcycle this thrifted nightstand.