As Promised!

I have finished the nightstands!

To refresh, here is the before again that I first showed you last week.

I actually have two of them but they're identical so I'm only showing pics of one.

Not too bad, but the wood tones and gold hardware aren't the look I'm going for. I already have this guy in the room so the nightstands need a little face lift.

With a little help from my trusty tools, the nightstands now look like this!

Not bad huh? Plus, since I already had the supplies from my first refinishing project, I only had to pay for the nightstands and new hardware. Total cost: $33.00. $25.00 for the nightstands and 4 handles at $2.00 each. Love it!

The process was exactly the same as for my first refinishing project but for a quick run down here's how I did it:

-- Step 1: Sand 'em down! The least fun but most time consuming step in the process. Alas it must be done. This wasn't any light sanding job either, you gotta get down to the real wood to make the stain stick.

-- Step 2: Putty up the holes. Since I removed the old hardware I had to fill in the holes they left behind. Just mush it in there and let it dry. Once it's dry lightly sand it down so the holes are flush to the surface of the wood.

-- Step 3: Stain! Just wipe it on and you're good. I did three coats of stain to get a really black hue.

-- Step 4: Poly! Again, just wipe it on. I really love wipe-on poly, I haven't found anything easier to use. I used two good coats of poly on these nightstands.

-- Step 5: Attach new hardware. Measure out your holes, use a handy drill bit of the correct size (start with smaller bits if you're unsure and go back with a bigger bit if the hole is still too small) and drill your holes. Screw in hardware. Fun times!

-- Step 6: Call your friends/family/significant other over to admire your amazing skills. Step 6 is obviously the most important step!