nightstand facelift

When we were getting the Hideaway ready to rent out, one of the major necessities on our list was a set (matching or not) of nightstands for the master bedroom. After scouring Craigslist and thrift stores for some rehab-able nightstands, we stumbled upon Inter-Island Hotel Furniture. When hotels renovate, the old stuff gets sent here, where you can buy it for pretty amazing prices. If you’re into DIY, it’s an awesome resource. Hotel furniture may not always be the most stylish, but for the most part, it’s built to last. So with a sander and some new hardware, paint, or stain, you can create some really interesting pieces for your home.

The nightstands we picked were fresh from the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which has been renovating one of its buildings. The pair were in great shape but just needed some TLC to look fresh and match the decor at the Hideaway. I had planned to stain the tops dark walnut and paint the bottoms and the legs (just like I’d been planning for the coffee table). But these nightstands had other plans for me, as the top inset panel wasn’t wood at all, but some kind of “marbleized” vinyl laminate (again, so similar to my discovery with the coffee table!).

So…Swiss Coffee to the rescue. I’ve been using this off-the-shelf Behr paint for most of the projects around the house, and it’s perfect for the breezy island cottage look that we’ve been going for (it also doesn’t hurt that I have a whole gallon laying around just waiting to be used up). It’s just slightly off-white, so it’s crisp without being blindingly bright.

I cleaned the pieces, lightly sanded, and primed with a coat of Zinsser BIN. As with the other pieces I’ve done recently, I applied 3 coats of the paint with a little sanding between coats for a perfectly smooth finish. For the paint, I used a foam roller for the flat surfaces and a small, high-quality craft brush for the details.

Here’s one of the nightstands all done, stocked up with a few beach reads and topped with a ridiculous tropical lamp that the owner brought over. Hey, it’s Hawaii. Ridiculous tropical lamps are a-ok in a vacation rental over here.

I lightly distressed all the edges by hand to coordinate with the refinished laminate dresser that lives in this room. The sanding really helped bring out the leaf pattern on the drawers:

I finished the pieces with a coat of Minwax Polycrylic in Satin (with a second coat on the top panel for extra protection). Everything came out totally smooth and uniform — you’d never know that the ugly vinyl top panel was ever any different than the rest of the nightstand. Love ’em!