Over time, I began to address smaller projects but ones which were important to my sense of style and comfort here in my wee maison.
My Master Bedroom has been a work-in-progress for a couple years now. I work on it as I can afford to, as I locate pieces I can up-cycle and re-purpose to suit.
I had no nightstands and that was a problem. I'm a voracious reader; I read everything and then I read it again years later. :0)
I need room for books close to my bed.It is my habit to read before sleep each night, so of course, that means lamps, too. Lamps have to sit somewhere……so….I had some shoppin' to do.
One of my most favorite resources for pieces I can upcycle & re-purpose is my state's "Habitat For Humanity" store. Most states have one, "Google" to find one close to you. When you shop there you're supporting the building of homes for families that need help; it's a wonderful cause AND you get
spectacular deals !!!
I absolutely adore shopping there ~ My kitchen gas stove, washer & dryer came from there, going 5 years strong now, no issues, thank God, and I got all 3 for less than $400 !! Our local Habitat For Humanity store has three wondrous floors, acres of every type of household and home reno goodie you can imagine, even tools and things like doors, windows and appliances of all kinds !
For my night-stand project, I was looking for something solid, tall enough to be at bed-top level and the hardest part: they both had to match. I have two sides to the bed, after all. :)
If you have a small space, you can certainly use just one, but my bedroom is largish, so two stands were needed to frame the bed and the spectacular headboard I made for it. ( more on that later.)
Pretty boring unit, eh ? The ole' much-maligned Mediterranean drum "cocktail table", as they once called them, God knows why unless they were drinking in bed. Hey, it could happen, don't laugh. :)
I liked that these were roomy inside, the two of them had doors that swung open wide and allowed for lots of storage. Only problem was they were too short. I fixed that, but we'll come to that in a moment.
Cost of the two tables: $18.00
I am an artist; I must be surrounded by beautiful things. When I can't afford to buy beautiful things
( which would be most of the time) I figure out how to make them.
My home is therefore something of a temple to Art.
For these tables, I knew I would decoupage the tops with some art posters; I chose scenes from Michelangelo's famed Sistine Chapel ceiling as posters. As with all decoupage projects, always choose the best possible paper for your posters when you order them. Cheap paper will NOT decoupage , will wrinkly badly and tear when you try to smooth it. I had to learn this the HARD way so I hope you decoupage newbies are paying attention here. :)
So my beautiful posters arrived and I began painting my drum tables.
Because of the dark wood I needed a highly opaque paint, or else I would've been doing forty-seven coats to achieve a good "hide" of the under color.
This was my first experience with Chalk Paint, which I learned after some research would be my best bet for this and many other projects. Because I am naturally parsimonious, I stubbornly refused to pay $40 or more for a gallon of Chalk Paint, so I found a recipe to make your own:
Best DIY Chalk Paint recipe : 2 TBLS Calcium Carbonate in 1 TBLS water…add to 1 cup of
latex paint. ONLY latex paint; this will not work with oil-based paints. I only add the water if the paint is very thick already. You will learn all paint is not created equal, therefore the viscosity differs. Mix
You can buy Calcium Carbonate on either Ebay our Amazon.com. Five lbs will cost you about $6.00 or thereabouts ; some sellers offer free shipping and others do not. Take your time and search the best deal you can get. If you research any, you'll see recipes for Chalk Paint using plaster of paris. I do NOT recommend these, with time that plaster of paris sets up and your paint becomes a huge solid hockey puck. Also, if you do not rigorously, fanatically mix, that plaster of paris will cause fine lumps and sediment which is very difficult to work with. Word to the wise.
NOTE: with many Chalk Paint project instructions you'll see directions to use wax to finish them. I strongly urge you not to fall prey to that ! Waxing absolutely guarantees your piece will draw and adhere-imbed dust like it's being paid to. Also, you must periodically remove the wax and re-wax it.
Seriously ?!? Um, no, not for me.
Just use a good polycrylic finish, a non-yellowing polyurethane. Your piece will last for generations and you'll never have to do more than just dust it.
--- on with the show….
This is what my nightstands looked like part-way through:
My bedroom is turquoise and gold. My headboard/footboard are ivory. I chose a Behr creamy ivory color called "Buff" ( <---don't ask me why they called it this, it's NOT "Buff") and made my Chalk Paint using it. I had some leftover from another project so I can't honestly call it a cost of this project.
I painted the wood trim turquoise, same shade my Peacock Armoire has, and stenciled damask designs in metallic gold into each panel of the table. I distressed the turquoise trim a bit with a fine grit sandpaper, and used a totally dry brush to "antique" some gold acrylic paint over top of the ivory to provide more of a stylized vintage look.
TIP: Wipe your antiquing brush thoroughly dry/clean with soft old cloths or old tee shirts between brush-loads of paint in order to keep that light, vintage-y dry brush look.
Recall I said the drum tables were too short to reach bed-level ? I got these wooden furniture legs at Home Depot, $3.88 each. They are 8" tall and I painted them with the same gold acrylic paint I used to stencil the panels of the table, also used the turquoise and emerald armoire colors on them, too. They were easily attached using a drill to make holes on the bottom of the table for each leg ( I used 4 per table), then ya just screw 'em in. ( you can't see the embedded screws in the tops of these pix, sorry )
Voila ! Taller tables ! :)
TIP: for added leg security, prior to screwing the legs into the holes you drilled, apply a small daub of Gorilla Glue to the holes….SMALL is the operative word here; Gorilla Glue has a wildly unpredictable coefficient of expansion and can easily wreck your project if you're not very judicious in it's use. As it dries, it e x p a n d s like crazy ! So use just the smallest bit. Screw in your legs through the Gorilla Glue and keep the piece upside down for at least 48 hrs before proceeding to the next step. Good idea to peek inside your table and make sure no excess glue is dripping or leaking, wipe any drips away with some mineral spirits on an old cloth but be careful not to remove the glue from around the screw heads.
I trimmed the table tops in the same colors as I used on the wood trim and the legs.
Then came the exciting part: decoupaging the Michelangelo posters onto the tops.
ModgePodge really can't be beat for this purpose. You should use something like a rolling pin or a clean, unused paint roller to smooth your artwork down after you've generously Modgepodged your surface. Oh, before I forget: to provide best possible adhesion, I fine-sand and dust off the surface of any decoupage project before I begin gluing.
So it here is, coming down the home stretch. I did two of these, exact same process, different Sistine Chapel scenes on each top.
Cost of posters: $12.00
The finished night stand…..TAH DAH !!! :)
I used about 5 coats of non-yellowing poly on the tops of each, so lamps etc wouldn't mar the decoupaged artwork. You must be patient and allow each coat to dry thoroughly ( your thumbprint doesn't show when you gently press the surface) before you apply the next coat.
I painted the trim gold to make it stand out, kinda like a bas relief frieze, and decoupaged some gorgeous turquoise Japanese paper with tiny golden figures in it onto the door panel middle. At the very bottom edge of each table, I decoupaged narrow strips of that same paper to give it a finished look. The knobs: I gold-leafed them with genuine gold leaf; I had some on hand from another project. Lots of poly over top of those so they don't oxidize or mar with time.
This is probably a good time to say I was mightily inspired by Sofia Coppoloa's film on Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst. The furniture and decor in that film are straight-up stunning. I can't quite afford Versailles here on the farm, so I make my own. :)
These nightstands have held up like a champ and I enjoy them tremendously. I can hide lotsa stuff in them, love, LOVE that !
Total cost of both tables: $67.04 ( means each table has a finished cost of $33.52 )
Try to buy two large arts-fartsy nightstands for that.
I didn't include the cost of certain elements I already had on hand that were leftovers from other projects, such as the Behr Buff latex paint, the damask stencil, the gold acrylic paint, the gold leaf and the polyurethane.
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