So for a little over two weeks, I spent lots of time with these little guys, attempting to make em look real handsome.
So these nightstands were beautiful, minus the stain/paint chips that covered the whole thing. This is what we started off with.
Disclaimer: These pictures are definitely not of professional quality. Thankyou blackberry.
My plan of action: Sand these suckers down to their bare state and re-stain a dark espresso color to match the interior of the chest.
After hours upon hours of sanding and multiple breaks because my arms had gone numb, all the original paint was gone and they were sitting in my sun porch, au natural.
Post sanding, which is secretly my favorite part because it requires power tools, was the easy and ridiculously time consuming part, staining. Since i live in the lovely state of Louisiana and humidity averages around 547%, each layer of stain took almost a full 24 hour period to dry. I thought about getting risky and putting on a second coat while it wasn't dry, but the can told me not to, and since I am halfway faking knowledge about this stuff, I decided to trust the can.
After I had put the two coats of stain on the first nightstand both I and the chest looked like we were infected with leprosy. It wasn't pretty and I went into semi freak out mode. So I REsanded the whole nightstand in its entirety and REstained it as well. It was a dream come true, really. The second ending result was still slightly splotchy; however, my dad (who to me holds the knowledge to almost anything because I am an unashamed daddy's girl) informed me that different sections of lumber have different levels of softness and will absorb/react to stain in different ways. Relief. After realizing there wasn't much I could do to fix it, I brushed the clear satin polyurethane coat on it and crossed my fingers that she would love it. Which she did. yay.
The second dresser was WAY easier, thanks to me knowing a little bit more about what I was doing and the torrential downpours slightly letting up. I sanded, stained, and polyurethaned the whole thing within days.
Pretty satisfied with my first paid job as a furniture dabbler, this was the finished project.
Products: I used Miniwax wood stain in Jacobean and Miniwax polyurethane in Clear Satin finish.
The End. To my first real adventure in furniture fixer upping. It was full of learning experiences (which I am not a fan of, so if you are reading and you have tips.. holla.), fun times with awesome power tools, and another stab at conquering my fear of home improvement stores.
oh, and here is a small prize for reading this entire post, but kinda just for giggles... This is what I looked like the entire time I worked on these nightstands. Safety first, you guys!
