My Friend Craig

I am really excited to share this furniture makeover with you today but I wanted to show you a quick little something first. I will probably never call any room in this house 100% finished because I am always tweaking things and moving them around. This morning I made a little adjustment to the foyer by my key holder that I showed you yesterday. I am trying to put things away before we take everything out of the kitchen.

I hung my hydrangea wreath above the key holder which balances the height with the other stuff that is hanging in that room. I loved it enough that I wanted to share it :)

Back to the real post!

So a little over a year ago when we moved to our rental place in Lansdale we had no night tables. I was pretty much focused on taking care of my family so my mom was awesome and found these for us.

Beautiful right?? Excuse the funny picture because this is actually what I just sent my mother-in-law and it was the only picture I had handy. I will explain more in a bit. I love the look of these nightstands but as far as function goes- even though they have 2 drawers -the drawers only open about half way. Which is really annoying. So last week while I was trolling through craigslist looking for a cabinet for fabric storage for my sewing room I saw these.

Craigslist has been very good to us since we moved so I wasn't too surprised to see a pair of matching pier 1 night stands for $40. I ran it past the hubby and he really liked them so Aleena (who really has become my driving partner- she goes on all my "missions" with me)and I took a drive and brought these home. There were a few condition issues. In the picture above you can see the bottom left corner was pretty beat up and the top was on this one as well.

When I saw them I knew I was going to have to do something to them, so as soon as we got home I got out the sander.

I knew I wouldn't be able to get the same look that they have coming out of the factory so I went a little darker and that night I stained the top.

When my milk paint came yesterday and I was done painting my key holder I added white milk paint that I already had to make gray and started painting. A little about my milk paint experience. When I initially tried milk paint I wasn't totally impressed. It didn't mix very well and got really foamy. Miss Mustard Seed's milk paint was a totally different experience for me and now I want to buy every color. (No one paid me to write nice things- just telling you my experience!) If you have some furniture to paint and you like a possible chippy finish I would totally check it out! She also has instructional videos and other finishing products as well.

So after making my custom milk paint color, painting, putting on a top coat and re-attaching the hardware. Here is my finished project.

(Cat photo bomb!)I think they turned out pretty well. And as you saw I left the insides the wood finish which saved me time and provided some nice contrast. If you are still wondering what we are going to do with our lovely flower night stands or why I would be sending my mother-in-law pictures of furniture we aren't even going to be using anymore this may help answer your question.

My mother-in-law, Jill, is an amazing artist. This came for me today. She painted this birdhouse for me. I picked it up at Michaels and had no idea what to do with but she took it and made it something Beautiful. So as far as the night tables go? Remember how I said craigslist has been very good to us since we moved? I found a matching pair of twin beds for $50. That's it. I almost fell off my chair.I also didn't think my hubby would go for it even if it was an AMAZING deal because we would have to store them for about a year until the twins are ready for them but he agreed that we couldn't pass them up.

Cute right? They are lower to the ground and perfect for 2 little girls. Well all this is leading up to the fact that EVENTUALLY we are going to paint the beds and when Jill comes to visit she is going to do something on the headboards to have them match the nightstands. So we are going to reassign where they belong. I am totally excited about it but I am glad it is going to be on the back burner for a while because we have a kitchen that needs a lot of attention right now!

After the visit from the electrician yesterday I should have a the kitchen update for you tomorrow. Sigh. Old houses mean surprises and not in a good way. But hey we are making progress and that is ALWAYS good!

~R