So excited about my first staining project! I LOVE to paint stuff but when I saw this cute little nightstand I knew it would be perfect just as it was if it just wasn’t so banged up. It was $25 on craigslist and I was actually going to pick up the dresser for my sons room and saw this for sale too!
Love the lion pulls.
I found this on the back of the drawer! ”Bought new in Jan 1950″. Love!
I lightly sanded it and used wood fill for the bigger dings. Notice the globe-it’s a lamp! Scored that for $10 at the thrift store when my 5 year old made me go to the collectibles case to see the Star Wars ships. He got a little ship as a reward for helping his Momma out!
The drawer sanded. I sanded for like 10 minutes not forever because I hate sanding. The goal wasn’t to take off every bit of the old finish just enough that the new stain would absorb. I didn’t fill in every little ding or try and make the surface perfect. I loved the character of the piece and just fixed the stuff that was big and obvious.
Then I applied some Minwax stain in Dark Walnut followed by a coat of Poly.
LOVE it!! It has a nice finish that will be more durable now but I think I still kept the aged look of the piece. I think I’m going to leave the Lions as is too and not spray paint them. What do you think? Spray paint the lions, leave them?
So glad I tried staining something. It was surprisingly fast and easy. It took less than 30 minutes to wood fill, sand, stain and poly the piece. Plus some dry time between the steps. Easy!
Linking up to:
>Such a unique nightstand! Love it!
>Love it! I would spray paint the lions, but I am paint crazy like that! haha!
>Very nice! Thanks for visiting my blog – I'm a new follower!
>I love little notes like what you found on the back. Nice to know the history behind old pieces. I love that you stained it vs. painting. Although I love paint, it gets a bit boring to see everyone paint old furniture just because it's the trend right now. My vote would be to leave the knobs alone and maybe polish them up if needed. Since you basically left the wood alone, I like the idea of not messing too much with the knobs either.
>I am also glad you didn't paint it. It turned out great! Love the little note saying when they got it.
>How pretty! I'm glad you didn't paint it too.
>Looks great!
>awwww super cute!!!!
>lovely! those Lion pulls are just amazing!! they really make the piece
>Very pretty! What a great find. Where are you going to put it? I would leave the lion pulls like they are, or maybe paint them a brushed nickel so they look shiny and new but still have the same feel.