A Project Completed While Bruce Was Gone

Posted on by Julia

November 26, 2024

Bruce started home today. Google predicted 8 1/2 hours to arrive home. Bruce was expecting to arrive by 5:00 – 5:30 PM.

The Atlanta, Georgia traffic jam was way, way worse than he was expecting. It delayed him by three hours.

He stopped in Anniston, Alabama for supper and decided to stay there for the night. He was cold on his motorcycle and it was dark. I want him to be safe and if it takes another day before he can get home, so be it.

As to the project mentioned in the title, I bought a cheap night table from The Habitat for Humanity store a while back. It is just “furniture” wood with only the drawer fronts being real wood. It was beat up, so I didn’t feel bad about painting it.

I finished painting it today. While it didn’t come out as great as I had hoped, for a first attempt, it came out well.

Here’s the before and after pictures:

Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Ready to Be Brought Inside

I started by cleaning it with Krud Kutter. Since the nightstand was just furniture wood with a pattern on it, I didn’t want to sand it.

First Step, a Good Cleaning

I primed with a primer meant for all sorts of surfaces, including particle board furniture.

I let the primer dry overnight, then I sanded it carefully. I removed the dust, the added the first coat of blue paint.

I also cleaned and polished the drawer handles.

After on the Left, Before on the Right

I gave the nightstand a second coat of blue paint.

After it dried, I taped off the beads in the front of the nightstand and used champagne metallic mineral paint to highlight them. I stenciled dragonflies, a bee and a flower onto the nightstand using the same champagne metallic mineral paint.

I may add two more flowers to the bottom to make a cluster.

The large dragonflies on the top were deliberately offset. I am going to put a lamp on the back left side. This should still leave the dragonflies visible. I’ll see how that works out.

I decided to liven up the sides of the drawers and used Java mineral paint to stencil on the drawer sides. I am not sure if I like how that turned out. I might paint over the stencil with the Java paint and then stencil over it with the champagne metallic mineral paint. I may just paint it Java and leave it since the shelf paper is so busy.

I lined the drawers with shelf paper that was the same blue as the blue paint. If you look closely at the first picture above, you can see the line where I joined two pieces. The shelf paper isn’t paper, but a vinyl non-slip surface. I didn’t read the description close enough when I ordered from Amazon.

What do you think?

21 thoughts on “A Project Completed While Bruce Was Gone”

  1. I love it, Julia! Great job! I have used vinyl liner instead of paper and I really like it because it stays flat and you can wipe it out. I was not sure what the side of the drawer decoration was when I saw the picture, but I like it, too, and after you explained, even more. Dark blue is one of my favorite colors, and I really liked the stenciled dragonflies and the silver “pearls” on the front. I give you props for how well it turned out! I am glad Bruce decided to spend the night. I can recall a few dark and cold nights on the motorcycle, and I also recall it was not pleasant! Good to be safe, warm, and sleep in a bed even if it is not your own just yet.

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    1. I was impressed with the vinyl liner. I unrolled it and it stayed flat. It was also easy to cut.

      Dark blue is one of my favorite colors as well. I have cobalt blue glass plates, salad plates, soup bowls, etc. They are French. I bought them at TJMaxx when I was in my 20’s. Every time I went to TJ Maxx, I would buy every piece they had. I still love my blue dishes.

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    1. It was an acrylic paint. I used a round stencil sponge to apply it.

      The Java paint color I used on the sides of the draws is chalk paint. I haven’t done anything else with chalk paint, but give it time. 😁

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      4. I’m glad the link worked. I wasn’t sure it would. I wish I had seen the dragonfly glaze. Several furniture flippers recommend the champagne metallic paint. It has a lovely shimmer.

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  7. Fun idea to add stencils to the nightstand. It turned out great! I am waaaaay behind on reading blog posts. I did not read any while we were away for over a week, and since we got back I have been trying to catch up on things that needed to get done.

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Published by Julia