I’m finally finished painting the two nightstands that I bought at Goodwill recently, so I thought I’d share pictures.
First, here’s what our old Ikea nightstands looked like. We had two, and this one was in the best shape. The other one came from an antique store(I know…what kind of antique store sells Ikea furniture??) and it was in far worse condition than this one.
Here’s what the Goodwill nightstands looked like when I got them.
And here’s one prepped for priming.
Ta-dah! No more Ikea nightstands! In fact, there’s no more Ikea furniture in my bedroom. I feel very grown-up now.
Ahhh, much better.
You can see a picture of the grain on the top in this post(it’s the last picture).
In case you’re interested, the two Ikea nightstands now reside in my son’s room, where they hold toys. The toys used to be held by a flimsier plastic three-drawer contraption, so this is a definite improvement. The Ikea nightstands are sturdy, and I couldn’t care less if the kids abuse them(which they will, of course).
The three drawer plastic unit is now in my crawlspace, where it’s being used to organize all my gift wrapping supplies. They used to all be mixed together in a cardboard box, and it was nigh onto impossible to find anything. Now everything is neat and accessible.
Thanks to all of this rearranging, nothing was thrown away except for a cardboard box(which was recycled, of course). However, I do still have the old hardware from the nightstands that I need to deal with…I’m going to offer them on Freecycle, and hopefully someone will want them so that I don’t have to throw them away.
So, I currently have no painting projects waiting for me, which is a nice feeling. Actually, scratch that…I do plan to paint my son’s bed at some point. It’s wooden and I painted it white when he was small. Now that he’s going on ten, however, I think a black bed would be more appropriate. Plus a black bed would match his black dresser and his (new to him) black nightstands better. I’m sort of burnt out on painting for the moment, though, so I think that project will wait until late spring or early summer.
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Hooray! They look really fantastic! Congratulations! I have never in my life wanted to redo furniture, but now I am looking at the chest of drawers in my bedroom and thinking, hmm…
It’s kind of addicting, I have to admit. Once I did my first piece last spring, I was hooked. And once you do one piece, you look at all sorts of furniture with new eyes! lol
They look very nice. Just like Pottery Barn.
Another option for the old nightstand hardware is to donate it to your local Habitat for Humanity. Here, H for H has a store that sells hardware, furniture, and other home building/improvement materials.
The new nightstand looks so classy after the makeover! They did a similar thing on some old furniture on Better Homes and Gardens (a home improvement show here) and it really makes you see the potential of old furniture!
Awesome job! The nightstand looks fantastic.
Very, very nice!! I love your bedroom color too
Kristen,
I just got an amazing Craigs List find that I’m going to blog about hopefully tomorrow! It’s right up your alley! 
You never cease to amaze me!
awesome!! I am so impressed with your stuff
Wow, what a difference!! I love them, you do such an awesome job! I wish I had the motivation to fix up some of our furniture.
They look fantastic!!!!
It looks terrific, very professional. If this whole mothering/ homeschooling/blogging thing doesn’t work out for you (tee-hee), you can always start up a freelance furniture painting company.
I’m sitting here at a vintage 2002 Ikea computer armoire . It’s knotty pine and I’ve always hated it, we bought it because it was the only one with doors that hid my husband’s mess. Maybe this is the year I’ll finally paint it, black would make it so beautiful!
What a transformation! I’m on a mission to redo my entire bedroom over the next couple of weeks, including painting my bedroom furniture black. You’ve inspired me! Thanks to your wonderful how-to post a couple of weeks ago…I think I can actually do it!
they look seriously good. I have a chest of drawers i bought with the intention of painting them. I cant wait til summer now (its an outside job!) I think I will copy your method. but not colour. we have a seaside, white n wooden type of place. thanks for the inspiration
Thanks, everyone!
Julia, I don’t know if I like painting enough to do it for a job! lol
I bet your armoire would look beautiful in black. It’s amazing what black paint can do to furniture. Oh, and new hardware too…brushed nickel hardware makes a world of difference.
Mo-I’ve done white paint a lot too. I painted a white dresser and nightstand for my youngest daughter’s room, and I also did a white dresser and nightstand as a gift for my sister-in-law. Oh, and I painted a toy chest white too.
Kristin,
I must say you are incredibly talented!!! You do a fantastic job!!!!!
Ellie
This is exactly what I’ll be doing to my nightstands soon–what kind of paint did you use? Great blog, just discovered you today!
Kristen,
Wow, you are amazing! I just discovered this site and am totally feeling inspired to paint my daughter’s dressers instead of buying new ones! Her furniture is from a cheaper line, I believe it’s made out of solid wood & MDF, veneer tops.
Would you sand it all down, even the tops that are fake wood?
I would like to paint them a black color like yours. Would you mind telling me what exact products you used for primer, paint, etc? I am totally lost in the hardware store and picking this stuff out!
I would really appreciate it!
Thanks :0)
Kristen,
The tops of these nightstands are so reflective. Is that just the paint finish (semi-gloss) or did you add a top coat after painting. And do you sand after each coat of paint?
Thanks!
Black furniture is so pretty. Most of mine is white, but I sure love an occasional piece of black! I love the red wall too. Your have very pretty ideas. Thanks!
Hi yes, If you could please let me know the paint, and varnish, and the kind of brushes you used, that would be much appreciated. I’m going to attempted to get this same look. You have done an amazing job. Thanks
Linda
I am about to attemp almost the exact same thing this weekend!!! Wish me luck!
I am reading all your painting posts, as I need to paint a garbage picked nightstand to get the spare bedroom ready for the Japanese teacher who will be living with us for the next six months.
Can’t have the room looking poorly.
Kristen would not approve.
-Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
Just found your website tonight and I’m very excited about painting some old small tables I have. I’ve done some refinishing in the past, working with stains, but I haven’t really painted any furniture. Love what you did with the nightstands. You’ve got me re-examining pieces I was going to give away and imagining how I can bring them back to life! I’ll let you know how my first piece comes out following your instructions.
Would you beleive I found the exact same night stands at the salvation army ? I know it is many years later but could you tell me what you did with the holes left by the old hardware. Did you use wood filler or spackel.
Each pull had two holes and like you I would like to have one hole per pull centered.
I too am interested in how you filled the holes from the old hardware. I’m about to paint our bedroom furniture black & not only can’t find the size hardware to fit, but I’d love knobs like on your nightstands also.
Thanks!
I used lightweight spackle. First I took paper shreds, crumpled them up, and stuck them into the hole. Then I spackled both sides of the holes, sanded, spackled again, and so on, until the holes were flush with the rest of the drawer.
I can’t wait to try painting my kitchen set black. I found a black/brown that looks interesting Ralph Lauren Turret Stair. My question is do i need to do anything special to the top of the kitchen table so it can withstand the normal wear and tear.
How did the Turret Stair colour turn out? I want to paint a desk and I wanted something that is black/brown.
Are there different shades of black that you’ve used or is it just “black”??
Hi, Your furniture looks fabulous, but I’d like to know what color/ brand you used on the red walls???
Sure! It’s the Behr paint in the flattest sheen available, and the color is Red Red Wine (doesn’t that name make you want to sing? lol).
Thanks so much for your tutorials! I’m getting ready to do some furniture for my daughter’s room. I noticed you switched the pulls on this nightstand to knobs. Do you drill a single knob hole between the two holes that were for the pulls? Do you use wood filler to plug up the holes left from the pulls? Thanks for helping!
Yep, that’s exactly what I did.
Thank you so much for sharing! Have you ever put a finish on top of you paint, like polyurethane? I am painting a table which will get a lot of wear n tear (kids) and im worried about chipping or the paint coming off when its cleaned a lot.
I did use a polyurehhane (satin). so glad i did. looks great and i am sure it will help my table and chairs hold up to frequent use.
Thanks for posting this. I am about to try painting a piece of furniture for the first time and looked on the web for some ‘how-to’. It is an old piece of furniture with a formica top and I had no idea of how to deal with the formica or what paint to use. Now I do.
Thanks again…
Kristen,
I’m looking to paint my daughets dresser black however, i’m a little concerned. Most of the dresser is a weird grain plastic feeling top kinda feels like formica and the top drawers have a wicker look on them. How would you address the wicker part of the drawers?
I wouldn’t worry about sanding the wicker part…just spray with the primer and then I might try to spray paint that part instead of brushing the paint on.
For a formica top, just scuff it up with a sander, spray on the primer, and brush on the paint. It’s worked fine for me!
I would love to repaint a beautiful and pricey Crate & Barrel dresser from black to espresso to match the baby crib. However, due to the value of the piece I prefer to hire someone. Is there anyone you could recommend, or recommend how to go about finding someone…
Thanks!
Gosh, I don’t know! Maybe google furniture refinishers in your area?
Hi!
I’m planning to repaint my old kitchen table. It it now used as a computer table in our living room. I was thinking black. I usually shop at Home Depot. Can you please give me some color names. That is always my biggest dilema. Getting the color right. Love your site!
Thanks
I’ve just used plain old black and white Painter’s Touch paint. Make sure you get the kind I pictured in my how to paint post!
i used Behr Mouse Ears. It is from the Disney collection. It is a great pure black. Have received so many comments on how good it looks!
I am going to redo some furniture tomorrow. On my current dresser the metal around the knobs is very large. How does that work if you want to put new, smaller knobs on the drawers? I haven’t tried taking one off yet. What do you do if there are extra holes?
If there are extra holes in the drawer, I fill them (I crumple up shredded paper, stuff it into the hole, and fill both sides with wood filler or lightweight spackle..it may take several applications).
Im a college student and want some new furniture for my room. However, even Ikea seems pricey after paying off my classes. Now, from a males point of view, you have inspired me to give painting a try.Thanks
Beautiful job! I’m about to start my first project and feel confident after seeing how easy you made it look. Do you use any paint/varnish stripper before sanding?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE how awesome the refaced furniture looks…but I’m more fascinated by your red walls. WHAT is that color???
I bought a rancher and I want ONE accent wall–red with black furniture. I’m ALSO spray painting my wrought iron bed!!
Please let me know!!
It’s a Behr paint and the color is Red, Red Wine.