Can you believe that hubby and I have been living in “sin” 😂 and/or married for almost 26 years and we NEVER had a set of matching night tables in our master bedroom? Isn’t that just sad? I actually don't even remember us ever having proper night tables at all so I finally decided enough was enough and I was going to get serious about finding us an inexpensive set that I could makeover. Little did I know that finding matching night tables or side tables of any kind for that matter, was cut throat!! Apparently there are A LOT of other people out there in the same boat so if you weren't the first person to see them on Varage Sale or Kijiji Canada you were screwed! Luckily I love a good challenge.

Did you know you can set up notifications on Varage Sale and Kijiji Canada to ping you when a particular category is posted? I set up those notifications and one early Sunday morning I got the ping I had been waiting for.❤️

I literally drove to Bowmanville in my PJS because this lady wanted these tables gone ASAP and she said if I could be there in the next half hour she would take $20 for them both....START THE CAR!!!!!!!!!

I was so happy with these ugly orange solid wood night tables and couldn't wait to get started on them, I knew how I wanted them to look but first I needed to figure out a way to add some height to them.

I was picturing them with some sexy, fat, detailed, wood turned legs.....little did I know those things start at about $40 each for some nice ones and I would need 8!! Nope, not gonna happen. Never one to give up, I decided to write a post in one of my buy and sell groups "Hey! I am looking for wood turns for a DIY project, anyone have any stashed away they want to get rid of?" And I got a response! From an older gentleman in Oshawa, he said he knew he had at least 4 but would have to dig around and try to find them and he would be in touch. Well god bless his ever loving heart, he messaged me the next day and sent me a pic, he only had 4 and sold them to me for $25 for the set. I almost pecked his scruffy old cheek but decided to take my wood turns and run before he realized he could have made a lot more money then he did!

I wish I had of taken more "along the way" pics to share with you but I didn't know I was going to be blogging back in November when I did this project so I will try to break it down in simple steps for you here and you know you are always free to ask me some questions!

Y'all know Fusion Mineral Paint is my go to right? So here is the process:

wash the furniture with TSP
apply a coat of Fusion Mineral Paints "Ultra Grip" and let dry for 12-24 hours
Two coats of paint in FMP "Sterling

I wasn't thrilled with the paint colour to be honest, it was too "white" and I was going for more of light gray. I hummed and hawed and slept on it and the next morning came up with a plan.

I used some Min Wax stain I had on hand in "Weathered Gray" and applied it with a foam brush, let it set for 20 minutes and then wiped off the access. I repeated this until I had achieved the look I was going for.
Next I needed to do something to the wood turned legs that were a dark cherry wood colour. I knew there would possibly be bleed thru and I was not in any way inclined to sand these pretties in all their nooks and crannies!
I cleaned the legs with TSP and applied two coats of bulls eye primer and let them sit for about 4 hours.
Next I painted them with some silver metallic paint I had on hand from the Americana Deco line of chalk paints sold at Michael's. They turned out beautifully.

I still faced the dilemma of only having 4 legs. So I went to Home Depot for a 2x4 and a bag of unfinished table legs that could be used on a box spring mattress ($5). My super handy hubby helped me cut the 2x4 and attach it up underneath the tables and it gave us a base we could use to screw the legs into - the skinny ones in the back, the beautiful ones in the front.

You don't see the back legs and it was an inexpensive fix to help achieve the look I was dreaming of. I added new hardware and they are now sitting pretty in our master bedroom, perfectly imperfect!

As always, I hope I’ve inspired you to start a project of your own!

Yours in thriftiness,

Michele xo