I looked everywhere for nightstands, but the look I was going for would have cost $500+ per nightstand… umm, no thanks. So I impatiently tried looking for nightstands at local thrift shops and estate sales. The only problem was finding TWO matching ones. Literally took me months. Until one fateful day, I found a listing for these two wooden end tables for $50 a piece. They were in perfect condition, but a tad too short for my bed. Luckily, I’ve been lost in Lowe’s quite a bit, so I remembered the aisle that stocks wooden dowels in various lengths… the tables were mine.

The painting process took quite a while. I had to prime and then, paint both the end tables black. I spray painted the dowels and hardware with gold Rust-Oleum spray paint. It was then time to decide whether to hand paint the drawers or spray paint them. By this time,  I was so over the hand painting especially if it was going to require multiple coats. Instead, I taped off the drawers and went over with the gold spray paint again.

So here they are elevated and painted! What do you think? Full room to come…

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have already caught a glimpse of my dining chair project, but here it is from start to finish.

At this point, I’m a Craigslist professional. I know what’s good and bad and what’s worth the price, so I flipped when I saw these bamboo and leather chairs. I got them from a local restaurant that was closing. What I liked most about the chairs was the giant, leather cushion (not pictured). Leather covers meant the cushion underneath would still be in good condition. Before I bought them, I made a trip to see the chairs to find out how difficult removing and recovering the seat would be. It was as simple as removing two screws – SOLD.

The next task was figuring out what color paint and fabric to use. I finally decided on black chairs with a white table (you’ll see in another post). I found the perfect fabric – I stopped in my tracks when I saw it. It has all the colors I was looking for and is a print that mixes well with other prints.

The actual painting and reupholstering took place over the course of two different days. I needed an entire day to paint and let them dry completely. Super easy, but time consuming since you have to wait between coats. The fabric recovering was not as easy. I had to rip out all of the previous staples, take off the leather covers, then start restapling the new fabric. Three hours in, I wanted to throw the staple gun off the top of the house. Make sure you have a good staple gun!

But they are finally finished and well worth all of the effort. Since, these photos were taken, the table and other things have been added in, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise of the next project posts!