Make it Monday...His & Her Nightstands {campaign night stand mini tute}

The master bathroom saga continues.  Somehow the three week project has turned into two and half months, but apparently this is to be expected.  Meanwhile, I am just trying to be patient and keeping myself busy with projects until everything is finally finished.  Fingers crossed that will be by the end of the week.  It sure would be nice to have everything wrapped up before the start of school next Monday.

I've been biding my time by working on some little projects for the master bedroom...the most neglected room in my house.

I decided to start with some nightstands.  I really like the look of mismatched or "his & her" nightstands.

I knew I wanted something softer and more feminine for the {her} side and something a little more substantial and masculine for the {his} side.

I already had the perfect piece for the {her} side...a small pedestal table I bought several years ago that was just sitting in storage waiting to be used.  Repurposing.  Don't you just love it!

It is similar to the one pictured below.

{source}

I was having a much more difficult time finding something that I liked for the {his} side, but then came across this beat up, old set of drawers at the thrift store.

I didn't much care for the dresser itself, but I thought the hardware was interesting and unique.

I asked if I could just by the hardware and pointed out that the dresser was in bad shape and made of cheap particle board.  I don't usually do that, but I was so set on getting the pulls that I broke character and got assertive.  I was able to get all five pulls for $2.  I seriously felt like I had won the lottery...and I may have even skipped all the way to my car.

Even though the hardware isn't the typical, recessed "campaign style" hardware, it was sort of reminiscent of it, so I decided to try my hand at replicating a campaign style dresser/nightstand.  And just a little side note for you history buffs, campaign style furniture was initially designed for military campaigns.  Because these campaigns were often on the move, this style furniture was designed to be broken down for easy travel.  The brass, corner detailing was there to add protection to the pieces during transport and is what gives the pieces their signature look.  It doesn't get more masculine than that right!

I knew Ikea had a small, inexpensive pine {Rast} dresser that would be the perfect height and size, so I picked one up for $35.  I'm sure you could find something similar at the thrift store for a little cheaper, but there's been a bit of a drought at mine so I settled for the slightly more expensive, yet still very reasonable Ikea version.

I only wanted one pull on the front of each drawer, so I filled the pre-drilled holes with spackle and re-drilled some right in the center.

For the corner detail, I purchased some flat, corner braces at Home Depot.  They come in 2 inch and 4 inch sizes.  I used the 2 inch and they were $2.50 for a pack of four.

I ended up painting my nightstands a birght, royal blue color...daring, I know.

Once the paint had dried, I screwed the braces into each of the four corners of each drawer.

Make sure that the screws aren't too long, otherwise you will have the sharp, tips of the screws poking through the other side.

And attached the pulls...and voila!

 my {his & her} nightstands.

{hers}

 I'm really loving the bright blue!

and {his}

I love this painting.  It was given to my father by one of his Psychology students.  It's supposed to be Sigmund Freud, but it also bears a striking resemblance to my father.  Is it weird that I have it in the master bedroom?  Studs seems to think so.

Okay, so what is the moral of the story?
1-  his & her nightstands are totally cool
2-  a little bit of spray paint can totally transform an old piece into something new and fresh and make you love it  all over again
3-  campaign furniture is super handsome {just like a man in a military uniform...only just for furniture} and is super easy and inexpensive to replicate

In total, I ended up spending around $50 for both nightstands...here's the breakdown
*table- free
*spray paint- $7 for two cans
*Ikea dresser- $35
*drawer pulls- $2
*corner braces- $7.50

for a grand total of...$51.50

Ba-Bam!

Gold is Good- Part Deux...an inexpensive upcycle

I bought some of these dainty, little vases at Ikea a while back.  

I didn't mind them.  They were cute {and perfectly priced at $3 a piece.  But, they were just a little to Ikea-y...if you know what I mean}.  I thought that giving them a customized make-over would be the perfect little project...cheap and easy.

Gold has been my go to color as of late.  I still love wood, and white and turquoise...but throw in a hint of gold and well, you're golden.  Gold is great for adding warmth, richness and visual interest to a space.

I knew with a little gold spray paint I could turn these simple vases into jewels.

I started by taping off what I didn't want painted.

Then I went to town with gold spray paint.

I really like Rust-oleum's metallic spray paint. 

It dries really shiny, really smooth, and really even.  And it gives really good coverage.

After I removed the tape, I noticed some very unsightly bleed through {don't you just hate that?}. 

 So, I devised a way to get a nice, clean edge.

The secret, a thick rubber band...readily found in any junk drawer.  

The rubber band stays nice and snug against the item being painted and can accomodate any variations {bumps or dents} in the surface.

I taped right up the edge of the painted line, then put the rubber band on so that it just overlapped the tape.  Then I tried painting again.

See how much nicer the edge turned out this time?

And here they all are together.  Aren't they cute?  The have so much more personality now.

I'm still shuffling them around, trying to find their new home.  But I don't really think it matters.  These little gems will look great anywhere.

On a side table...

 or on a coffee table...

So, if you have any items lying around the house in need of a little personality, why not grab a can of gold spray paint and see what happens.  Just try to use a little restraint.  You don't wanna turn your house into the Taj Mahal.