DIY Nightstands
When we moved to this apartment during a pandemic, one of the hurdles I did not plan for, was the inability to get furniture delivered from places like IKEA and Wayfair, although Wayfair has started to do delivery which is nice. That being said I started looking at furniture places like Urban Outfitters and West Elm, which was dangerous because their furniture is so beautiful but also sooo expensive. Two night stands would have probably been equivalent of a full months rent. I turned to google to look and see if I could build a nightstand and save myself a bunch of money. What I came out with was a very simple but also incredibly beautiful and perfect DIY nightstand.
The best part of this night stand is actually how easy it is to build. The build took a quarter of the time that it took to prep the wood, so keep in mind that if you want to keep the wood raw, this table will literally take you no time. Also good to know, you need no power tools because you can get all the wood cut at your local Home Depot and you can use sandpaper to hand sand but you also could get a power sander for forty dollars. Let’s get this show on the road!
MATERIALS
-Sandpaper
-Hammer
-Screwdriver
-Drill (optional)
-BIN Primer (optional)
-Spray paint (optional)
CUT LIST
2- 5in x17 in for the sides
2- 17in x 17 in for the top and bottom
PAINTING THE TABLES
Step One: Start by sanding the wood on both sides and on the edges to make for a smooth surface. You can easily use just sandpaper to hand sand or a sander, I used this one.
Step Two: If you are planning to paint the boards, you need to prime them first. I made the mistake of buying spray primer that was white and not clear and I did not realize this until I sprayed for the first time, I decided to just go with it because I got 2 cans of it. It calls for just a light dusting of the primer, but I feel like if I was to use the bucket primer, which is also white it would have been a bit different, though it all worked out in the end! Make sure that you prime both sides of the wood because you will paint both sides.
Step Three: Now it is time to paint them. Originally I was going to paint them black and so I bought black house paint and a roller, but I changed my mind to make them green, so I decided to use spray paint instead. I spray painted the wood this fun green color using Rustoleum 2X spray paint and I bought 2 cans of it. I did two coats of paint on each side and did a light sanding in between each coat just to make it perfectly flat and smooth.
These steps probably take the longest because there is a lot of down time in between the spray painting. It took me in total about 1 week to complete the priming and spraying. I also did it all outside and layed the pieces on top of a tarp to make for easy cleanup.
BUILDING THE TABLES
Step One: Once everything is painted, you can begin to attach the side panels to the bottom panels. Using the E6000 Glue (which is very strong in smell so you can do it outside or wear a mask) glue where the panels would meet, flush to the edge. I left the glue to dry for a full 24 hours.
Step two: After the bottom panel is dried, glue down the top panel flush to the edge similarly as you glued the bottom panel. Let dry for 24 hours
Step Three: Once the table is completely dried, you can hammer in four medium sized nails to the top and bottom corners to secure.
Step Four: Lastly, add the legs! I grabbed some hairpin legs from amazon and they were very well priced for the quality of the legs. The legs come with screws but they are too long for the table so you will have to get screws the same size of your plywood. I used ½ inch. You can screw them into place using just a screwdriver, but it is a lot of screws and if you have a drill I say go for it!
I got the legs in 16in height because I wanted these tables to be a specific height. I would recommend measuring your bed and deciding how high you want the tables to be. Putting together the table really takes no time. It is a bit of waiting for the glue to dry but once that happens, it is a very quick process to get the tables ready to go.
DECORATING THE TABLES
I knew that I wanted to get matching lamps for the table as I made two of them, one for my side of the bed and one for KCs. We have a nice color scheme of green white and brass, so I purchased these gold lamps from Target and they were so perfect, they even are touch sensitive.
I also added some bud vases made by my long time friend that I plan to put some dried eucalyptus in and photo frames filled with some of our favorite photos. You can also add little fun knick knaks that you find or even have around to make the tables more your own. I wanted to keep them pretty minimal because I was scared of things getting knocked off.
As for the inside, I put two of these small bins from Michales to collect our things like headphones, bobby pins and hand cream. The regular things that would go into a bedside table, but not so much stuff, like my childhood bedside table drawer, woof. You can also make a fake drawer with one of these Y-Weave baskets like we used in our pantry!
Once you have everything done and decorated, YOU MADE TABLES!!! That is incredibly exciting. I can't wait to see what you guys make.
If you make this please tag #StayingHomebody and #HomebodyMakes