Turn one end table into two DIY nightstands
Our youngest had been without a nightstand for all of her three and a half years, and she felt she really needed one for her lamp (which isn’t plugged in) and her light-up spinning Elsa jewellery box (which blasts “Let It Go” when we’re all trying to sleep).
I’ve been on the nightstand hunt before, and it’s never an easy one. New nightstands are surprisingly overpriced and it’s next to impossible to snag a matching set at a yard sale or thrift store. (If you see a set, buy it — seriously.) And so, she waited.
Then we scored a curvy-but-solid wooden end table from a family member and I knew exactly what we’d do with it: Double it! No, wait .. halve it?
We’d chop it down the middle and make two identical nightstands, making our daughter the only person in the entire house to have a matching set. Oh, the luxury!
After I drew a (rough) line down the middle of the table, my handy husband obligingly cut it with his circular saw (after questioning exactly why I wanted him to chop a perfectly good table in half, of course).
Our daughter had the BEST time picking out the paint for her new nightstands. I tried to steer her toward pink or yellow, but she was firm that they needed to be bright, bold purple — a colour that was not anywhere in her bedroom’s scheme. She made friends with the lady at the paint counter, who even printed custom labels that read “Purple Lottie.” It was very sweet of her, but now I’m not totally sure of the actual shade (Behr’s Romantic Moment is my best guess).
And so we painted them purple, and … it wasn’t bad. I’m a pink girl through and through, but the colour grew on me once I’d sewn pillow covers to tie in the new shade. We didn’t prime first (or poly afterward) because honestly the nightstands will probably be repainted before the paint has time to wear off. Two coats (plus a solo third coat to smooth out my little helper’s brushstrokes) and we were good to go.
We planned to secure the nightstands with L-brackets but so far they’ve been fine just butted up against the wall. We’re making some other changes to the room, so we won’t install them until we’re sure of their final placement. I love how they look like they’re jutting out of the wall and they take up far less space than two full-sized nightstands.
So what are you waiting for? Go find a table and chop it in half! It’ll be twice as nice, I promise.
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2 Comments on “Turn one end table into two DIY nightstands”
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Heather's Handmade Life 
Definitely instructive DIY. I love how you managed to turn this table into nightstands. I would like to praise your creativity.
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This is great! Thank you!
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