Whimsical DIY shelves from end tables

We’ve been working on a sky-high loft bed as part of our four-year-old daughter’s bedroom makeover, and that meant there were two pieces of furniture she definitely didn’t need anymore: her two nightstands.

I mean, unless we wanted to hang them from the ceiling? Hmmm . . .

I knew I absolutely wanted to reuse them somehow. They’re solid wood with beautiful curvy details, and the process of making them — cutting a single end table in half to get two nightstands — was so fun.

But since she wasn’t going to be able to use them as nightstands when her bed was hovering near the ceiling, I had to think of a new use for them. I stared at them for a long time and eventually tried stacking them. What if I . . . yes! That was it!

There’s a great bookstore and coffee shop here in Truro called NovelTea, and they have a fabulous wall of shelves built from halved coffee tables and end tables — all arranged in stacks and painted the same colour. It was the perfect way to reuse these nightstands.

NovelTea’s cool shelves

So I took another hand-me-down end table I’d had for a while — painted in Fusion Mineral Paint’s Algonquin but only used for a while in our living room. We sliced it in half down the middle, using our circular saw, just like we’d once done to make those nightstands.

Then I spread out a dropcloth and started painting all four of the table-halves — tops, bottoms and underneath, since most nooks and crannies would be visible. I used one of Fusion Mineral Paint’s new shades, Coral, which was a Christmas gift from the lovely owners of Phillips & Chestnut Victorian Salvage & Decor. It’s a stunning colour and it’s always fun to paint with something so vibrant.

After a couple of rounds of painting, flipping the tables, painting again and doing final touch-ups, they were ready to install …

Continue reading in my weekly DIY column, My Handmade Home …