A Bedside Table for Madison

I picked up this bedside table on Sunday afternoon around 1pm and by Monday at 3pm it was complete!  I love when projects can be whipped out like that – gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

Wanna see the before shot?

This was a $20 find on Kijiji, and while I had considered (attempting) to build a nightstand for Madison, I felt fairly confident I couldn’t come in less than $20.

This bedside table had a neat shape, tapering up towards the top, and it was small enough not to take up a large footprint in her bedroom – plus it had the shelf above the drawer – which is what I was looking for so that she can charge her iPad there.

But…

The top was in ROUGH shape.

The top was made of 1/4″ (although it seemed like 1/8″) plywood and water had warped the surface. With the plywood being so thin, there was no room to sand it down and start again, so I had to replace the top entirely.

I sanded the entire piece down and then added a coat of Kilz primer, sanding that smooth once dry.

So that this bedside table would coordinate with her recently refinished desk, I kept with the two-tone them and stained the legs in a special walnut.

I had leftover plywood from my bat house project the other day, so I chose a piece with an even grain and gave it a coat of special walnut (after this photo I went over it with a coat of dark walnut to deepen the colour):

I should have bought veneer to apply to the edges, but once you see the finished product, I don’t think you’ll notice that I cheated.

I wanted to add a new handle to the front of the drawer, so I used some wood filler to get rid of the previous holes.

At two coats of BM’s Antique White, you could still see some shading in different areas.  Have I ever told you that I often hear George Michael in my head?  Yup, moments like these when I want to stop at two coats, but deep-down know that I should do three or four, an 80’s cassette clicks on to “If you’re gonna do it, do it right”.  The song keeps going of course, but this is the message being sent.

I just admitted to hearing voices in my head didn’t I?  Does it count as crazy if it’s a song?  A song telling me to put on another coat? lol

Three coats later, and two coats of varnish on the top and legs and Maddie’s bedside table is done!  (Thanks George – you were right again).

Cute right!?

While you can see a bit of the striping of the plywood top, it’s negligible in the overall effect.

Have you ever seen plywood turn out this beautifully?

I decided to add a bit of “Maddie” to this piece – so I gave the drawer a peekaboo colour that matches one wall in her bedroom.

$20 and 26 hours after purchase:

She’s thrilled with her new bedside table and I’m thrilled at how quickly it all came together. I guess I just “gotta have Faith”.

Have a great one!

Linked to:

• Between Naps on the Porch
• The DIY Mommy