How to Paint a Night Stand (And Other Thrifty Finds)

I’ve been looking for the perfect nightstand to add to my daughter’s room, but it seems that the one’s I’ve seen in stores lack the character I was looking for or were far too expensive. Luckily, I was able to find a night stand at a thrift store (along with a few other awesome finds!) with the style, and price, that I was looking for. Let me show you how a simple paint job made this dresser shine!

It’s funny, because I used to hate when my mom would go to thrift stores when I was a kid. I hated the smell, the rows and rows of old clothes hung by color, and the stacks of Tupperware and knick-knacks that should have been put directly into the dumpster as opposed to getting the title of “good will”. I don’t think I ever touched anything in the store cause it just seemed dirty.

Well, apparently it was only a matter of time for me to embrace my inner thrifter because now I love thrift shopping. I guess it’s in the genes. My dad is a scrapper and my mom has always had a creative eye to make old things better than new. I love thrifting because it’s the ultimate search for finding a treasure for a steal. I love finding an item that allows me to flex the creative side of my brain.

My sister, Amy, and I both had the day off yesterday, and we decided to go thrifting. The first two stores we went to didn’t have any huge successes, but once we got to Good Will things changed. We found a ton of kids clothes for cheap. Amy found some really cute wooden salad bowls, and I bought these awesome retro snack sets.

They are called Indiana Glass Kings Crown and were made up until the 1960s. I only got three sets but it looks like they will be relatively easy to add to the collection. I love that there is a little groove on the plate for the cup to sit. For 99 cents a cup I went for it. So glad I did. Now I need to work on my hospitality and have some people over to use them. Amy bought each of the kids an afghan. I bought some decorative plates to hang in Anna’s room.

They are the perfect colors to go with her room and have the vintage look I’m going for.

After spending almost three hours at Good Will, I scored my big furniture find. I’d been looking for a night stand for Anna’s room. I found this for $23. I didn’t like the color but loved the structure!

I love a project and trying to bring something to its full potential. And this has a lot of it! Although it was a little more money than I’d usually spend on a thrift, it came home with me.

And today I got to work! I knew just the color I wanted to paint it. Anna’s room is pink. Her dresser is an apple green. I like the mismatched look, and was inspired by the color of a decorative vase in her room. So I took it to the paint store with me and picked a close match.

With a little help from the boy and two coats of paint later, it was done.

Here she is in all of her glory in Anna’s room. So cute! And just what I pictured!

One thing I may do yet is sand some of the edges down to reveal a little bit of the original color underneath and give it a little bit of a distressed look. Oh, and that hot pink afghan on the bed is the one Amy bought for Anna at Good Will.

It feels so great to see at least one room in the house starting the feel “complete”. I’ll take a small win.

Anyone have any good thrifting stories?

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