From Barn to Charm!

This is a project that has been an on going, Summer, project. We bought these (there's two, but I'm only showing one throughout this post) night stands at an estate sale early in the summer for a whopping $10.00 a piece! This was at an old horse farm in our area that I didn't even know existed. They were selling the house furnishings (which was a huge old house), all the outside equipment and all the barn "stuff". The barn is where we found the night stands. I think from the looks of them, they had been stored there for a looooong time! They were in pretty bad condition as you can see.




  I know, you're probably thinking, "what were you thinking?"!  These are ugly! They were, but I could see potential in them, and I could tell they really were "nice" nice as in quality and as in being solid wood, and  remember the $ tag ?......only $10@, and did I mention, they are French styled? (my favorite style of furniture)!  But I do admit, they looked pretty bad!
Not to mention the smell.  Oh, maybe I shouldn't have!  Well, they did come from a barn!  Also in their "better days", they must have belonged to a nice, little, southern lady, because there was also a smell of talcum powder mixed with a moth ball smell!  WAIT, please don't quit reading.  It gets better.....Ha Ha!  Some of the table drawers were lined with contact paper, there were straight pins in the corners and edges.  (Our little, old, southern lady must have been a seamstress too!)  Of course there was dirt and, hold on, there were spiders (dead ones of course)!  WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!  I can't believe that recently I have actually been considering trying to start a business of refurbishing old furniture.  I don't think I was thinking!

We started working on them early on, but because of our busy Summer schedule, we were not able to work on them as consistently as we would have liked.

We have only had time to work on one so far. Lots of steps have to be taken to get this project from "barn to charm"!

First, while my husband sanded and sanded and sanded some more, I cleaned  the inside. I removed the wonderful contact paper (yuk!), and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more! Just call me the "Clorox Kid"!
After we got it cleaned and sanded, (believe me, it got the best cleaning it had ever had in it's life from me! Let's say bleached!, we coated it really good with a sealer. Then we let it set outside in the hot summer heat for weeks. Then the grandkids came and it got put on hold for weeks! That is ok, though!


 Anyway, here it us the end of October, and we are starting again. I am so pleased to tell you that all the steps we took and especially the sitting outside in the heat for weeks, took care of the smell. It no longer has the old, mothball, talcum powder smell. I'm glad, cause I don't know of I could have taken that since these are going in our room as nightstands.

I'm excited because we just got a new mattress and it sits so much higher than our old nightstands, that it is hard to reach anything from the bed. Our charming barn nightstands are much higher. I believe they will be just the right height.

Anyway, as of this week, Oct, 27, 2011 after more sanding and a coat of this paint,  (I decided to use a oil base paint and have as sleek of a finish as I could),

It is beginning to look a little more charming! 

Maybe not quite there, but close!  Just hang on! 

Ok, after more sanding and a second coat of paint on the outside as well as a second coat of sealer on the inside, it is  time for the "big reveal"!  Ta da!  I'm excited!







These are the original handles spray painted  with this paint:  Krylon Brushed Metallic, Satin Nickel

The following are just pictures of the finished project.  (well, there's a couple of tweaks that have to be made, such as the drawers need to be put in to fit just a little better.  That will have to wait until my husband gets back from an out of states missions trip.  He's the one who fixes these kinds of things!) 



Sure am glad the height of the table matches the height of the bed! 



BEFORE!



AFTER

Whew!  That was a lot of work, but I think well worth it, I think!  I hope you like them too!  I don't want to sound conceited at all, but I do think a good name for this little nightstand project is, "From Barn to Charm"!  What do you think?  Do you think they are charming?  What do you think about my opening up a furniture refurbishing business?  Well, never mind about the last question!!!

So there you have it!  I am so glad to have rescued this little nightstand from the spiders, dirt, etc.  The only thing is we have another one just like it waiting......probably until next summer!

Linking up to:  Beneath My Heart's October DIY linky party.

                      My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia's Tuesdays Treasures