Neglected Old Vanity into Twin Nightstands

I'm going through old drafts of posts that I started and never finished. It took a while to finish this particular post because the project stalled out for awhile when I got busy with other things. I finally finished it to make room in the library for our Christmas tree.

nightstand pieces, bed frames, drawer fronts, and boxes for Amazon

- no room for a Christmas tree here

Sunshine's room only has space for a narrow nightstand, and I have been unsuccessful in finding pre-built, narrow nightstands. I could build one, but it wouldn't be quite the style I have in mind. And I really don't have time right now. Then I came across the idea of turning a vanity into a nightstand (can't remember what blog I saw that on, though). The drawer sections of vanities are narrower than your standard night stand or end table and are therefore perfect for a narrow area.

there's room for one twin, a narrow dresser, and a crib

cribs are narrower than twin beds, so there's not much space for a second twin bed

I love the shelves around the window, but they've reduced the floorspace in the room more than I anticipated

I started searching for a vanity, but I couldn't find one anywhere. Then we went to a used furniture store this summer to get this small cabinet that now lives in the library:

(isn't it cute?)

They have a barn out back with more furniture and low and behold, there was a vanity, in all it's dusty glory. Unfortunately, the price tag was out of our budget.

When we went back in, the owner asked if I'd seen anything I was interested in. I said yes, I liked the vanity, but it was too expensive. She said it had been there for awhile and she was sure the consigner would take a much lower price. Score! Just goes to show you never know if you don't ask....

We went back a week later with the trailer and picked up the vanity and brought it home so I could start transforming it.

the mirror's turned around and not attached- there's the tall middle section and two shorter sections that go on either side

it's definitely been out in a barn for awhile

can you picture this as a nightstand?

cleaned up a bit, and the mirror set aside for now

The first order of business was to remove the center box. It was attached more securely than I anticipated, but after some maneuvering I eventually got all the screws undone.

this screw was a bit more difficult since it was half hidden under a piece of trim, but I triumphed eventually

 box off, but trim still on the nightstands

the area I needed to clean up. notice the missing leg in the back corner?

I removed the two pieces of trim and sanded the area where the box had been

I added trim to the bottom edges, but I couldn't find an exact match. It's the side that hides next to the bed, so it's not a big deal. I used some scrap oak wood to make and attach a new leg in the back corner of each nightstand where the box had been.

I used some wood filler in the holes and cracks, but not as much as I should have

I sanded some more, but not as much as I should have

the hardware was looking pretty sad, so I spray painted it with oil rubbed bronze paint

the nightstands sat in the library for a couple months until I finally sat down and painted them

I used Valspar Chalky Finish paint in Woolen Stockings. It was my first time using this brand and it did pretty well. I used the Valspar finishing wax as well, though I'm not sure if I like it. It was a liquid wax and I'm used to a paste wax, which I think has better coverage. 

I need to sand the nightstands down really well and repaint, so I wasn't too concerned about the coverage or lack thereof of the finishing wax. The veneer was in worse shape than I thought and the paint didn't cover it as well as I thought it would, so the cracks in the veneer are fairly obvious.

despite their imperfections, I love how they turned out

it looks awkward with them side-by-side, but has a wider space between the beds

this looks better, but places the beds quite close together

The beds are mis-matched because we bought a second set of twin bed frames and I wanted to check spacing. After I paint both sets of bed frames I'll keep the slightly taller set (the bed on the right) in what will be the girls' room and the slightly shorter set (the bed on the left) will go in the boys' room (currently just River's bed). Call me lazy, but I didn't want to take apart Sunshine's bed until I'm ready to paint it :)

We're not planning on transitioning Ocean out of his crib until the end of summer at the earliest, and while we'll be starting the adoption process in May, it's a months-long process, so we have time to figure out the best arrangement. I think having mattresses on the frames will make it easier to judge spacing as well. 

Oh, and the mirrors and the box that I removed? I have plans for them....