Mid Century Nightstand

I'm warming up to the furniture of the 50's and 60's - all those clean lines! And wood just waiting to be modernized with paint! Ok, there's a lot of formica out there too and that's what I seem to be finding...but I'm cool with that too. Plus, I don't feel like I'm committing a crime by slapping some paint on it (for all those MCM purists out there...)

I found this at a thrift store and with a 35% discount, it was totally worth it at $10.

It's a little banged up, a little dirty, and has that awesome formica top...but it's just what the side of my bed needs.

This is a before-and-after of what a little scrub with steel wool will do for metal pieces. Very shiny!

I ended up just painting the outside first with high adhesion primer, then an ultra white topcoat. All the wood needed was a little orange Pledge to shine it up a bit. 

The drawer has a built-in pull underneath the drawer, but I had other ideas. More specifically, a pull I rescued off a demo from a previous home.

Authentic pull from the 50's - so cool

Do you know this tape trick? How did I not know about this?? Put the tape on the back of the handle, poke holes...well...where the holes are, and then put the tape on the drawer and measure and level out the holes from there. So Easy!

Love!

And yes, to be super nit-picky, the handle is not level but it's not because of the tape...it's because my drill wandered just a bit when I was drilling the holes. When will I learn to pound a nail first to make a little hole to set the drill in? Oh yeah, I already know that...I was just too raring to go to actually do it. Lesson learned.

One day, I might redrill that hole. Or not. Probably not as it's going into my bedroom... which I can't show you until I take down the hideous curtains, paint the walls, make a headboard, buy a new duvet...etc.