Refurbished Nightstand

Hello! This, by far, has been my most exciting project! I am such a sucker for "before and after" anything! I love seeing something not so great turn in to something awesome. So, I'm sure you can understand my excitement for this project. I like the feeling of pushing myself to learn about more tools and feeling confident while using them. I am proud to say I am now a beast at sanding anything! 

What You Will Need:

Random piece of beat up furniture

Palm Sander ( I got mine at Harber Freight for $15)

Extra sand paper

Paint 

Screwdriver

 1. As you can see this nightstand has been through a lot! I got it from a local thrift store for $20. Don't waste your time refurbishing furniture that's not real wood. The end result might look neat but why spend time on something that could just fall apart. Start off by unscrewing the drawer pulls. I really like the look of vintage hanging pulls so I decided not to update them.

 2. Start sanding the crap out of it! The top had a very thick poly coating on it so I just sanded the top shiny coat off and left the rest. 

 3. Get all that sanding dust off of it. It tends to build up inside so I used an air compressor to blow everything off of it.

 4. Start Painting! I love the painting process because that's when you can see your vision coming to life.Be careful not to get too much paint on your brush because there is nothing more tacky than furniture with a thick coat of paint. So don't let it puddle and watch the for the build up in the cracks.

 5. Let it sit out to dry for a while. Since the layer of paint I put on was so thin it didn't take very long to dry.

6. Put your drawer pulls back on, bring inside, and show it off!

Pallet Shelf

Hey there! It's been a while since I've posted but with the holidays and vacations over I can finally post what I've been working on! I made this shelf for our back deck since we had all of our stuff just piled up. The pallets were free from Lowe's so all I had to buy was stain and a 2x4. Its a perfect project to do in one day to heal your boardom!  

What You'll Need:

2 skinny pallets or 1 large one cut in half

2x4

wood stain

1 pound box of screws (you wont use all of them)

Drill

 1. Start off by staining the entire pallet. It's way easier to stain before it is put together. I got too excited and started screwing it together first lol but hey im learning as I go!

2. The pallets we had were a little wide so my lovely boyfriend cut it down for me. I'm still getting comfortable with power tools and was not about to risk cutting my arm off. If it were for inside the house i would have made it thinner but I wanted something wide to put plate's on when we are bbqing. 

3. Decide how tall you want the shelf to be. Then cut 4 pieces the same length from the 2x4. "Measure Twice, Cut Once" isn't just a saying!  I put 2 screws on the inside of the leg and 1 screw going in from the outside. That might be a little over kill but it turned out to be very sturdy.

4. While it is still upside down, place the other pallet on top upside down. Be sure the leg is straight before screwing in through the bottom of the pallet.

5. Touch up any spots you missed with the stain. I dabbed a little over each screw head so they wouldn't be so noticeable. And your done! 

After using it for a while to steady my arm, it was finally moved and used for its intended purpose lol