You are going to need a lot of imagination when you see the before picture of this next project,
it's pretty gross.
French Style Bedside Table
It all started early in the morning a few weeks ago...
While sipping a cup of delicious coffee, I started my normal routine.
First, I turned on the computer in order to read the news
(my computer is very old so this takes about 5 minutes or so).
While I waited, I opened the living room curtains to my patio door to greet the beautiful sunny morning.
I take another sip of coffee while I survey the view, "Ah, so beautif.......
WAIT A MINUTE...
Out of the corner of my eye I spot something...I don't know what it is, but it's bright pink. I can only see a sliver of it because it's partially hidden behind the building across the parking lot.
My mind is buzzing with thoughts and questions...
What is it?
I wonder if I can use it.
Is it made of wood?
Is the colour as gross up close as it is from here?
Maybe it's even worse!!!
I wonder how heavy it is?
After pondering for a few more minutes, I turn away from the window and start to read the news.
Top news story; The blah has been blah blah blah...
Man, it's no use...I just can't ignore it!
I run to the coat closet, put on a coat and my boots, slide open the patio door and make a beeline for that ugly pink thing.
Meanwhile my husband had just gotten up...
He had heard the patio door open and close, so he knew I was outside.
He watched me drag the ugly pink thing right to our patio...
He told me later that I remind him of an ant...dragging 4 times my weight in stuff.
Ha ha haaaaa
Well, it is pretty ugly!
Oh well, it'll be a challenge to make this thing look nice!
The only thing missing is a different top and maybe some better drawer pulls...
Oh, I know! Didn't somebody leave an old, solid wood bookcase headboard up in the lobby?
Ah, somebody probably took it...I'll go see.
Yup, it's still there.
YIPPEE!!!
I'll take that...
now I can get started.
So, now I have a totally hideous pink cabinet and an old headboard.
I took a picture so you can see both pieces in the original condition...dust and all.
The first thing I have to do is remove the doors...they are in bad shape.
See how the plywood at the top of the left door is buckled?
Here it is with the doors removed.
Here it is with that gross top and mesh like trim removed.
So much better!
Here is the bookcase headboard with it's lovely dust collection.
I know it doesn't look like much, but it is solid wood.
The next step is to disassemble the headboard.
I specifically want the long board on the top and the bottom shelf.
These next few images will show the disassembling progress...
let me tell you, this thing was very well put together.
My kitty Gregory always HELPS when I craft.
I use the word help very loosely here.
Those are some of the largest staples I have ever seen.
The two long boards are now ready to be cut.
My husband does that for me,
I don't quite feel comfortable with power tools yet because I don't know how to use them properly.
One day I will learn.
Below, the boards have been cut and installed and painted
a slight off-white.
I now begin the design on the top.
With the French theme of my duvet, shams, curtains and shutters,
I figured I may as well continue the theme for my bedside table.
I decided to draw a map of France as you can see.
A closer view
Then, I wanted to mimic the stripes on my curtains and duvet,
so I drew in some stripes.
I am only applying 1 coat of Colonial Blue crafter's acrylic paint.
I want it to look old and faded...
Now, I use Sky Blue crafter's acrylic.
To create the faded map effect, make sure your paint is really
diluted with water...when it starts to dry, you can pat some of the excess
with a dry paper towel.
I suggest you try on a scrap piece of wood first to perfect your technique.
A closer look
To paint in the map locations, use the Colonial Blue, just
make sure it has the consistency of ink, dilute with water so that it flows easily.
Now I embellish the front with stripes.
Now, as you can see I have added the faded blue technique to the shelf tops.
Closer look
I have sanded all of the striped areas on the cabinet.
I did NOT sand the map.
Now I draw in all the other elements I have chosen onto
the table top.
Here they are in pencil
Here they are outlined in Colonial Blue paint...again, diluted to an ink like consistency.
You are able to see some of the pencil lines through
but I think it adds to the look.
Keep in mind that I will clean most of that off with an eraser as soon as it's dry.
Here, I decide to add common phrases and famous tourist destinations
to the shelves.
After all the paint was dry, I applied a couple coats of acrylic varathane
to the top and sides.
I also used the brass fittings that were on the old headboard...
as drawer pulls.
The are really cute, they look like chess pawns.
Take a look.
Here it is complete and installed as my bedside table.
I bet you never would have guessed that something so ugly
could end up being so cute!
I really enjoyed creating this piece...
I had actually planned to go in a completely different direction.
I had a really good start on it too, but ended up not liking it at all.
Here are the preliminary drawings
As you can see from the preliminary drawing above,
*I had planned to paint a vintage ad on the top
*large pear designs on either end
*pear cut outs to decorate the shelf back
*small bent spoons for drawer pulls
*incorporate fancy iron shelf brackets to the base to create
a more elegant look
The image below was the inspiration.
Here is the vintage ad I had planned to paint on the top.
It's quite beautiful.
I have a large book of coordinating, decorative scrapbook paper that
I used for my cut out pieces.
Here you can see that I traced all my shapes to the backs of the paper.
Here are the stems
Here are the seeds
Here are the leaves
Here are the half pear shapes
Full small pear cores
Half small pear cores
Full large pear cores
Half large pear cores
Full large pear shape
Full smaller pear shape
Here are all the pieces I cut out...it took six hours
Here I have them organized the way I like.
Here is the transformation
From Pink...
to lime...
with pears...
This is the point where I stopped.
It's kind of cute, just not right as a bedside table in a room
with a blue palette.
I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.
I hope you get some great ideas from either design.
Until next time,
Be Creative :)
