5 Dollar, 5 Dollar Night Stand

The other day I was putting Jude down for a nap and thinking about a title for this post. The theme song from Subway popped in my head and so you have it, 5 Dollar, 5 Dollar Night Stand “. Can you believe that I bought this night stand for the same price as a five dollar footlong sub sandwich? It’s true!!

My family and I were out driving around and I saw this little antique shop closing down. I ran in looking specifically for a night table for Jude’s room and there it was, priced at a whopping $9, but wait, everything over $5 was 1/2 off.  I was so excited! To get it in our little sedan was another story, but we did!

The night stand was pretty cute the way it was, but there were some issues that had to be resolved before it was safe for a two year old. Unfortunately, the decorative trim had to be removed. It had been nailed on with huge nails that had rusted. After trying to carefully remove the nails, my efforts failed and I had to pry off the pieces and they broke in the process.

I followed the basic steps of refinishing painted furniture. Very similar to the way I painted headboard in the Crib to Upholstered headboard DIY. There are several different ways you can do this. This cabinet was a composite material covered in a vinyl material with several layers of latex paint. Make sure you know what you are dealing with before you paint and find a good tutorial that shows you exactly how to paint that type of furniture.

Steps to Re-Paint Thrifted Furniture

• Wipe and or scrub entire piece of furniture getting rid of any goo or dirt
• Lightly sand entire furniture piece
• Wipe away particles with damp cloth
• Mix some Floetrol with paint in order to obtain a smooth finish
• Seal furniture with a clear sealer if preferred

Have you noticed on our sidebar that we have a cute little widget called “My Dude’s Dig” ? Well, check it out. I have selected some items from Amazon.com that we use daily in Jude’s room. We have in our “night time” basket our Dohm-DS Dual Speed Sound Conditioner by Marpac (formerly known as the Sleepmate/Sound Screen 980A) ,Tickle Monster Laughter Kit and Cloud b Twilight Constellation Night Light, Turtle .
Jude’s two favorite books Tickle Monster Laughter Kit and No, David! are located in the brightly colored book drawer below but as you can see from the picture below this drawer can hold many more books.

The inside of the drawer offers a nice surprise. Even with a little paint it still was not all that attractive. I coated the inside of the drawer with Modge Podge and then used wrapping paper purchased from Target to line the sides and bottom of the drawer.

The large surface of the five dollar night stand gives us space to display some cool items like this fun retro inspired fan, desk lamp and garden gnome which all coordinate well with our customized wall stencil. I love finding a great deal and it’s even better when it functions just right.