Stools to Nightstands

I found these stools at the dumpster, and knew I could make them beautiful and useful. After much thought, I decided to turn them into nightstands for my bedroom. So here's what I did to turn them into something new and beautiful!

I discovered you can buy these at stores like Walmart and Target so if you don't have a local dumpster you dive into, you can buy these locally instead. However, I just did a quick search on the Walmart site, they're pretty pricey. So it's up to you if you want to spend a lot of money on something you're going to sand down and paint etc.

After rescuing these stools from the dumpster, I sanded them down so I could paint them.

Then I painted the legs a blue-green color from a large gallon of paint I had purchased several months ago. I could have painted the tops the same color but I stained them a darker wood color. I bought the stain at the clearance section in Lowe's. I think it was a $1 for 8 oz. I have used it so many times it's unbelievable!

After the stain dried, I used stencils and white paint to add some detail to the top.

It got smudged in some places but I mostly just left it alone. In the places, it smudged too bad for me, I was able to scrape it off very softy with a screwdriver.

Next I free-handed some fill-in details.

The white ended up being too bright so I got the stain back out and added a few more coats to dull it down a bit.

The next part took me awhile because I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to put something in between the rungs to create shelves so that I could get a little more storage space. I thought about using decorative plates or bowls but there was literally nothing I could find that would fit. I finally decided to just cut some wood, and use that. Easy but simple. I sketched something out so I could show my dad who would help me cut the wood. (Yes, I'm an artist, and yes, I realize the perspective or proportions are a little askew but you get the idea

I had my dad cut the pieces I needed, painted them, and set them on the rungs. I didn't screw them in or anything in case I wanted to change it later, and they didn't really need to be screwed in either

I love them, and I can't wait to dress them up more! Right now I only have one lamp but I'm going to get a matching one so the other side has a lamp. I live alone but for design purposes I wanted to have two nightstands with two lamps.

And like all of my projects, the best part was how cheap it was! I didn't have to pay for the wood, the paint I already had on hand, and the stools were free courtesy of the dumpster! Another successful DIY!