First, some background... Three years ago, when moving into my first unfurnished apartment, I purchased a little table from Target for around $15 as a temporary nightstand. Buying the necessities, such as a bed and a desk, drained my wallet and I figured I would upgrade down the road. I didn't think I'd take three years, but I'm picky and cheap - not a good combo!
A few months ago I had the week off and took the opportunity to go shopping. I passed by an unfinished wood furniture store as I was driving around. I could hear it calling my name so I decided to pop in and see what they had to offer. It just so happened they were going out of business and everything was 60% off! Who can resist a deal like that? I picked up two new nightstands for $18 each, which were unfinished but already assembled.
This time I decided to do plenty of research ahead of time, not be so stubborn, and get the job done right! The first thing I did was go out and buy wood conditioner and more of those cheap foam brushes.
Since the wood was unfinished I only needed to do a light sanding to prep the tables. I applied the conditioner just like the directions specified and was able to stain one of the tables before I got too sore from all the bending over to get to the second table. Since I conditioned both tables the first day, but didn't stain the second one, I had to re-sand it to "open up the pores" and then apply conditioner again when I came back to work on it. Both tables came out fine, but I think it was this step that caused the two tables to be slightly different in color. One table has more of a reddish tint than the other.
I had a lamp on when I took the right photo so the color is slightly off, but still pretty accurate. I used the leftover red mahogany stain and semi-gloss polyurethane from my coffee table project on the nightstands.
The finished nightstands side by side.
I can't wait for the day when we have a garage or better yet a workshop where I can do these kinds of projects!
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