DIY Nightstands on a Budget

Well hi there friends! I hope you all are doing fabulous. My two oldest boys started school last week and the youngest starts this week. We are trying hard to settle back in to that rigid school routine, but it’s not easy. This year, I have one in high school, one in middle school and 1 in pre-k. Tear! Send all the prayers my way please. As I mentioned when I revealed my youngest son’s room makeover, we are trying to get him in his own room before school starts. Yep, still “trying!” Well anyway, I promised in that post that I would show you all how we made the DIY nightstands, so I’m here to do that today.

I wanted to stick with the modern vintage vibe that I was going for in his room, but didn’t want to spend a fortune on vintage nightstands. So I started thinking about how I could DIY nightstands that would fit the look of his room. And this is what I came up with…

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DIY Nightstands

Materials

2 – 20″ x 11″ x 1″ boards
4 – 8″ x 10″ brackets
12 – 1 1/2″ Screws
12 – 3/4″ Screws
Drywall anchors
Minwax Special Walnut stain
Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Wax

Tools

Jigsaw
Tape measure
Cordless Drill
Electric palm sander
Level

Steps

I didn’t want to use new wood on this project because I wanted the wood to have some character. You can’t necessarily go to the local hardware and get old wood, so I headed to a local antique shop to see what I could find. I found this little shelf unit for a steal of $18 and knew the size of the wood on each side would be perfect for my project. And I’d even have some left over pieces for another project. Score!

  

The first thing we did was disassemble the shelf unit. It was screwed together so it was very easy to take apart. I wanted rounded edges as a safety factor since it was going on the side of my son’s bed. We measured an inch on each front corner and then used a round object to draw a rounded edge. Then we used a jigsaw to cut the rounded edges and sanded the edges to give them a smooth finish.

 

After the boards were sanded, I stained them with Minwax in Special Walnut. Once the stain was dry, I applied Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Wax to give the wood a protective coat.

Next, I attached the shorter end of the brackets to my boards, about two inches in from the edge on each side. Make sure the back of the bracket butts up to the back of your board. You can use a level to make sure it’s straight so that when you place it against the wall, it will all be flush.

After the brackets were attached to the board, it was time to attach the DIY nightstands to the wall. You will need to measure out where you want to place the DIY nightstands and use a level on top to make sure they are straight. We predrilled sheetrock anchors to make the shelf more secure. Tip: if you place a folded post-it note underneath, it will catch the sheetrock dust so it doesn’t get all over the floor.

Once you have your sheetrock anchors in place, it’s time to attach your DIY nightstands to your wall!

Reveal

We placed the nightstands on each side of his bed and placed a gooseneck light above each. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the way they turned out!

If you missed the full room reveal, you can check it out HERE. And I’ll be back soon to share those DIY crates below the DIY nightstands.

Good luck to all you momma’s sending your kiddos off to school! It’s never easy, no matter how old they get. I can’t even imagine those momma’s sending their babies off to college. I don’t want to even think about those days.

Be blessed friends! xoxo

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