We have realized after spending a year in our little cottage that today’s style of over-sized over-stuffed furniture absolutely does not fit in our small rooms. Since we have gotten rid of quite a bit of our bigger pieces we’ve needed to replace them with smaller functional pieces. Our bedroom is a prime example. Our room basically fits our king bed and my dresser with some room to inch around the bed. Here’s a picture right before we moved in.
Pretty small huh? We’ve never had to invest in furniture for our bedroom (except for mattresses) because when we got married we were given some very nice hand-me-down dressers that have worked just fine and we’ve been very appreciative. I’m really excited actually of redoing my dresser very soon. But back to the point…we have NO room for bedside tables. Danny would really like a place for his cell phone/alarm clock to stay at night, so we’ve been on the hunt for some slim narrow tables that will fit.
One day we were visiting with our friend Lizzy (I’ve mentioned her here before) who has very cool taste in antiques, Danny noticed our neighbor across the street had thrown out a very old little cabinet that he thought would be the perfect fit for a bedside table. While I was a little hesitant (per my usual first instinct…gotta learn to ignore this) Lizzy ran out the front door and scooped it up.
It was tall and narrow and the bonus was it had two drawers. Yay storage! Here’s what it looked like.
It was really pretty with original hardware and cool wooden casters. But it was in pretty bad shape.
We decided to refinish the top and paint the bottom. The hardware had to be carefully removed and then good ol’ soap and water to clean it inside and out. Next up was the stripper (not as fun as it sounds). Its pretty toxic stuff and since this was the first time I’ve used it, I wasn’t properly prepared with the right tools. So unfortunately, a spatula and cookie sheet were sacrificed in the remaking of this piece.
The plan was to stain the top a warm walnut but after removing all of the gunk, its natural color was very pretty so it only needed an antique matte poly in a couple of coats.
For the body I used some left over ASCP in Old White. Since its pretty small two coats went on fast. Distressing it to bring out the pretty details is the funnest part but it didn’t need too much. It still needs some wax to seal it, but we can’t be happier with how it turned out!
You probably wanna see it in its new home right? Well, we are still looking for a nice lamp and some more manly accessories because while these make me very happy, Danny is only tolerating them for this picture.
So what do you think?? Its perfect right?! Well, there is room on my side for something similar and we need ones in our living room too. For me the BEST part of this whole story is I got it for free. I have to thank Danny for his keen curbside awareness and Lizzy for her quick-go-getter-ness!!
Have you found any great free pieces that seem to be made for a spot in your home? Let’s see it!
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Little Cottage of Mine 