Master Bedroom Progress: One Room Challenge – Week 3

Things have been moving a little more slowly this week. We had one very warm day and I got a good amount done while the weather was nice. But then it decided to snow some more and that’s put a damper on my plans.

I’m actually watching snow fall out the window right now as I’m typing this post. It’s been going all afternoon long and I think we have at least four inches on the ground right now. We’ll have to go out and shovel in a bit.

So, sorry to say, I haven’t been able to refinish the nightstands like I had planned. But let me show you what I have so far. And now that I’ve had more time to think about it there might even be a change of plans!

Here’s what the nightstands looked like when I first got them from someone off of Craigslist.

A few weeks ago I started the process of refinishing them and decided to start with the hardware first. These nightstands were made in the 1980’s and most brass from that time period was lacquered.

So to revive the pulls like I wanted I first had to get the lacquer off.  I soaked the hardware in acetone for about 15 minutes. Then I rinsed them off with water and scrubbed with Bar Keepers Friend and an old toothbrush to polish the brass and remove any dirt that was in the cracks. And then I followed it up with some very fine steel wool.

The brass pulls look amazing now! They’re very nice and bright. And now that they’re unlacquered they’ll be able to tarnish naturally and will get a nice patina over time.

So now I’m left with the more challenging part: the wood. The nightstands originally had a wood stain with a red undertone. And it looks like there was some kind of black splatter paint added to the finish. Not sure what’s up with that.

My plan all along had been to try to sand the nightstands down and leave the wood (er… veneer) natural. So I started with the drawers.

I got down to the bare wood (sanding through all the grits to make it super smooth). And then topped the drawers with 3 coats of polycrylic to protect the wood. I didn’t use any stain.

But now that I did these two drawers and put them next to the bed I’m a little worried that there’s too much wood going on in the room.

Sanding them down is actually a ton of work. So now I’m thinking that because of all the wood going on in the room plus the time constraints with the One Room Challenge I may just paint them instead. It would actually be a lot faster (as long as the weather cooperates for a few days). So I’m strongly leaning toward this option instead.

I’m thinking black! 

But not a glossy, modern black. More of a matte, distressed, casual black. I don’t normally paint furniture this way. So this will be a new challenge for me. I’m hoping it will look something like this…

Other than the nightstands I’ve also been on the hunt for art and vintage frames. I’m planning to make a gallery wall on the opposite side of the bedroom and I want to make sure I have enough pieces for the space. It’s been pretty difficult finding art I love that’s within my budget and within these time constraints.

But I guess that’s why this is a challenge!

Hopefully next week I’ll have an update for you on the artwork front.

Thanks for following along on my first One Room Challenge journey. If you want to see all my One Room Challenge posts for this room click here! And please make sure to check out all of the featured designers as well as the guest participants of the One Room Challenge!

Bedroom, Home, ORC Spring 2018