Spray Paint Revival: Transforming Roadside Nightstands into Treasured Pieces

How to transform a pair of pale yellow nightstands, discovered on the roadside, into cherished pieces in our home, refinished with stain and spray paint. Join me as I walk you through this DIY adventure, so you’re ready for your next roadside find!

One day in college, I was driving to class in my Bright Mango Jeep Wrangler when I saw two adorable, pale yellow nightstands sitting on the side of the road. For F-R-E-E!!!!!

I knew I had to have them, but unfortunately, I was way too self-conscious to get out of my Jeep and load the two bedside tables into my car. That would have been way too embarrassing!

So, I did what any logical girl would do…I called my boyfriend and begged him to go pick them up for me! (that boyfriend is now my hubby!)

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If I were to give my husband a call today saying there were free nightstands on the side of the road, he would tell me “no way! Not over my dead body is more crappy roadside furniture coming into this house!” hahahaha! … thank goodness I found these when he still was trying to impress me. 😂

These two precious little nightstands have been with me ever since! They were in two different apartments in college, and then movers packed them up to move them to Georgia where they were in a rental house and then moved to the first home we bought. Then they were packed up again and moved to the 2nd home we bought, in South Carolina. Then again to our 3rd home in North Carolina … and then finally to our 4th home in Wisconsin! These little nightstands are literally apart of the family now!

I owned them for at least 10 years before I refinished them. I honestly never really minded the pale yellow color that they were. They actually kind of matched our green Pottery Barn bedding and dark walnut bed, so I never felt the need to change them.

But then one day, I finally decided that they needed a change. I wanted them to be a true cream color and not yellow.

Sanding The Wood Top

The wood top one of the nightstands had a little bit of water damage and the wood veneer top was coming up a little bit. I used Titebond glue to reattach the veneer to the top and let it dry.

Next I filled the crack with wood filler and then used my handheld mouse sander and sanded it smooth using a 220 grit sand paper.

Unfortunately I don’t have photos of the next steps, but once the top was sanded, I used Minwax stain to match our dark walnut bed. Once the stain was dry, I taped off the wood top with painter’s tape and I used Rustoleum spray paint in the color Heirloom White to paint the entire nightstand.

I love the way that they tuned out. The two-toned stained and painted finish fits perfectly in our bedroom!

All of these years later, they have still held up just fine and look amazing! Here is one of the nightstands in our primary bedroom today!

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