Painted French Nightstands – Reader Tutorial

Painted French Nightstands

Today I’m sharing another fabulous DIY project! This one was submitted by reader Jan Cooper-Moren! Jan took two sad Craig’s List find tables and turned them into these beautiful painted night stand tables that would look great in a bedroom!

Here’s what Jan had to say about this project: “When I first saw these lyre tables for sale on Craigslist, I was concerned they were beyond repair. The seller stated they were in pretty sad shape but for $30 for the pair, I took a chance. Turns out, they weren’t that bad! The finish on the table surfaces was pretty far gone and there was a chip in one of the rims but the rest of the tables were in fine condition, both structurally and finish-wise.

I was dying to try transferring… and selected the ‘Bonne’ and ‘Nuit’ Printables. They were the perfect shape for these tables AND I thought they would make lovely night stands.!!.”

Supplies:

1) Two matching End Tables

2) Dutch Boy’s Chanson Bleu Paint (matte)

3) Chalky Style Paint Additive (Amazon)

3) Bonne Nuit Printables

4) Artist’s Graphite Paper

5) White Acrylic Paint

Steps:

Step 1) I mixed my own furniture paint with Dutch Boy’s Chanson Bleu (matte) and chalky style paint additive that I bought on Amazon. I was very pleased with the results of my mix. To avoid any gritty texture, I mixed the additive with a little water until I could achieve a smooth paste, then gradually added that into my paint. I kept the paint stored in a take-out 1 quart soup container between coats.

Step 2) To size the transfers, I drew a line in AutoCAD to the width of the table (about 23 inches) then inserted the graphic and snap stretched it to the length of the line. I drew fine lines in quadrants to make match lines, then printed onto several sheets of 11×17 paper, cut and taped together.
Step 3) To transfer the graphics, I used Artist’s Graphite Paper which I found at the local art supply store. It can get kind of messy but cleans right up with wax (after you’ve painted your stencil, of course!)

Step 4) After tracing the graphic onto each table, I used acrylic paint to hand paint the images. Because many of the lines were very fine, most of the painting had to be done in a super fine paint brush but once I got going, it all went fairly quickly and my brush strokes started to look more confident.

Within seconds of posting photos of these tables on my fb page, one of my friends in So. Cal. offered to buy them. We’re now working on figuring out how/when he’ll pick them up or have them shipped.

Thanks for letting me share. I’m really pleased with how these turned out.

Thanks so much for submitting this lovely project Jan! I hope you guys enjoyed it! Be sure and visit Jan over at her Etsy Shop Chairished Furnishings to see more of her wonderful wares!

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