Before and After: Dumpster Nightstand

So it's probably been over a year since I finished this project and I'm just now sharing it. But, whatever. I haven't been up to much around here decor-wise lately because I'm feeling the Summertime laziness. I'm also feeling some Summer trips coming on and I don't want to splurge on home decor when I could save an splurge in places like the beach... or DC... or Charleston... or Savannah... AND in *gasp* 174 days we have to be up and out of Virginia for good.


I've been up to my neck in apartment searches and... it sucks. It sucks looking at apartments in a place I've never visited (I've done that before). And it seems that apartment reviewers are always so horrible. I'm not even sure what we're going to do and where we're going to live. I know I've got months but we're in the middle of June already and it makes me feel calmer about all the impending things to do if I start early. 


So yeah, the dumpster furniture fairies dumped this drawer-less nightstand.

At first I was hesitant to take it. I mean, it had no drawers so what the hell could I do with this thing? I envisioned maybe taking the middle rung out and hanging a curtain and storing a basket underneath it for something (?). Surely I couldn't find perfect baskets to fit the nightstand like drawers, right? Wrong. 

So I hauled the item upstairs (and really, what happened to the drawers? There weren't even broken drawers lying around either) sanded, and painted it with my leftover paint from my coffee table to make the project even more cheap. 

Upon a trip to Michael's I was astonished when I found and measured shallow baskets (which were 50% off!!) that would fit in the slots. Amazing. Usually my luck isn't that good. 

The baskets fit amazingly well. I mean, there is NO WAY I could have found better-fitting baskets. So far, the total for this piece is now $20 in just the baskets alone.

After living with the piece a few days I decided... something's missing. And since I'd been looking online at all the amazingly painted, intricate furniture I decided that the top was screaming for a cool design. 

I couldn't even instruct anyone how I did the design because it was difficult for my brain to wrap around taping off the figure. I'm pretty sure it involved drawing what I wanted on paper, making a stencil, and taping off the design for at least an hour before painting. 

And it's been living in my dining room ever since. It holds some table linens and candle holders and such (I also used it for a board game or two before we had a larger collection). 

That's the last piece of dumpster furniture I collected... and it's sad to me. The most the dumpsters at this apartment has produced is smoke and flames (and last week an awful, stained, green office chair... no thanks). 

Has anyone else discovered any dumpster treasures??