French Linen Nightstand Makeover

Today, I’m sharing the French Linen Nightstand Makeover we gave to one of the guestrooms at Loblolly Manor.

As some of you know finishing my childhood home, Loblolly Manor, was a huge goal for us last year. We started in January and little by little we worked on each room until we got everything finished from the major makeover in the laundry room to updating the master bedroom to making subtle changes to the dining room, updating the guest rooms and the tiniest bathroom you’ve ever seen – we literally worked for months trying to bring my Mom’s vision for my parents retreat space home to life.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a lot of work but gosh, it was so. much. fun.

As with a lot of the home makeovers we complete, we try to use as much of the client’s existing furniture as we can and then give those pieces a refresh.  This not only helps with our budget, it also helps to layer in all those elements that makes a house feel like home.

Most of the time we were able to move certain pieces of furniture from one room to the next to achieve this goal.  But there were times the backs of our cars would be full of goodies which is the case with this nightstand.  We searched every antique mall, estate sale, charity shop and thrift store within a three-county radius to find a nightstand that ticked off all the boxes.

We finally found this one, but the orange stain totally threw my Mom off.  I mean, she was not convinced at all. “This looks like it should be at someone’s ranch house,” she said.

“I totally get how you could feel that way – it’s orange, it’s bulky, the top is planked – but I know we can make it work,” I replied. So, we loaded it up and I hauled it home to give it a quick French Linen makeover.

I started by sanding down the top with 80-grit sandpaper in an attempt to get rid of the orange stain, but it just brought out all kinds of ripples that weren’t visible before – yikes.

Needless to say, after that, I put away my orbital sander and got to painting.

It took 2 and a half coats of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to give this nightstand a French Linen makeover. I prefer to use multiple thin coats to multiple thick coats because I personally think the finish is better.  This technique does take a little bit longer to complete but the end result is worth it.

To keep the top of the nightstand guest friendly we added a white burlap lined tray, a few books, and a small ironstone tureen to house jewelry or loose coins.  My Mom created this flower arrangement from a large champagne bucket we found while out shopping one day.

The personalized Loblolly Manor plate could not have been easier to make.  You can find all the step-by-step instructions here. It’s honestly one of those craft projects that can be gifted for multiple occasions from Valentine’s Day to birthdays to housewarmings.

I haven’t had a chance to go back to Loblolly since S’s accident but I’m hoping to go sometime soon to do a full house tour update post.  There is still so much to share!

Speaking of which, I’ll see you guys back here tomorrow.  We gave one of the existing dressers a bit of a makeover too before moving it into this guestroom, so I’ll share it with you then.  Until next time, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo