Home DIY: a stencilled bed side table

Hello hello! I hope you're all enjoying the weekend!

Don't you think there really is something pretty great about being able to spend your time doing exactly what you wish? For me that meant that yesterday I finally visited GOMA (my first visit since arriving back to Australia {eight months ago! aah!}), and so far today I have squandered my time doodling on shoes (follow me on instagram for a few sneak {pun!} peeks - @cjjd). 

But a few months ago, I'd like to think I was a bit more productive than I have been today, as I spent my entire Sunday doing a bit of room related DIY. Inspired by stencilled furniture and my love for geometric shapes (and motivated by the fact that the addition of new floorboards has resulted in an overload of timber in my room), I decided to have a go at updating my bed side table. Thankfully having a Dad with a shed full of supplies meant that I didn't have to go out and buy anything! I tried to take a few photos as I went, but don't consider this a tutorial (although what I did was so simple anyone could have a go!)... it's probably more of a narrative... a story to be told... with a cliffhanger at the end... get comfy now.

So I began with this (yeah, I forgot to take a photo of it all together). I think it was offloaded with its siblings to my Mum decades ago and I had never thought to do anything with it (surprisingly), until now. I thought I would start small, just paint the draws and see how I go, and I haven't actually gone any further, yet...

After a good hour of sanding to try and get the horrible varnish off, I set to making the 'stencil'. I printed it out and cut the shape out of a few pieces of cardboard I found around the house (I learnt later that it probably should have been much thicker) and laid it out to get an idea of what it would look like.

So I initially used a spray can, but it failed miserably and eventually broke, so I managed to scrounge up some other white paint (I think it was wall paint) and set to rolling over each draw face. I didn't bother avoiding the stencil in an attempt to minimise bleeding (probably should have), and after a few coats and a sunset, I was done. In between coats I also had the idea to paint the knobs white. At the time it was merely the budget friendly option (I was looking at buying new ones), however now I think it could be part of the final product!

After the paint had dried, the next (and most painful) stage awaited me - I had to peel off the paint-sodden 'cardboard' to see what was left behind...

Yeah, it didn't look this okay in the beginning. If you look hard enough you'll see traces of the ridicluous bleeding that faced me. That evening I managed to clean up one of the draws before bed (using a kebab stick and some turps), but I had to get me some sleep before returning the following night to do the other two.


I used some varnish I found in the shed to cover up the excess bleed, and then took to putting it all back together again. And the final result it below, you can see the new bed side table in it's natural habitat (including a bit of mess - it's all in the styling, right?).

I genuinely intended to paint the rest of it white, but didn't have the time when I did it. However, everyone I've asked since has said that I should leave it as it is.

Now here's the cliffhanger - I don't know whether or not to paint the rest... I seriously need some advice, because my room still has about as much timber as a log cabin! 

Do you have any thoughts on where this bed side table story should go?