Upcycled bedside drawers

[AthenaGeorgia]

Bedside drawers upcycled with fresh paint, rattan, and new legs and knobs.

• The project
• Before and after
• How to upcycle furniture
• More inspiration for your upcycling project

The project

After buying these bedside drawers from Marketplace on Facebook, I gave them a thorough clean and removed the existing hardware. I then scuff sanded all surfaces and filled any scratches and dents with Timbermate wood filler. I wanted to give the bedsides a more modern look, so I decided to remove the original legs and replace them with adoored Pine tapered furniture legs.

I also added rattan to the drawer fronts, which I cut to size, and then soaked in warm water for 30 minutes before fixing it onto the drawer fronts with Gorilla clear grip glue. After doing this, I primed the bedside drawers with B-I-N shellac primer and once dry, I painted them with Dulux Aquanamel in Hog Bristle Half. Lastly, I added lane matte brass finger post knobs to the drawer fronts. I was happy to give this tired pair of bedside drawers a new lease on life. 

I’m happy with how they turned out and it was great to save them from going to landfill. 

Before and after

Before 

Before

How to upcycle furniture

How to upcycle a bedside cabinet by Bunnings D.I.Y. expert Mitchell has a step-by-step guide to revamping bedside cabinets with paint and varnish, with a complete list of the tools and materials you'll need.

More inspiration for your upcycling project

Workshop member houseonhockhill bought a basic furniture unit and created an upcycled chest of drawers with rattan.

Community member Oddchair22 turned an old and worn unit into an upcycled chest of drawers with stencilled paintwork. 

For more ideas, check out our collection of upcycled bedside drawers and tables and the Top 10 most popular indoor furniture projects.

[JoeAzza]

@AthenaGeorgia , These look fantastic, what a transformation, well done. you have just given me some idea on modifying a couple of bedside drawers I just bought recently from Op shop, also great styling. Thank you.

[Kapers]

@AthenaGeorgia these are gorgeous! Well done and thank you for sharing.  

 I have two high quality (dovetail joins etc) bedsides and a chest of drawers I want to upcycle but they are French polished and the French polish which is like a veneer (?) and it’s slightly damaged in places (mainly on the top due to condensation from glasses of water).  I’m just not sure what to do with this because I can’t just paint over.  Any thoughts or  ideas?  
Thank you. 

[AthenaGeorgia]

JoeAzza, thank you so much for your kind words. I’m glad they’ve given you an idea for your bedsides. Good luck with your project. ☺️

[AthenaGeorgia]

Thank you so much , @Kapers! Your pieces sound lovely. I haven’t restored French polished pieces myself, but I believe you can use methylated spirits to remove the coating and then sand back to raw wood. After that, you are able to stain or paint. YouTube and Pinterest are great for information and inspiration. I lose many hours on these sites!!! 🤣 All tbe best with your project! ☺️

[LynneD]

@AthenaGeorgia 

Athena, these look fabulous!  Can you please let me know where your sourced your rattan?  Thank you

[AthenaGeorgia]

Hi @LynneD thank you so much. I sourced the rattan online from willowandweave.com.au

Good luck with your project. 😊