In the past we have added many legs to different pieces of furniture. But it always took hours to get them on. The method just never worked like we thought it should have and we usually had to walk away a few times and regroup before we finished putting the legs on. I loved the look afterwards, but I just couldn't justify the hours we spent on it.
And then we found these lovely Ethan Allen night tables. I just had to get them! They were in such good shape and were quality made with solid wood. The price tag was even just right. I just had to figure out a way to get them home with me. That meant I had to convince my super busy husband that they were worth it. Let's just say it wasn't too hard. I mean, these nightstands are the kind of thing you snatch right up before someone else gets them.
I honestly planned to give them fresh coat of paint and replace the hardware. That was it. But after stalking an amazing blog I realized I needed to give these a bigger makeover. Carrie at
Thirty Eighth Street has an awesome system for adding legs to furniture and I just had to try it. Seriously. Go check out her blog! It is full of all things pretty!
We grabbed some furniture legs that have slowly started accumulating in the garage and some leftover plywood from another project. I am all about getting a good deal all the way around and using what we have on hand. The back legs and leg plates were also leftover from another project.
After helping my husband extra this week it was easy to convince him to help me out with this project. I think he was a bit skeptical when I told him I wanted to put legs on these since we always spend hours doing so on other furniture. Either way he agreed and we got to work. I still can't believe how easy it was. We worked on the first one together and then the next day I was able to complete the second one completely on my own. Ahhh yeah!
To get started we flipped the nightstand upside down so it was sitting on it's top. We measured the length and width of the bottom and took an inch off of each of those measurements. Then using 1" thick plywood we cut out a new base for each night stand. We made sure to sand all of the edges so we wouldn't get any splinters while working with the wood.
Next we measured out where we wanted to put the front and back legs and drilled pilot holes in each of those places. For the back legs we used a 1/16" drill bit and pre-drilled holes into the back legs as well and the plywood. For the front legs we used a 1/4" drill bit that was the same size as the screw on each of the front legs. Then we placed a leg brace over the hole and pre-drilled the four corners where we screwed it onto the new plywood base.
To attach the back legs we flipped the plywood over and screwed a 2 1/2" screw through the plywood and into the leg. We made sure it lined up straight before tightening it completely.
Once all of the legs we attached, we nailed the plywood base to the nightstand with 1 3/4" brad nails and a nail gun.
That's all there is to it! Easy peasy lemon squeezy compared to other methods of adding legs. Now each of the night stands have an updated high end look while getting a few more inches of height.
Both night stands then received their long awaited fresh coat of white paint with light distressing around all of the edges. The old drawer pulls were replaced with updated silver knobs to finish off the transformation.
The best part is that these bedside tables were updated and brought back to life by changing just a few things. And now they will serve well in their new home for many more years to come. You just can't find this high quality solid wood build in stores anymore!
