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HDBlogSquad // DIY Nightstands & Headboard

Confession: I am obsessed with my new guest bedroom. Truly obsessed. I still catch myself walking by, peeking in, and giggling like an excited little school girl. Like, pinch me, this room is in my house!

DIY-Guest-Room-Makeover-Reveal

The planning process for this room was a long time coming. I have lusted over white rooms forever, but never considered myself “bold” enough to pull it off in my own home. Once I came to the conclusion that this room had to be white, everything else sort of fell into place. Warm, rustic woods, dark browns & blacks, and gold accents would help create a warmth in a room that could easily feel cold if left all white.

I am also the type that envisions something and tries to stick true to that vision as much as possible. Because of this, my search for nightstands and a headboard was long and hard. I had considered another Rast hack, but since this was a guest bedroom that was going to be used a few times a year, a storage piece was not necessary. And then I came across a beautiful nightstand at Target. It was exactly what I needed… expect it was the wrong colour. I was not going to sacrifice everything that I had envisioned for a yellow nightstand.

DIY-X-Stand-Nightstand

But I still couldn’t get the nightstand off my mind. And then it dawned on me, just build one! The x-shaped legs would be easy enough to replicate, and since a drawer was not needed, an open concept box would look just as good! A simple wood plank headboard (stained in the same dark walnut) would complement the nightstands perfectly. Finally it was all coming together

“J” and I sketched out our idea, made the necessary measurements, and were on our way to The Home Depot. They had everything we needed for both the nightstand project and the headboard.

DIY-Headboard-Nightstand-Reveal

“J” and I spent 3 weeks working on these projects. Not because they were overly complicated, we just needed to fit them into our busy schedule. I spent a good 4 hours out in my freeeezing garage staining the wood for the nightstands and headboard (and I swear I will never do that again!). Lighting was installed one evening after work. The room was painting on a lazy Saturday afternoon. The nightstand were assembled after a busy day of running errands. And to be 100% honest, the headboard was installed only 1 day before my reveal post went live. But this is the reality of a DIY project; it may be simple, but it does take time to do it right.

// The Build: Nightstands \\

Designing and building things has always been something I have enjoyed. Whether it’s something large like a cedar bench or raised garden bed, or something small and simple, I find the process quite exhilarating. I mean, to see a sketch brought to life using your two hands (plus the two hands of your spouse!) is something to be very proud of.

When broken down into steps, the nightstands are actually quite simple to make.

Step 1 // Cut & Prep the Wood
Cutting ALL the wood for your projects is absolutely the right place to start. That way you are only hauling out your heavy tools and making a mess once. Once everything is cut, sanding the wood ensures you are ready to work quickly with the stain and paint.

Step-Two-DIY-Sand-Wood

Step 2 // Stain & Paint
Make sure you keep all the pieces of wood that need to be stained and painted separate. Depending on the colour of your stain, you may need (or want) to do two coats. Leave plenty of time in between staining/painting for your pieces to dry before assembling. I also used this time to spray paint the L-shaped brackets using Rustoleum’s hammered finish spray paint.

Step-Three-DIY-Stain-Wood2Step-Eight-Prep-Paint-Legs

Step 3 // Assemble
When working with wood I like to make sure everything is nice and secure when it’s put together. I often use a wood glue (like Gorilla glue) AND wood screws. It’s important to note that I screwed the nightstand boxes together using 1 1/2 inch wood screws before installing the “rustic” hammered L-shaped brackets. The x-shaped legs were assembled before I attached them to the box. Braces, which go between the front set of X’s and the back set of X’s, add stability to the whole piece. To complete the look, additional trim was added to the bottom of the box, and secured with wood glue and nails.

Step-Five-Secure-Box-ClampsStep-Ten-Secure-Legs-To-Box

DIY-Nighstand-Rustic-Details

Step 4 // Install
When we set up the nightstands in the guest bedroom we quickly realized how top-heavy they were once the large accents lights and accessories were in place. To prevent the nightstands from tipping over we used 2 L-shaped brackets to secure the nightstands to the wall. Worked like a charm!

// The Build: Headboard \\

The headboard was the easier project of this guest bedroom makeover. It may be simple, but it sure packs a visual punch. Similar to the nightstand process it’s important to do all the wood prep first. Depending on the width of your bed you may need to cut the boards down from 6ft to 5ft (as I did). Sanding everything ensures the wood will take the stain evenly, and removes any sharp corners. Three spacers per board were attached to the back of each board using wood glue and nails. Eight holes were drilled in each board in order to attached them to the wall. If you cannot hit a stud, it’s best to make use of wall anchors to ensure it stays secured. Wood plugs fill the screw holes, and give the boards a clean, finished look.

DIY-Pine-Board-Headboard

// Project Breakdown \
For those of you who are interested in the materials breakdown of this project, you can find everything listed below. I choose to buy every thing new, so your total costs may vary based on what you already have on hand. Going with pine boards vs. cedar was a smart choice, as it considerably lowered our costs.

General Supplies

Nightstands

Headboard

Lighting

HDBlogSquad2015

Looking for more #HDBlogSquad project inspiration? Check out the other talented bloggers that are a part of the squad:

Looking for more beautiful pictures of this room? Check out my Guest Bedroom Reveal Post!




Disclosure: I was provided with a gift card from The Home Depot in order purchase supplies to complete the this HDBlogSquad project.

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31 Comments

  1. oh so the headboard is screwed to the wall! I so thought there are vertical boards behind the horizontal ones but painted white so they "disappeared" into the wall!

    Amazing job on the night stands! They look much better than some options in the market and they were made with LOVE!

    If I were you, I wouldn't be just peaking into the room in the morning, I would be sleeping in it! Wait a second, maybe I need to be your guest!!

    xx

  2. IMPRESSIVE!!!! Those night stands look amazing. So darn professional. The whole room has such a warm feel…and I'm obviously happy you opted to try the white route. Honestly, Brittany, this room looks fab! Why don't you make it the master and move right on in…

  3. Your guest bedroom looks amazing!!! Those side tables you created are to die for! I super impressed and love absolutely everything you did to create this inviting atmosphere!!

  4. Love it! The headboard looks very much like our master bedroom headboards (at our last and current houses)!!! Great Nightstands!!! xo

  5. I love this room!! Love, love, love it!! The fact that you were able to DIY the key furniture pieces is a huge bonus. Well done, Britt, as always!!

  6. Thanks so much Tim! Yes, the boards are all individually screwed directly to the wall. Hopefully we won't be needing to change this room any time soon, or else we will have quite the patching job on our hands!

  7. I'm not going to lie I had on 2 or 3 layers, plus gloves under my rubber gloves… and it was still too darn cold! Yes, Amy's pillow made the perfect accent, as did the covered jar!

  8. Thank you Shannon! I'll have to check out your master bedroom headboard! I'm pretty excited about the nightstands too! They turned out just as I envisioned them!

    1. Hi Colleen, the walls were painted using “Jo Jo Whitewash” by Para Paint. If you don’t have a Para dealer close to you “Antique White” by Behr is another very similar option. You can get that at any Home Depot location!

    1. Hi Kiana, the legs were cut at 132.66°. Just know the angle might be different depending on how wide you built your box. This one was 20 inches wide.

  9. Hi Britt..I plan on doing this kind of headboard for my daughter’s room while she’s away on a school trip next week. You mention using 3 spacers on the back of the boards. Is that simply to make the boards stick out a little further from the wall? Is that the what the framing lumber you have listed in the materials is used for? Thank you so much! Love this room so, so, so much!!

    1. Hi Karen! How very exciting for your daughter! She’ll love to come home to a new headboard! Yes the framing lumber was used as spacers between the wall and the boards. The point was to make it stand off the wall by 1 inch. You can very well screw the boards directly to the wall if you wish! Best of luck!

  10. Hi Britt,
    I Am ABSOLUTELY LOVE & Am In Awe Of The Nightstand That You Both Designed & Built. I See You Listed A Breakdown Of The Materials That One Will Need In Order To Build It. However, I Didn’t See Any [Step By Step] Directions &/or Instructions For How To ACTUALLY Build It.
    PLEASE HELP & Respond ASAP!!!
    Thanks A Bunch;)))

  11. Hello, I love the night stand! I was wondering if you could share the dimensions of everything. I would like to do this project, but I am sort of a beginner.

  12. Love the nightstands! I would love to try to make something like them for my room. Did you assemble the top box with pocket screws? (Sorry if I missed it in your description of the assembly)

    1. Hi Wendy, we used regular ol’ 1 1/2 inch wood screws to assemble the box. On the top, the screw heads are covered by the decorative bracket and on the bottom, they are covered by the legs and trim. Hope this helps! 🙂

  13. These look awesome and are exactly what I’d like to build for my master BR! Do you happen to have the dimensions of each piece of wood you cut for the box, trim and legs?

  14. Hello we love the side tables. Any chance you still have the individual dimensions for the wood cuts. Like the box and legs?
    Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!

    1. Hi Tim, unfortunately, I don’t have the tech drawing anymore, my husband deleted our shared DropBox folder (without warning me) and now it’s gone forever! I can tell you though, that the dimensions of the box are 16 inches deep, 20 inches wide, and 7 inches tall. The legs are 18.75 inches tall (from the bottom of the box to floor, this is not the length of each leg). I hope that gives you some guidance!