If you paint the nightstand, you'll want to redo the entire room.

After seeing Cassie's nightstand transformation, I was inspired to do my own. Our guest nightstand and dresser are blonde or honey wood from my husband's childhood bedroom. I like the simple lines but hate hate hate the color.

(The glare on the top of the nightstand is from a piece of plexiglass covering a collage of sorts that I change as I feel like it. Probably will leave the top of the nightstand collage-free, at least for now.)

I found the Americana Decor Chalky Finish Paint in Everlasting (white) at Michael's. They also have it at Home Depot (where I ordered some in other colors for other projects in the house). I also picked up the Soft-Touch Varnish for durability and finish.

The paint went on smoothly with a brush, and after a bazillion three coats, there was enough white coverage for my liking. I think if I was going to a color instead of to white, it would take fewer coats to get satisfactory coverage. The paint dries very quickly and I was able to do all three coats in a few hours last night.

Ta-to-the-da!

I might do different knobs, but for now these will do. I fancied up the existing wood knobs with a little Grecian Gold Rub 'n Buff. That stuff is magical!

Tonight after dinner, I applied one coat of the varnish. If the nightstand were in a high-traffic area, I would probably do another coat of varnish for added durability.

Of course, I can't change one thing without changing another. Or all of the things. We redid our entire dining room once because of a clearance set of 4 plates I bought to hang on the wall. (Think "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake..." Seriously, Mr. Making It Bright could have killed me. Good thing he supports my "make it pretty" endeavors.)

My goal is to makeover the guest room/office. Here's the plan.
1) Paint the nightstand (white)
2) Paint the dresser (white)
3) Paint the door leading to garage (navy)
4) New IKEA curtains with navy pompom trim!
5) Paint walls (from their current yucky, institutional yellow/beige to white, making the bed wall an accent wall in a color other than white... Last on the list because one entire wall is our giant shared desk and mounted shelves that need to be decluttered and cleared before we can paint.)

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Where have your DIY projects taken you? Started with a simple change and ended up with a whole makeover? How do you update the furniture in your home?