Vintage Waterfall Dressing Table, Nightstands

Vintage Waterfall Dressing Table Nightstands

Before my sister and I head out to a flea market often times we will discuss what we may be in the market for.  For me, it’s something unique, something I haven’t transformed before, something fun…  On this day my sister was looking for a pair of nightstands that would fit in a fairly narrow space next to her guest bedroom bed.  We have found that sometimes if you put your wish list out into the universe you just might find what you’re looking for.

We were only halfway thru our day when we spy this set of very blue, gold trimmed side tables.  They weren’t in the best of condition and the seller was asking $20.  Looked like work, not really that interested.  We were ready to walk away….How about $10?

Once again we said nah and walked away.  What were we thinking?  Five dollars a table is a good deal no matter the condition.   These matching side tables were probably created from an old dressing table from the 30’s.  They’re narrow, made of wood, dovetailed drawers, they have potential and we hadn’t found any other matching side tables all day.

We obviously circled back, because here they are, and closed the deal.  I offered to rehab them for my sis because it looked like a fun project. And they would make for a great before and after picture. 😆 

The current dresser and bureau in my sister’s guest bedroom are black with silver drawer pulls, so my assignment is that the tables didn’t have to be matchy matchy but they did need to coordinate with the black furniture. Challenge accepted.

I couldn’t find my exact dressing table, but this one from the 30’s, with it’s waterfall edged top is probably quite similar.  You would just need to cut out the center portion and remove the mirror and stand.

This dressing table, also called a vanity dresser,  is also close but not an exact match.  

Now you know how my nightstands probably started out.  Someone else did all the work of separating the tables and now I have the task of giving them a 3rd life.  Maybe even a  4th life.

OK, back to  my set of nightstands.  I’ll show you his issues and how I resolved them.

This is a close up of the top of one of the nightstands, both were similar.  My first thought was that the  veneer must have severely  started peeling.  Surely no one would paint over a layer of paint that was peeling that badly.  

If the veneer was peeling I would take my  wood filler and fill in all those crevices then sand.

A quick sand and I realized somebody really had just painted over the peeling paint.  There was nothing wrong with the veneer on top.

On one side of each of the nightstands there were these odd pieces of wood.  What were they hiding?

Both pieces were probably leftover from the original dressing table makeover.   The one on the right was hiding a nice sized hole.

Where there was a hole, I glued on a piece of wood equal to the depth of the current side piece then filled in any holes and gaps with more wood filler.  Sand.  

The piece that was on the left above is now on top here (think mirror image, I’m now on the other nightstand), the paint was sanded down to be even with the rest of the side.

At the bottom of the side pieces there was some peeling veneer.  Since the sides are going to be painted, I do not have to replace or match the existing veneer.  More wood putty fills in the unevenness of the layers.  Sand that as well.

Paint hides everything.

I’m back to the waterfall top and drawers.  Sanding was slow and laborious so I switched over to a heat gun.

The blue paint being newer, did not bubble well with the heat gun.  Where the blue was covering the old white paint, it bubbled and peeled right off.

A final sanding of the tops and drawers,  and besides a few mars and imperfections, they are as good as new.

For the sides and edges I’m using Rustoleum semi gloss black paint.  The stain on the drawers and tops is General Finishes Provincial Wood Stain.

The original handles would have had 2 holes.  The replacement drawer knobs that the tables came with only had one hole.  I filled the extra holes with more wood putty.

Wood putty is notorious for not taking stain well.  A few dabs of dark brown paint mixed with the smallest amount of black hides the original holes  fairly well.

I had one more request from my sister and that was to make the height of the tables slightly higher than they currently were.  I achieved this by adding a box of reclaimed wood to the base and painting it black to match the sides.

If you need your tables even higher, consider filling in the newly added box with plywood then screwing on legs of your choice.

Finish the stained areas with a couple coats of polyurethane or your favorite tung oil.

Buff with fine steel wool if needed.

Just for pictures, I placed these 2 nightstands in my own bedroom.  My bedroom can handle a larger nightstand and I currently use these 2 tables from 2020.

The headboard is made from an old door.  You can find the window cornices here and boxwood wreath on scrap wood here.

As always, until next time,  stay inspired.

This is not the first time I’ve needed narrow side tables, in March of 2023 I cut an old desk apart to make similar tables.  You can find that tutorial here.