{nightstand makeover with ikea overlays}

This project has been on my to do list since before we even moved to Chicago and we finally completed it this weekend!! Our nightstands back in LA were far too small.  The place we lived in before our loft barely even had space for nightstands so we didn't realize how nice it would be to have large nightstands since we were just happy to have them at all when we moved to the loft.  You can see the painting makeover we did on those in one of the first posts on this blog right here.

Although I loved those blue nightstands, they were far too small and could barely fit a lamp and a glass of water at the same time.  In our Chicago place, we went in the opposite direction and purchased these Ikea dressers to be used as nightstands.  They are massive as far as nightstand sizing is concerned and I love it!  You can't beat the price of the pieces in Ikea's Malm series and the clean lines lend themselves to many different types of decor.  While I like the simplicity of these, I did want to put my own stamp on them which is where My Overlays comes in.  There are a handful of sites out there that make overlays specifically sized for Ikea furniture, but I think the ones on My Overlays have the best range of shapes.

The reason this project took us so long to finally complete was not based on the difficulty of assembling them, it was simply because for a while I couldn't pull the trigger on exactly which overlay I wanted to buy.  Then once I made that choice and received the overlays in the mail, they sat in our bedroom forever while I debated which color I wanted to go with.  The overlays arrive in a white color which you can leave as such if that works for you.  I debated between matte black or metallic gold, finally deciding that the black would prove to be a better choice in the long run.

I absolutely love the simple transformation these overlays give to the nightstands, plus the entire process of spray painting them and adhering them to the furniture took a total of an hour and a half (including dry time!)

{lamps from right here}