How to Make Your Own French Country Nightstands

Remove drawers from the nightstand. Take off the drawer pulls or other hardware. If your nightstand has doors instead of drawers, leave the doors attached. Open them and remove the hardware. Leave them open while completing the project.

Sand the outside of the piece. Unless you are also refinishing the interior of the cabinet, you do not need to sand there. Get into all the nooks and crannies. This sanding helps the paint to stick.

Pain the entire piece with the base coat. This color is darker than the top coat and will be visible after the piece has been distressed. Use a color that is complementary to your top color. For instance, use a warm chocolate brown for a base color and an antique white or light beige for a top color. Let the base color dry completely.

Paint the top color over the base color. Let this coat dry.

Sand the edges of the nightstand with the sandpaper, removing parts of the top coat. Try not to reveal too much of the wood underneath the base coat, although it may happen. Lightly sand across the top of the nightstand and across the drawer fronts and edges, places that normally get heavier use. Here, you only want a hint of the base color to come through, or the piece may end up looking too dark.

Reattach the old hardware if you are reusing it or install new hardware that complements your newly fashion nightstand. Replace drawers or close doors.