Our guest room is always changing in some way, shape or form and recently we added a cute little cabinet which has been in the family for years. It has been used as a buffet/server in our grandparents dining room, a cabinet in our parents family room/office and now I have repurposed it to use as a nightstand in our guest room.
The first thing we did was tighten up and glue some loose parts.
The drawers were lined with beautiful paper which I decided to switch out for this project, although, I did save it in case I ever want to change it back. Instead, I used drawer liner that would hold things neatly in place. It is not nearly as pretty but will keep everything organized.
Next, I wanted to bring it up to date by making it electronic device friendly, or in other words, create a charging station. Our outlet is located directly behind the cabinet so to do that I needed to figure out how to make our outlet more convenient without having a bunch of visible cords. My first thought was to drill a hole in the back so that I could run the cord inside the cabinet from behind and into the top drawer which just happened to have enough clearance.
When I turned the cabinet around I discovered two small pieces of paper glued to the back and could see that they were somewhat covering knot holes and then painted or stained to match the boards.
The top patch was right where I wanted to drill the hole and I could see the paper was not attached along the side so I gently pulled on a loose corner and it came right off along with the knot which fell out on its own in two pieces.
The paper patch was interesting as it looked as if it was part of an old advertisement from a newspaper or maybe a magazine. It would sure be fun to know the history. Oh, if only cabinets could talk.
As far as the knot hole, it turned out to be just big enough to get the plug through so I decided not to drill a hole after all which was somewhat of a relief. That way I could replace that knot and glue the paper back over it if we decided to do something else with it.
Next, I put a Velcro Command Strip on the back side of the front of the drawer to hold the electrical outlet strip firmly in place. That way it will not move when unplugging devices.
Last but not least I lined the drawer with some liner I had on hand and then added some small removable lined trays to organize devices and other items.
The Nightstand Charging Station is ready to go and I am anxious to have overnight guests so they can try it out. Hopefully the update will prove to be much more convenient.
Happy Monday!
