How To Build Your Own Nightstand – We’ve been living without a nightstand for over a year now, and we’re excited to finally give our bedroom the attention it deserves. Adam and I have been using small, mismatched nightstands that we “borrowed” from the kids’ rooms, so these new DIY Gustavian nightstands are a big change!
You may remember how obsessed I have been with French design lately, ever since we bought our French Colonial two years ago. Technically, these DIY sideboards could be considered more of a Swedish Gustavian style and less of an interpretation of the French Louis XVI style. The French Neoclassical and Gustavian designs featured scalloped and scalloped detailing, and I’m excited to make my own drawer fronts!
How To Build Your Own Nightstand
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Many thanks to 84 Lumber for sponsoring this project. It was wonderful with them! You may remember last year when we collaborated on our children’s bunk bed project. 84 Lumber is a family owned and operated business, and having grown up as an Air Force kid, now as an Army wife, I love how veterans support our military through career opportunities, military philanthropy and appreciation events.
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I got this beautiful white oak hardwood from 84 Lumber. They can deliver almost any tree to you and have over 250 stores in the US. Visit 84 Lumber to find a store near you.
The Gustavian style was named after King Gustav III of Sweden in the late 1700s. King Gustave was a Francophile and was greatly influenced by French design after visiting the Palace of Versailles, where his close friend and ally Louis XVI lived. During the reign of King Louis, French design moved away from the ornate and elegant Baroque and Rococo periods to Neoclassicism, which was more about clean, classical lines and symmetry. It was a reaction to the excess and grandeur of the Rococo era. The casting is delicate and graceful, with fluted and grooved forms predominating. It’s less fancy, but formal. “Humble and Grand” that feels both modern and traditional.
Here’s a little background for all you history buffs out there: King Gustav was the first neutral head of state to recognize the United States fighting for independence from Great Britain. Gus was a great admirer of King Benjamin Franklin, and to this day the Swedes are proud to have been the first to express their wishes to the Americans. Notably, French Neoclassicism and Swedish Gustavian style are still dominant today, some 250 years later, a testament to this timeless design.
Herringbone Farmhouse Nightstand
As always, I’ve written complete plans for download so you can DIY these Gustavian nightstands for your own home. I even made a mock-up of the proposed plywood cut, taking into account the grain direction of the wood and how the individual components fit together. You should get a two-night stand made of 4×8 plywood. Cut the plywood in half before making the cuts for each individual nightstand.
This is my first time working with white oak. I’m used to building with pine, spruce, hemlock, poplar and black walnut, so I thought working with white oak would be the same. It is not. It was definitely a learning experience for me, and to be honest, it was really hard. The natural wood tone of white oak is beautiful, which is why I chose it for this project. However, working on it was a new experience for me, with new challenges to overcome.
The wood of white oak is very dense and fine-grained, which makes it nice and strong, but I find it less forgiving than softer woods like pine or spruce. Softwoods have wood fibers that are flexible and “bend” when you drive a screw into them, while white oak is stiffer and stiffer. Almost every time I screw in a screw (even before drilling) the wood cracks! You must stop, repair the damage, clamp, glue and wait before moving on. And because the grain is so dense, it’s not affected by water and moisture, which means the glue is even more difficult because the glue doesn’t penetrate deep enough into the wood fibers to make that bond.
How To Build A Diy Nightstand
If you are working with white oak, be aware that it can take some finesse and a lot of patience. Take your time and be kind to yourself – you will make mistakes and that’s okay. Take it as an opportunity to learn and improve. One of the main reasons I love working with wood is that it is such a dynamic medium!
I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out how to do the beadwork on the front of the box. I thought about gluing a set of semi-circular shapes to the front of the box, but didn’t want to cover the beautiful and expensive white oak with pine shapes. So that kind of defeats the purpose, right? There are triple-grain, fluted end mills on the market, but since I want the flutes to go through the grain and not next to it, using these bits on the milling table just doesn’t work for me. After a bit of searching I finally found this router page that allows me to point the grain profile in any direction. Doing this by hand takes a lot of time and effort, so I outsourced the job to a CNC machine. If there is a choice with a robot, I will choose a robot! Of course, I know that not everyone has access to a CNC machine, so it is possible to make this grainy part with a hand router, but it takes more time and effort. Alternatively, you can skip this step altogether and end up with a beautiful piece of furniture.
After completing the drawer fronts, I cut them to length. These DIY nightstands go together! I designed them to have plenty of storage space, with two large drawers and a shallow shelf above. I installed full ball bearing guides for the soft close drawers (very fancy, I know) and attached the beautiful beaded drawer fronts. I just can’t get over how this simple bead detail takes the design to the next level!
How To Build Diy Nightstand Bedside Tables
Like my original Woodhouse nightstand design, I included a font shelf that I love. We can keep the top of the bedside table free and clutter-free and have space for a laptop, tablet or bedtime reading. Another neat update is the addition of a hidden power supply to smartly supply electronics.
Check out the full advanced slides! You don’t have to worry about things getting lost behind boxes. They are also soft ie
. When making drawers, I always recommend using quality drawer guides because they are less of a headache than cheap, flimsy drawer guides.
How To Build Diy X Stand Nightstands And A Headboard
I compare the natural white oak to our black iron bed. I designed these nightstands to be slightly taller than standard nightstands. The taller ones match the height of our bed (our mattress is extremely thick) and I love how they turned out.
What do you think? Are you a fan of the French Neoclassical style or the Swedish Gustavian style? If you build this project, I’d love to see it! @ tag me on social media or share your project here on my website. Can’t wait to see DIY versions of these Gustavian nightstands! Learn how to make this beautiful table with plenty of room for blankets, books and games.
I have a new desktop project and I am very happy with how it turned out! I’ve partnered with my friends at Build Something to bring you printable plans for this project that you can download on their site. This side table has plenty of storage and space to display your books or home decor. I’ve shared photo instructions below and included a video of the entire build.
Foundry Select Adalyne Bamboo 2 Tiers 1 Drawer Modern Beside Table, Nightstand Cabinet Organizer Rack
The beauty of making your own furniture is that it costs a lot less than buying it. In fact, I recently talked about it and said that I build equipment that matches my focus. Enough! If the furniture lasts for years, great! But if my tastes suddenly change and I want to create something new for the room, buying new furniture will not break the bank.
Another big advantage? If something needs fixing, you can easily fix it. For example, ours
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