4-handle Nightstand - After

The finish choice was pretty simple: this piece was going into my daughter's room, I only used a tenth of the off-white quart I'd purchased to redo her rocker and it would be over my dead body that I'd paint this thing pink. The nightstand was going to be Alpaca White, just like the rocking chair.

The original handles were cheap little white ceramic knobs with brass pins in the center. Two of them were broken and, even if they hadn't been, the white would look terrible up against the off-white.

I can't tell you how many online sites and stores I went to trying to find a small-scale knob that would look decent on this piece AND look cute in my daughter's room. I finally headed to a local hardware place, Menard's, and low and behold, there they were! All on sale (I think I paid about $2 for all of them) and a finish that matched the metal fixtures in her room.

As with the little telephone table I'd done, I was initially concerned about the scale of the handles. But the filigree adds a lightness to their presence that balances it all out.