Bugs were bugging me! A DIY bedside table project.

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Vintage love

🇦🇺 So, I loved my vintage DIY bedside tables. I really did. Made them myself ages ago and they were a perfect mix of vintage charm with a touch of the industrial modern style. They used to function as office decor, and held address cards way back when. Little did I know they were also a bug magnet.

Ticking noises

I started hearing these tiny ticking noises. Only in the middle of the night, in the dark. Hubby thought I was crazy, he couldn't hear a thing. I thought it must be static electricity, as next to my bed is also a power plug with my phone charger. Removed those, nope that wasn't it. Hubby started to hear it too (at least I wasn't crazy). So I turned to trusty google. It must be bugs, surely. But then which ones? We saw little mounts of saw dust in the inside of the cupboard. Wood worms? Longhorn beetles? Who knows! They're still yet to identify themselves! But clearly they had to go.

Bug busters

First we stained the inside of the cupboards with smelly wood stain, and filled the holes. Made no difference. Tick tick, the little f-ers were back. Then we created a little gas chamber and tried to gas them with petrol. Even doused in petrol, in full sunshine for a week in 35 degrees, and they returned in full force. They even seemed to have gained renewed energy and ticked even louder! So that was it, bedside table had to go.

DIY bedside table project

I went on the hunt and found these ugly, but filled with potential, bedside tables at the thrift shop. Cost me 5 euros each. Bargain! The pastic handles had to go. No one should ever have to look at those again. Instead, I took the leather handles of the old bedside tables to repurpose, as well as the legs. I first attached the hairpin legs to the original bottom of the ugly white bedside tables to raise them a little.

Then I spray painted the whole lot black and attached the leather straps.

Too easy but brand new bedside tables for the grand total of 18 euros. Ten euros for the cabinets and a bit extra for the supplies I didn't already have. I also needed to buy an extra can of spray paint and black bolts. Because I am fussy and thought black bolts would look nicer than the chrome ones.

And this is the final result in my bedroom!

I love how these bedside tables turned out with a bit of DIY! I am pretty pleased with myself, and my bedside tables! And as an added bonus, hubby is pleased with me because I am not forever and a day chasing sounds in the middle of the night. Hopefully the critters are gone forever.

What do you think?

Love, Marieke