I spent $80 to make my nightstands look like a million - and that sure beats spending over $1500 for new ones! There are a ton of little things you can do with what you currently have or what you happen to find secondhand make it look like a treasured heirloom - and my nightstands are here to prove it. (Links toward the end of the post to point you in the right direction if you're feeling inspired!) I hate to state what might be the obvious but, I can be kind of cheap. Especially with furniture. Two reasons -
- It's way WAY too expensive now AND
- They don't make things like they used to (I'm old enough to say that now)
- I'm adding a third and way more important reason - all the fast-furniture stuff being turned over so rapidly and being tossed in the dump after the fad has passed is grossing me out
So unless its a mattress or upholstery that can be infested with something gross, I try to buy used from Marketplace, my local antique faire, or garage sales before I shell out for new. And I feel zero weird about it, I encourage you to do the same. There is soooo much cool stuff out there, you just gotta have a little vision sometimes....which is what I was forced to do with the ugly nightstand/dresser set my husband bought off Marketplace a couple years ago. He saw a few factors that were important to him which solved for "x" in the "we need bedroom furniture" equation: wood (check!), matching set (check!), good price (CHECK!). Unfortunately the STYLE factor never made it into his equation, but its all good because I was more than happy to solve that one. When we first got the set a few years ago I painted over the original darker wood stain with Creamy by Sherwin-Williams, an awesome color choice, which I was hoping would convince me the hardware maybe wasn't so bad. 
But it kinda was, they gave me no joy and they bugged me. New nightstands made from solid wood are stupidly expensive and I just wasn't interested in spending over $1500 for a new pair. So I took to e-bay and found some vintage Chinese brass pulls and tiny brass knobs that I was pretty much banking on working out. All up the 6 pieces came to about $80 which is next to nothing compared to buying new nightstands, and the paint was a color I already had on hand. Fast forward a year and now I found pieces on Amazon that give off the same vibe, they are much cheaper and you don't have to win any auctions to get them. TIP - if you're working with a piece that has holes for hardware that you can't match, go for the options with backplates on them to cover up the old ones! All in all, this was an affordable upgrade that did this set many, MANY favors. Links for some of the hardware inspired by my antiques below -
As an Amazon associate I may earn commissions on qualifying purchases of items linked in this post.
brass backplate with pin lock https://amzn.to/4dgQfGT
brass knob pull set of 2 https://amzn.to/3Siabkk
brass drawer pull 4 pack https://amzn.to/3Sm4kuB
brass dynasty knob pull set of 2 https://amzn.to/3WyI4zV
brass drawer pull with backplate https://amzn.to/3ylzCL4