Those darned night stands!

Well, they're done.  No hardware yet, but that's something that will depend on where they end up going, so it will just have to wait!

I think you saw them when they were in this state.

Look how nicely those drawer slides look inside that cabinet.  They look like they should work just fine, don't they?   And, you can clearly see that I put the drawer slides on the drawers correctly!  I know what I'm doing by now, you betcha!

WELL, they didn't!  I worked and worked, and in this picture they look like they're going to work.  But, see how there's more of a gap on the right side of that bottom drawer?  That's because the cabinet ISN'T SQUARE!!  And, when that happens, the drawers either don't go into the opening at all, or they're crooked like this one!  

I decided to give it a break and start the staining process.  Isn't that a beautiful color?  I loved it as I rubbed it into the wood.  I don't like the grain in oak, but I do like to see the grain in poplar and birch, and even in cheap, fir 2x material!

The beautiful golden color though was just a tease!  I dried a "browner" color with much less gold and red in it. 

I wanted a beefy looking top so I used 2x10s, gluing them together to create one large piece of thick lumber.

The 2x material is soft wood so it takes the stain very differently than poplar or birch.  It retained much of the golden color, and you can see that in these pictures.  You can sort of see the side panel here; I used some cove moulding inside a frame.  Looks nice, I think.  

   

Eventually, I did get the drawers to work (just don't ask me how, it wasn't pretty!).
That looks like a divider in the center of that cabinet, but it isn't.  I can't, in fact, tell you why it looks like that!

Here they are, stacked on top of each other - because I am out of room in my garage!  I think they're Very Pottery Barn-looking.  Sort of like this, but bigger.  Pottery Barn sells these for $549.00

All the drawers do work, they're nice looking , and I really like the size of them.  I also purchased a pretty cup style handle with some filigree in them, and I think they would have added some femininity to them.    HOWEVER, I just didn't like them in my room and I'm going to stick with my pretty yellow night stands!
So, does anyone out there need or want some nice, sturdy nightstands, with drawers that work?

I figure I have about $130 in material in them - so for the cost of the material, they're yours!  You just let me know!  My phone's not ringing yet...