French Provincial Nightstands Makeover

Check out this french provincial nightstands makeover with french blue furniture paint.

Get inspired with more painted nightstands ideas here.

pair of matching wood french provincial nightstands before makeover

Have you heard of the Amulent ceramic based furniture paint? We gave it a try and wanted to fill you in on all the deets!

So what is Amulent paint (From The Chippy Barn)?? How is it different than chalk-based paint? Well you can head here to read all the info on that.

The biggest thing that stuck out to me is it’s self-leveling technology. You know I hate brush strokes showing and want a smooth flat finish.

That reason alone was why I wanted to try this new paint out!

closeup of the chippy barn amulent paint packaging and paint color chart

Table of Contents

Supplies used for French Provincial Nightstands Makeover

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Krud Kutter
The Chippy Barn Amulent Paint in Old Blue
Painting Sponge
220 Grit Sandpaper
Varathane Polyurethane in Satin
Van Dyke Brown Glaze
Behr Latex Paint in Suede Gray, Kindling, Alpaca and Black

Prep Nightstands

I prepped these french end tables just the same way I normally would (more on how to prep furniture here).

Paint Nightstands with Amulent Paint

Then to test out the leveling technology of ceramic-based paint, I painted the Old Blue paint on with a painting sponge instead of with my sprayer.

The painting sponge is a great tool to use to help level out paint and avoid brush strokes and unevenness.

The only downside with the painting sponge is how thin the coats of paint go on, so it usually takes more coats of paint to get complete coverage.

This downside is usually so worth it though to avoid brush strokes! In the end though I was impressed with how great the coverage was and how smooth the paint went on!

It looks like the paint was sprayed on instead of brushed on! Wahoo!!

Distress Painted Nightstands

Next up I lightly distressed the paint with 220 grit sandpaper. Learn more about distressing furniture here.

One of the biggest reasons I love chalk paint instead of latex paint is because of how easily chalk paint distresses compared to latex paint.

Well, Amulent pulled through and easily distressed, creating my favorite farmhouse feel!

closeup of blue painted nightstand with distressing on the edges

Topcoat and Glaze Painted Nightstands

I sealed the paint with our favorite poly, Varathane polyurethane. Learn ALL of my tips and tricks on how to spray polyurethane here!

And then gave the pieces an antiqued feel with General Finishes Van Dyke Brown Glaze. Need to SEE how to glaze? Check out this video on how I glaze.

Create a Weathered Look for the Tops

For the tops we created a weathered wood finish using a similar technique as these white farmhouse end tables.

I layered Suede Gray, Kindling, Alpaca and Black then painted a coat of Van Dyke Brown Glaze on the top.

closeup of the painted weathered wood top

I thought I wanted them white washed a bit, so I gave them a layer of white wash, but realized I enjoyed the darker finish better with the blue base, so I gave them one more coat of Van Dyke Brown Glaze.

You could use this natural homemade wood stain for a weathered wood look!

Then I sealed the tops with more Varathane polyurethane. Learn more about the different topcoats for painting furniture here.

closeup of the blue french provincial nightstand finished with brown glaze and weathered wood top

The Chippy Barn Amulent Paint Review

It was so fun trying out this new paint line!

I’m super impressed with how easy it was to work with as well as how durable it is! It took polyurethane and glazing perfectly and didn’t rub off at all when I glazed over it with a wet rag.

The coverage was spot on and didn’t drive me to insanity by needing so many coats.

So head over to The Chippy Barn and order yourself some Amulent paint to try for yourself! Oh and don’t forget to ohh and ahh over their hardware selection too!

If you like how these nightstands turned out, you should check out more shabby chic painted furniture here.

side shot of french nightstands after makeover

full view of the old blue painted french provincial nightstands with farmhouse decorations

More Before And After Makeovers

Click any of these “before” photos below to view the “after” of that makeover.