I found this random junk pile in a soon-to-be neighborhood near us while looking for blackberry bushes one day. 
No wonder people put up signs like this!
I really don't get why anyone would just dump their things on someones property, there are so many places to drop off unwanted goods. Sadly I found this hot spot after it had rained for a couple days, so I missed out on a couple great and fun chairs that were water-logged. :(
But I did find this beauty.
Ok really I didn't find it like this I found two nightstands looking much like this only way dirtier and with weird flying bugs crawling on it! Seriously the things I will do for a free item- I question my sanity sometimes!
To turn it from 2 of those to this...
Recruit some free labor...
1. Prepare the furniture- Clean and Sand.
The pieces that I found were nightstands with drawer units. I couldn't find the drawers in the mass mess, so I had to remove screws and drawer stoppers.
2. Assemble your shelf. Stack the 2 pieces, use wood glue and glue the top to the bottom, then attach the 2 pieces with a flat metal bracket, see a similar one called a Flat joining plate. (sorry I didn't get a picture of mine!) I used one bracket with 4 holes placed horizontally between the 2 nightstands. 2 screws going into each nightstand.
3. Glue 4 wood shelves into place. I used 1/4" plywood found in the scraps section at Home Depot and had them cut down the scraps to the size I needed. I paid $1.00 total for them and the cuts- big spender I know! :)
Two of my shelves were a little off so I had to use some heavy-duty sand paper and sand them down to be even with the nightstand. (as seen in above photo)
4. Much to your hubby's dismay paint your beauty spicing up your boring white-walled rental!
I used a foam roller and a cheapo foam brush and it left a great finish- no priming here. :)
5. Finish shelf backing. I took the false bottoms from the original nightstand, cut 2 of them down to size with the jig-saw. Shh... don't tell the hubby I used it while he wasn't here- he gets a little worried with me and power tools especially since we live in the boonies. And his worry is probably rightfully deserved- I am the daughter of the same man who lost parts of fingers on 2 separate occasions! 1st to a cement mixer when he was in his 20's and the 2nd time to a table saw while working on the cabinets for our basement bathroom. And I most definitely carry his clumsy genes! Phew that was a tangent! Back on track...
I wasn't too worried about the appearance so I put a light coat of paint on both sides then covered the board with fabric. I used hot glue to secure it to the back side of the board, wrapping it like a present.
6. Attach shelf backing. I attached the 4 different backing pieces using a heavy duty staple gun.
7. Move your shelf on inside and decorate!
This one will end up in my daughters room and will most likely be adorned with a plethora of toys plus a couple extra goodies. Just need to find some better baskets! :)
Final cost of this project was approximately $7.00!
Nightstands= FREE!
Shelves= $1.00
Quart of Paint= $4.00 (purchased from habitat restore!)
Fabric=~$2.00 (probably less, fabric was clearance at JoAnn's about a year ago!)
This most definitely was a hodge-podge project and tutorial, so please ask if you need more info on any particular step!
AND if you made it all the way to here, I've got another super great labor intensive project that I just finished last night as well! I'll try to get it up soon! :)
