Caveat Emptor

I've been looking for nightstands for our bedroom for over a month. I nixed the matching ones from the Storehouse a long time ago as paying over $300/piece seems absolutely outrageous to me. I've been searching every store that I could think of that would carry anything remotely like a nightstand. Got an end table? I'm there. A phone table? I'll take a look at it. A small table in general? Give me a call!

Well, I finally found something that I thought looked reasonably decent and it was only $30! I also had a 20% off coupon at Bed, Bath & Beyond, so how could I resist? I figured Kevin and I are going to beat the heck out of them anyway, and finally a piece of furniture that we don't have to worry about. As usual, that is not the case.

I put them together last week and I somehow ended up covered in black soot (that would be the black finish wearing off onto me.) I went to wipe them down with a damp rag and they started to bubble. Hmmm. I persevered and putting little paper squares under each foot (in case the black paint decided to rub off onto the new carpet) I moved them upstairs.

Our bedroom is already an oven, because of its location in the house, but now it became a toxic oven thanks to the fumes from the nightstands. My great buy is currently exiled to the master bathroom, which we're not using yet, so they can release their deadly fumes - alone.