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Photo by Haley Truong on Unsplash
Have you been putting off buying a new nightstand due to the cost? If so, you’re not alone. Like vehicles and other large purchases, most lower-middle-class families put off buying new furniture as long as possible. But there are some dangers to doing so.
There are a lot of things that could go wrong with your old nightstand. If you want to avoid injury, specifical injury to crawling infants and small children who don’t know to watch out for those dangers. Here are a few of the things to look for when deciding how long you can wait to replace your nightstand. If any of these describe your nightstand, you need to order a new one right away.
Tacks or nails poking out
If you have an older nightstand that has taken some abuse, you might have nails or tacks from the drawers as they break down. These tacks or nails are very sharp, but also very easy to overlook. A small child could potentially harm themselves enough to require stitches. In any case, the injury should be treated and your tetanus shot should be up to date if such a scrape were to happen.
Rough or splintering wood
Again, as nightstands break down the wood of the frame can become rough, warped, or beginning to splinter. Once this happens it is dangerous to use the nightstand. Most people think of splinters as tiny pieces of wood removed from a finger with tweezers, but the splinters from such a nightstand could be as long as a few inches and cause real injury.
Pinching fingers in the drawer’s bottom or hardware
If you have ever had a cheap nightstand, you know that the drawer bottoms can eventually wear out. If you overload the drawers the bottoms will wear out faster. Once that happens, you either have to reattach the drawer bottom or get a new nightstand. Even if you can snap the bottom back into place, it will continue to come loose and pinch fingers.
You can also get fingers pinched in the drawer hardware if it becomes loose. You may be able to tighten up screws and keep using the nightstand a little while longer, but you should be looking to replace it as soon as possible.
Hazards when repairing nightstands
If you really don’t want to spend money on a new nightstand, you might want to attempt a DIY restoration. While this might seem like a good idea on the surface, it actually increases your risk of injury. It is very easy to pinch fingers, get splinters, or suffer another injury in the course of trying to repair a nightstand drawer. Sanding the rough wood of the nightstand might seem simple as well, but if the wood is warped or too far damaged it will only waste your energy and pose more threats for splinters.
If you don’t know where to find cheap nightstands, 1StopBedrooms nightstands are a good place to start.