Transportation Stenciled Kid's Table

What would you do with this table if you found it at a garage sale? 

I wondered the same thing when I found it at my neighbor's sale last summer. It must have been their daughter's nightstand because her name plus a crush's name had been scratched into it, complete with little hearts all over. Still, I knew it had potential to be something amazing. But I needed to wait for my mind to be inspired...

 So, it sat untouched all winter until I was remodeling my boys' bedroom  and I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it. 

I love browsing through expensive catalogs like the Land of Nod for ideas I can copycat on my budget. They had a lot of cute transportation-themed ideas I wanted to try for the boys' room. I could easily do this because I already had these fun Martha Stewart craft stencils of cars and street lines and a whole lot of paint colors. 

I was ready for my table revamp! 

Here's what I did:

First, I painted the table with bright orange latex paint.

Then, I applied my street line stencils with a foam brush. (I used glow-in-the-dark craft paint for fun.)

Finally, I added my cars after the street lines were dry, using navy and aqua blue. 

After a finishing spray of acrylic sealer my table was done! 

It fits perfectly wedged in between the bunk beds with a tiny fan propped up on it and adds lots of color to the room. My two year old loves using the track to push his cars and trains on- it turned out to be the perfect play table.
(Come and see what I did to their entire room! click here for the big reveal!)

The nice thing about experimenting on cheap furniture is that you don't have to worry too much about messing things up-you didn't pay a lot to begin with, and paint is so forgiving.

So, if you haven't painted furniture before-what are you waiting for? What potential treasures do you have waiting to be given new life with a fresh coat of paint?

Linking up with these parties.