Thrifted Laminate Side Table Makeover

We all know how expensive furniture can be so when you see a good deal on a used piece of furniture that just needs a little TLC, it is hard to pass up!

This little side table was only $5. I think it is originally from Target so it is laminate, not real wood, but it is in good shape and solid. -and bonus, it has a drawer, so it came home with me.

I knew it was nothing my paint sprayer and a little imagination couldn’t take care of and was going to make 

You can paint laminate furniture pretty easily. The key is to be careful when sanding because the actual wood part is very thin. You just want to take off the shine and rough it up enough to hold the paint. This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure.

Once it was sanded, I wiped it down with a damp cloth to get all of the dust off and taped off the inside drawer slides and the drawer to prep it for paint.

To get a really even coat of paint, I used my Finish Max and sprayed it with a bright white gloss paint. I went over it twice about 15 minutes apart. (By the way, this shelter from Home Right is my absolute favorite thing. It not only gives you a great spot to do your spraying, but it blocks the wind- which can be a battle when painting furniture.)

Now that my side table had a new coat of bright white paint, I wanted to add some character to it. I thought about stenciling, but then I remembered that I had this super cute fabric in my stash!

I cut out 2 pieces to fit into the inlays on the sides of my side table, and one piece to fit into the bottom of the drawer.

You can use liquid laminate, mod podge, or 2 parts white school glue to 1 part water, to attach the fabric pieces to your furniture.

Take your pieces of fabric and lay them flat on a clean surface that you don’t mind getting messy. A cutting board works well for small projects like this.

Paint the back side of your fabric with the liquid laminate until the fabric is wet.

Place the fabric onto your furniture and apply another coat of liquid laminate with your brush making sure to smooth out any wrinkles.

Do the same for the insides of any drawers you have.

Once it is on, let it dry.

And now you have a really fun detail on your piece of furniture!

When my little mister saw this he was so excited and this will make the perfect night stand for the big boy bed that we need to get asap (because he is literally outgrowing his crib.)

The best part is that someday he won’t want cars on his nightstand, and you can literally just peel off the fabric and have the white table back!

I guess I officially need to get going on finding a big boy bed! And a clock to go on this table that will keep him in bed till the sun is up- one can dream right?

A big THANK YOU to Home Right for sponsoring this post. All opinions and words are my own. See my full disclosure here.