How To Make Laminate Furniture Look Custom

Just because the price you pay for a piece of furniture is cheap, doesn't mean it has to look that way.  I bought this nightstand for my son's room from a local trading site for $8.  I couldn't beat that price.  But when my husband brought it home, I almost died!  I felt that for $8, I got ripped off!  It didn't even look like I should have payed that for the condition it was in.  It was bubbling on the top, it was scratched everywhere, and the laminate was peeling on the bottom.  But I had to be thankful for what I got and knowing I was going to paint it anyway, I figured I could work with it and turn it into something great.  And that's just what I did.

Before we even get into the make-over, I have to apologize.  This nightstand got it's fresh look a while back, and the pictures were taken before I purchased my camera.  Which means the pictures aren't of great quality but I tried my best! If you want to not continue reading this post, I'll completely understand.  No! Wait, don't go!  I'll change them soon, I promise! :)

Here's the before:

Pretty bad, right?  The picture the seller posted online was from a different angle.  It was taken straight on so that I didn't even see the top.  Clever, seller.  Very clever.

I had to get to work and luckily, because this piece is laminate, I didn't need to sand it. But I did take a very light sandpaper to the top to smooth out that huge rough spot.

I used Zinsser Primer and gave the nightstand a quick, thin coat with a 4 inch foam roller.

The color I chose was Behr's Southern Evening. It was a nice blue color that would fit perfectly with my son's color theme.

I didn't take step by step pictures because this was probably the easiest piece of furniture I have ever painted.  It took two coats to cover everything and including drying time, it was done within 5 hours.

To make it a little more custom, I took some white paint (Behr's Popped Corn)  and painted the "accent" stripe to give it a personal touch.  And I also painted the handles white as well.

I think the outcome of this nightstand was perfect.  My son's room has a nautical feel to it and I thought this was a great addition to his room.  

Here's the after:

Simply by slapping on a fresh coat of paint and adding some accent stripes, a pattern, or even hand painting, you can make any boring ol' laminate piece of furniture look custom and pretty.  

I can't stress to anyone enough that you can make your house a home simply by putting in some extra work where needed.  You don't have to put in extra money.  After purchasing the nightstand and the small can of paint ( I had everything else on hand )  I got a great nightstand for my son's room for $11.  It's a nice accent piece in his room and it was made just for him.  

Put your creative cap on and you're bound to come up with a great way to re-do some plain old furniture to make it look exactly how you want it.  Get to it!