Custom Painted Furniture

[Asha]

When we do have a baby, I am going to be using some used furniture (toy chest and dresser) that I have had since I was a child. I am going to paint the furniture, but I am not sure how I want to paint it. I am looking for inspiration. So, please post pix of children's furniture that you painted or had painted or pix of other people's custom painted furniture. Thank you!

I did a search and didn't find any other threads with this topic, so I hope I am not repeating. :)

[Allegra]

try this site for some neat examples: http://www.paintedfurniture.com/

Allegra

[Phen]

My great-aunt painted this for my father and his twin sister when they were little. It's pretty beat-up now, but it's nice to have it, I think.

Top
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d811b3127cce9f21d3e4959b00000016108AaOW7Zs4ZMk

Front
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d811b3127cce9f21d3e6959900000016108AaOW7Zs4ZMk

One end
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d811b3127cce9f21d3e2959d00000015108AaOW7Zs4ZMk

~ phen

[Marisa]

I did these when I was expecting my son. (I didn't know the sex, but I love Richard Scarry!) I used acrylic craft paints for the actual painting, and then my husband took them outside and sprayed them with sealer. They've held up well through crayons and snacktime. :)

http://www.treglio.com/album/dec/images/dresser.jpg
This armoire was my mother's when she was little; when my brother and I were babies it was brown with a rabbit stencilled on the door.

http://www.treglio.com/album/dec/images/viewfromcrib.jpg
The dresser was $20 at a yard sale, we painted it white and switched out the pulls. The little table and chairs was bought unfinished from Ikea, very inexpensive.

http://www.treglio.com/album/2005/sep/images/120_2055.jpg
Here's a more recent picture of Joey eating lunch at his table. Around the edge it says "Cars and Trucks and Things That Go" (the title of a Scarry book) and in opposite corners are the characters riding a motorcycle and a tractor. On the chairs are two bugs on bulldozers (bugdozers). :)

You can sort of see, I just took a few favorite Richard Scarry books and copied the pictures. I thought I had photos where you could see each one more clearly, PM me if you want me to take better ones. :)

[Bloomwood]

The following sites sell painted furniture for nurseries. I am using a few variations of styles to paint my own as well:
www.petitetresor.com
www.poshtots.com
www.rosenberryrooms.com

Good luck!

[SiValleySteph]

We painted a table & chairs for DS for Christmas. We used the same set from Ikea that Marisa used.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b6df22b3127cce960868b3fd5d00000016108EZuWrFs4aK

We took the pictures from a book that he likes - just freehanded them on the table and painted them with acrylic craft paint and then covered the top with a varnish.

Not furniture, but we also did murals in DS's room. We took the design from the material we used for his bedding and then freehanded the pictures on the wall and painted them with acrylics also.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4d832b3127cce9c66477e7d2e00000016108EZuWrFs4aK

[Asha]

allegra & bloomwood - thanks for those websites. i will definitely check them out.

marisa & sivalleysteph - wow! you both are so talented. i am okay at art, but not so good with drawing animals and people. though, i think sivalleysteph's animals and people are pretty doable for me. in regards, to the varnish, did you apply this while you were pregnant? i am thinking that i should start on this project before i am preggo bc i don't think i would be allowed to be around those fumes while preggo and my dh doesn't do home improvement projects.

phen - that toy chest is adorable. the condition of it just adds to its charm.

[Marisa]

reb -- I didn't do any varnishing; I had my husband take each piece out to the shed to do that step away from me, and we left them out there for a couple of days until the smell went away. There wasn't a ton of smell, but I thought, better safe than sorry.

If you're not a painter, you might consider buying some old children's books at yard sales, library sales, etc. and cutting out the illustrations with decoupage scissors. Then you can apply to the surface of the table and varnish to make permanent. I have a few old books here that I thought I'd use for that purpose, it also winds up looking really cool.