Carnival-Striped Side Table for My Big (Little) Girl’s Room

 

My 8-almost-9-year-old’s room is getting another facelift–not a huge redo, just a little tweaking.  When we moved to Nashville last summer, she told me she was done with the pink and green bedroom she had in our old house (below):

Sigh.  I loved that room!  But, I understood that she was ready to be done with pink.  She chose a pale aqua for the walls and we paired it with white and celery green.  It was nice and peaceful, but that’s not really what she had in mind.  I talked it over with her and we decided that bold punch of color would help jazz the room up a bit.  After much deliberation (red? peach?) she actually decided on watermelon pink.  Yes.  PINK.  Again.  Granted, a brighter shade than she’d had before, but still, pink.  I had a quick giggle and got to work.

When I grabbed this little table at a yard sale for $3, it was brown and kind of homely.  The first time I painted it, it wound up with a pink top (Krylon’s Ballet Slipper, I think) and white legs, and an awesome pom pom fringe trim.

Sometimes this little table was used as a nightstand, and sometimes it went at the foot of the bed, depending on the time of year.  When we moved to Nashville, it lost its pom pom fringe and gained a celery green top:

In case you’re wondering, I loved both of those previous iterations, but hey, you’ve got to roll with the changes!  It’s her room, after all, and for $3 I can’t exactly complain that it’s an expensive antique.

When we decided to add pops of watermelon pink throughout the room, I thought about painting an awning stripe on the table top.  I simply measured the width of the top (21″) and divided by 3″ as I thought that would be a good width for the stripes.  I decided to use three different colors:  aqua, pink, and green.   After measuring and taping off my stripes with blue painter’s tape, I got to work.  Here’s the result:

The paint colors were kind of random.  I didn’t paint the green at all as it was already there–that was Krylon’s Celery Green spray paint.  The blue was from the wall paint we used in her room (I think it’s Behr’s Ionic Sky) and the pink is actually from one of those little acrylic paint bottles that costs $1 at the craft store.  If you wanted to use spray paint, Krylon’s Watermelon is a close match.  I used that color to spray the big “A” over the table–that used to be celery green.

Once I added some knick knacks to the table, the look was done.  I moved the multi-colored fabric strip shade to her nightstand as it competed too much with the table.  You’ll see it soon enough when I reveal her updated room.

I just noticed that her cord cover is missing…it must have gone with the other lamp.  Oh, well, that’s how we roll–there’s always SOMETHING that needs fixing up!

I’ve loved all the “lives” of this little table and don’t doubt she’ll get another makeover or two before my girl grows up and moves out.  The moral of the story is:  don’t be afraid to change things around every so often.  Paint is cheap!

Stay tuned for more–the room will be done (again) soon.   Thanks for stopping by!