Painting kids' furniture on the cheap

This afternoon we tackled my son's bedside table. For a former guest room, I grabbed a paper towel and wiped white paint all over its mauve finish. Can you tell I only work the cheap and lazy way?

The whitewashed look was too blah for a little boy. What to do when it's too cold to paint it green properly? Go for a casual, watercolor approach. Time to unearth those same four tubes of 97-cent craft paint (the same paint for his room's volcano painting and an older birthday gift to my husband.) Reusing the four key colors ties everything together.We flipped through the pages of our animal encyclopedia. I let my son choose some easy-to-paint critters, like this wiggly snake and red beetle.

I let him paint the general shape and fun details like eyes. Then I added more shadows and swooped around the animals with thin layers of color.
The whitewashed surface was dinged and scarred. I striped the edge in green, then scribbled patches of all four colors on its top.

While the paint was still wet, I blotted the surface with a damp rag, gently lifting and blending. This leaves a light, cloud-like finish.

It only took us about half an hour to complete the project. My son is thrilled with the fun result. He's already requested ants and a red-eyed tree frog for the other table!

Painting kids' furniture, part 2