End Table Painting Ideas

If you recently redid your decor or picked up a stay end table on sale, don't let it go to waste. Just like you attack your walls, doors and closets with fresh paint, a coat of paint or designs can perk up that table and make it fit right into your home's scheme. Whether you use your end table to hold items or purely as decoration, painting it can give it a new lease on life. Does this Spark an idea?

Super Stripes

Get your end table to match two distinct colors in your room without much effort at all by painting it in stripes. Purchase two colors of paint for the table (if the table is already a single, solid color you like, just buy one other color). Paint the entire table the lighter color and let dry. Stretch lengths of masking tape along the face of the table and press down securely. Don't forget to do stripes up the end table legs as well. Paint the table again with the darker color. When the table dries, peel off the tape to reveal the stripes. This style of painting is ideal for theming an end table to your favorite sports team (such as purple and black stripes for the Baltimore Ravens football team) or an upcoming holiday (red and green for Christmas).

Total Trompe

The artistic style of trompe l'oeil painting takes its name from the French phrase "trick of the eye." The style involves painting in such a way that the viewer thinks he is seeing something completely different than what is really in front of him. For your end table, you can implement trompe l'oeil in a variety of ways. If your end table is going to rest up against patterned wallpaper, you can use paints similar to the paper's colors to simulate the design onto the table. Paint the table's face and legs and guests may not be able to tell the table is even there except for what's resting on top of it. You can also create a trompe l'oeil on the top of the table, such as painting to make the table look cracked or rotting, to look as if the viewer is peering down into an ocean or as if something is already resting on the table, such as a bowl of candy.

Great Graffiti

Graffiti may be something you envision on a street corner in a gritty city, but the art form dates back to Egyptian monuments and the ruined city of Pompeii. Today, people who create graffiti are known as artists and work to perfect their "tagging," which can bring high prices at art auctions. To make your own graffiti, grab a couple of cans of spray paint and your end table and head outside. The beauty of graffiti is that you can't really go wrong. Let your creativity run wild and your hands to the talking as you spray designs, letters or even your name into the end table. Anything you don't like, cover up with a dark spray paint color, let dry and start work over again.