Heat Stroke Evasion Part 3: A Refinishing Revelation

I love me some hand-me-down furniture.
My parents gave me a couple of old night stands at the beginning of the year.

Last weekend I finally got around to refinishing them.
The only part I was a little sad to see go was what may be the only act of vandalism I ever committed.

Apparently, this end table was in my room as a kid. Yeah! Carve your name into your parents' furniture, you rebel!

I have been partial to using latex paint and paint brushes for refinishing, but decided for this project I would try spray paint.
If I work on my technique, this may have changed my life. It is SO easy. If I had chosen to paint them with a brush, I probably still would be working on them.
No brush strokes! Done in hours rather than days! HALLELUJAH!
Since this was my first time using spray paint on furniture, there were a few problems which made completing this project take a little longer it would normally. I had to sand down a few drips and repaint, but the same problem arises using latex paint, but fixing it with spray paint was so much easier.

The color is perfect, but I felt it needed just a little something extra. I've seen decorative paper Modge Podged to furniture and thought I would give that a shot.
I got some black and white striped wrapping paper and stuck it to the back of the night stand and the bottom of the drawers.
Again, with practice this will be awesome.
I wasn't able to work out all the bubbles, but oh well.

This was the perfect project to try out this stuff - the night stands go under the giant drafting desk, so the flaws in the paint job and the bubbles in the paper can't be seen, but the pop of yellow and the awesome stripes can be seen when entering the room.
Another success from far away!