How to revive a pine bedside table?

[carrotsandcelery]

A friend recently gave us 2 lovely pine bedside tables/cabinets.

They are basically in good condition but the tops are quite stained and worn.

How do we revive them? Do we just sand in the direction of the grain and then varnish them or do I need to do more?

They are going to go in my ds's bedroom (he is 7) so any exciting revamp ideas are also welcome

Would it work to decopatch it? eg with children's comics or something like that?

I had two very skanky bedside chests of drawers, dating from when I was a kid. I used car spray paint (prime in Grey first) to cheer them up. Looks great, just make sure you do it outside on a dry still day!

hello CarrotsandCelery you healthy crudite you
This prolly is better off in Arts and Crafts - will move it over for you now
M Towers

Thanks Purple. Did you sand them down first?

Thanks Olivia - I thought so!

That is really helpful. Thank you RipHerToShreds.

I have ordered some old comic books from ebay and I am going to attempt to sand it down and decopatch it with the comic books, doing the bits which aren't flat in paint.

The blog you linked to should give me an idea where to start with the sanding and painting etc.

I have two and only need one so I reckon if I make a total mess of it he will still have one iykwim.

I did this the other week. It will give you an idea of what you can do. Any questions just fire away

Queen maeve that is brilliant. It is basically the comic book version of that which i am aiming for. You may regret offering to answer questions! Thank you.

Just a light rub with fine grade, as well as a good scrub with sugar soap :)

Thanks Purple. I am really excited now and itching to get going.

With spray paint, an adequate supervised 7yo should be able to do bits like drawer fronts - but don't let him spray for too long at a time, rattle cans are tough on the wrists and fingers :)

wow, QueenMaeve, that is lovely. I almost feel inspired to buy an old pine bedside table from ebay to do the same for my dd's room. Except that I am hopeless with a brush. How do you prevent the paper wrinkling when you stick it? You said you used plenty of pva glue - ime that results in wrinkles.

No just keep smoothing it lightly with the paint brush. I used wrapping paper here but you can buy thinner paper specially for this. The decopatch.co.uk is a good site. Great variety of papers and really reasonable prices. I used it to cover drawer fronts, really easy to work with.
Glad you all liked it.