I recycled an old cabinet into a sunflower-themed potting table, and you can view it here: http://www.mindspring.com/~billgoodman/p... .
The first step was unloading the pile of junk that had been accumulated in the cabinet for a few years. A thorough cleaning revealed a sturdy, well-built cabinet with ample storage and workspace. It just needed a facelift, starting with paint.
I chose white and used a flat finish, exterior grade. If you know your table won't be outdoors, interior paint will be fine. With either kind of paint, you may want to add a sealer over the entire project when you're done.
To add a little pizzazz, I decorated the sides of the cabinet with sunflower stencils. I used Wall Stencil by Plaid because they have large features and easy-to-follow registration lines. My exact stencil was Sunflowers, No. 26649, and I flipped the stencil over to get mirror images of the sunflower plant on both sides of the chest.
To decorate the top, I just used the head of the sunflower in each of the four corners. That's one of the beauties of stencils -- you control what portions you want to use where.
I used Dry Brush Stencil Paint by Plaid for the cabinet. The stencil package will tell you which paint colors to use, or you can always use colors of your choice. These dry brush paints work very well, but because they appear to go on dry, you may assume too quickly that they *are* dry. Don't. Give them at least 24 hours to dry completely.
You can use other types of paint, of course, such as acrylics, but you'll have to be very careful about it bleeding under your stencil. Hold tightly! Stencil brushes are the best choice for applying any type of paint, but with acrylics, you can use small pieces of sponge if you want. A separate stencil brush for each color works best, and Stencil Brush Cleaner, also by Plaid, works quickly to remove the paint and keep your brushes in good shape.
The inside of the cabinet has a removable shelf. So while the sunflowers dried, I painted the shelf and the entire inside bright yellow.
The cabinet could have been complete at that point, but just in case I wanted to hide some of my messier potting supplies sometime, I made a curtain for the front. It's a simple
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