Whether you're working with an IKEA standard (Image 1), a classic piece (2, 3), something fairly beat-up (4), or someone else's bad makeover (5), paint is a cheap and effective way to bring new life to furniture.
If you have a dresser or chair that you think could use a coat of red or blue, check out Sarah's tips for how to upgrade furniture with paint (and hardware). To add pattern, try consulting Lena Corwin's Printing By Hand; I had a good experience using it to stencil a filing cabinet à la Image 10. You can go freehand like Chroma Lab (Image 7), or consider following advice from this video to make a repeating pattern.
Images: 1. day-lab via Design*Sponge 2. Lonny 3. Country Living via Apartment Therapy 4. Little Green Notebook 5. Second Coat Design 6. Living Etc 7. Chroma Lab 8. Rebecka Oftedal for Design*Sponge 9. Kim Johnson via Houzz 10. Lena Corwin via Apartment Therapy
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Marisa and Peter's Playfully Eclectic Home
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Z2 iPod Dock and Wi...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
oh how I love painted furniture. I purposely look for scratched or chipped furniture so I won't feel bad about painting. I especially love bright or unexpected colors. I think this all began a few years ago when I first saw the yellow ikea trollsta sideboard.
What a great mix of styles! From fun/feisty to uber sophisticated -- shows how many different directions you can go in with painting new and old pieces. #5 (second coat design) is charming. #6 (Chroma Lab) blew me away. However, each one was has something to inspire.
Barb Blair has a series on Design Sponge called "Before and After Basics" that I found extremely helpful when I re-painted a Craigslist dresser for my son's nursery. Layering on stain and wax after the paint gave it a beautiful finish - and I never would have thought of it on my own. I highly recommend checking out the tutorials if you're thinking about painting something. Barb rocks!
Oh! We picked up a dresser that looks just like #4 from a thrift store awhile back. It looks fabulous painted.
I love #1. I have been considering this Ikea bed for my kid's room and though the color was too blah and hospital-like. Now I am convinced that it is the right bed just the wrong color - time to paint away.