DIY Roadside Stand From an Old Media Cabinet

No construction plans needed, this DIY wasn’t just simple, it was affordable, too (like, under $100!).

Is your Pinterest feed overflowing with charming roadside farm stands? Same here. After months of admiring them from behind a screen, I finally decided to create a DIY roadside stand of my own to sell baked goods and cut flowers from my garden. But with limited time, a tight budget, and a quiet, dead-end street in the city, I knew it had to be simple, small, and affordable.

That’s when my DIY instincts kicked in. I remembered an old media cabinet gathering dust in the basement, and just like that, I had the perfect starting point. With a few quick upgrades, it was transformed into an adorable little roadside stand.

The best part? My community loves it. Every time I set it out, it sells out fast, and in just one weekend it’s more than paid for itself.

Here’s everything I did to create my DIY roadside stand, plus my top tips for starting one of your own!

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The Makeover: From Trash to Treasure

This media cabinet was one of the first things my husband and I bought when we moved into our first apartment together. Truthfully, I don’t even remember where we got it from (probably Walmart), but it doesn’t really matter. For the purposes of this DIY, all that matters is that it is made from MDF particleboard.

We used it for the TV in our apartment living room, and it served us well for a few years. However, once we moved into our house, we quickly replaced it with a built-in fireplace and shelf combo that my husband built. Since then, it’s gathered dust in the basement workout room…until now!

Here’s how I transformed it from dusty and neglected to pretty in pink in just a couple of days.

Step 1: Strip it Down to the Bones

Here’s what we started with.

In this picture, the media cabinet is turned on it’s side, which is how I decided to utilize it. As such, I needed to remove a few things to make it fit my vision.

I took the existing feet off the cabinet, along with the (now) vertical shelf running up the middle. I also took the backing off, since we had cut into it anyways. I was left with a rectangular box with one shelf in the middle.

Step 2: Construct a Base

Since I live in the city, I have no intention of leaving the stand out full-time. I’m sure I wouldn’t be allowed, anyway. So, being able to move it to and from my garage was important.

While I’ve seen some people build their stands in old wagons, I decided that castor wheels were the way to go for me. Luckily, we had some kicking around in the garage.

I built a simple base for the cabinet using 2x4s and then attached the castor wheels to it. Then, I screwed the cabinet to the base, and voila! A mobile roadside stand was born.

Step 3: Add Shelves and a Backing

At this point, I knew I needed at least one more shelf to make the stand functional. I also needed to add a new backing, preferably made from wood. Not only would this help protect the contents of the stand from the elements, but it would also help to stabilize the cabinet.

I cut a shelf to fit the cabinet from the extra MDF board I removed in Step 1, and cut a backboard out of spare plywood I found in the garage.

Step 4: Sand and Prep

This step is so important. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my short time doing DIYs it’s this: do not skip sanding and priming if you plan to paint. Especially if you’re repainting MDF or particleboard. I beg you.

Trust me, I’ve tried. A few times. Inevitably, I always have to redo my work. While it can be hard to delay the satisfaction of getting paint on your project, this extra step is so worth it.

My go-to primer is the Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3, which can be found at Home Depot, Walmart, or online at Amazon. This stuff doesn’t come off of anything (including your clothes so be careful) so it’s perfect for priming MDF and particleboard.

Before you prime, make sure you give your surface a light sanding so the primer has something to grip on to. I used an orbital sander with a fine grit.

Step 5: Paint!

Now the satisfying part, paint!

Why pink, you might ask? Well, initially I actually planned on painting it white. I even bought the white spray paint. Then, I realized that white would be difficult for people to see.

Remember, I live on a pretty short, dead-end street. I expected that a lot of people coming to the stand will be stopping at the end of my street and looking for it, so I wanted it to be visible. Plus, a bright color might draw more people in out of pure curiousity (as it turns out, I was right about this!).

Instantly, I thought of pink. My daughter loves pink, and her love of the shade is helping me reconnect to my inner child, who, also loved it (I even recently color-drenched an entire room in my home pink!).

So, I made another trip to the hardware store to grab the brightest bubblegum pink paint I could find, and man, it was the right call. It added so much personality and charm to the stand. I absolutely love it.

For reference, it took two-and-a-half cans of spray paint to do two coats on this DIY roadside stand.

Step 6: Add a Roof

Honestly, I hummed and hawed about whether I wanted to add a roof. Usually, the roof helps to weatherize the stand and protect against rain. However, I didn’t have the right materials to make the roof truly water proof, and I wasn’t ready to spend the money or time on adding a corrugated metal or plastic sheet to the top (I was aiming for free, here).

In the end, I decided to add a roof using extra pressure-treated fence boards we had sitting around, and I’m so glad I did. Aesthetically, it made the roadside stand look like a roadside stand rather than just a painted bookshelf. Plus, it was easy to do with just five pieces of wood.

Step 7: Accessorize and Finishing Touches

Lastly, the best part! Finishing touches and accessorizing. This is where my vision really came together. I had just received some gorgeous peel-and-stick wallpaper samples from the new Susan Alexandra x Chasing Paper collab and I knew this was the perfect project to utilize them (this is the Summer Trellis pattern!). I also added the metal cash box and a hanging chalkboard sign I found at the dollar store (to be used for the price list).

It’s so cute I’m obsessed!

Shop the DIY: Tools and Supplies

Like I said, this DIY was pretty straightforward. Most of what I used we already had laying around, including the cabinet, the spare wood, the castor wheels, the primer, the wallpaper, and all of the tools. The benefits of living in a DIY-loving house!

That said, I’ve included a list of all the supplies I used for this project. In addition to the links below, I also used some spare 2x4s, a couple of pressure-treated fence boards, a drill, lots of screws, and a saw to cut the wood. See below for my essentials.

Primer: Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer
Spray Paint: Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X Ultra Cover Spray Paint, Gloss Berry Pink
Top Coat: Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X Ultra Cover Spray Paint, Semi-Gloss Clear
Wallpaper/Contact Paper: Summer Trellis by Susan Alexandra at Chasing Paper
Cash Box: Metal Wall-Mounted Cash Box with Lock
Chalkboard: Wooden Double-Sided Hanging Chalkboard Sign
Chalkboard Marker: Liquid Chalk Marker Pen
Palm Sander: CRAFTSMAN Orbital Sander, 5 inch
Sand Paper: Sanding Discs for Orbital Sander
Castor Wheels: 2″ Castor Wheels Set of 4

Tips for Starting a DIY Roadside Stand

From start to finish, this project took me just a couple of days. I started on a Friday, and by Sunday night the construction/makeover of the stand was finished. Then, by the following Wednesday, I opened the stand for the first time. With a few days of sales under my belt, here’s what I’ve learned.

Market Yourself

The idea of marketing your charming farm stand may feel kind of odd. Inviting capitalism into the pastoral and all that. However, it doesn’t hurt to keep a marketing mindset as you navigate setting up your roadside stand for success. You want it to be worth it, after all!

For me, this looked like creating a stand that’s aesthetically pleasing (I.e., “Instagrammable” and memorable); giving it a catchy name that also makes its location easy to remember (“The Stand on Sackville,” aka my street); posting about it regularly in a fun and organic way; and keeping prices low and accessible.

At the end of the day, this stand is a fun endeavour for me, but I want to see it do well too. A few marketing strategies can help you get there, whatever that looks like for you!

Connect with Your Community

Yes, the stand is adorable. But the fact that I’ve connected with my local community is the real reason that it’s doing so well. For me, this looked like posting in my neighborhood Facebook group about the stand on a regular basis.

I’ll admit, I live in the perfect neighborhood for this to work well, and the fact I even have a neighborhood Facebook group is a stroke of good luck. But I’ve also been posting to my Instagram about it, talking to my neighbours about it, and even getting my close neighbours involved in it too.

It’s turned into an unexpected community moment that is so rewarding. The feedback has been overwhelming positive, and people are consistently waiting in the wings every morning I open the stand.

If you don’t have the good fortune of having a neighbourhood Facebook group at your disposal, there are other things you can do. Consider hanging posters in your neighbourhood, engaging with your local farmer’s market, spreading the word on social media, or relying on word of mouth through friends and family. The options are endless!

People Love Fresh Bread, Like a Lot

On that note, I drastically under-estimated how much people love fresh bread. Like, they really love it. There’s such a demand!

At this point, I can only handle making three full loaves of sourdough bread per day, which I cut into half loaves, and they sell out within a couple of hours (did I mention I live on a dead end street!?).

It’s quickly become the breadwinner of the stand, pardon the pun, and I’ve adjusted accordingly. If the people want bread, I’ll give them bread. I’ve already added sourdough bagels, English muffins, and other baked sourdough goods to the menu rotation.

Keep Things Manageable

Lastly, don’t forget to set boundaries and keep things manageable. I’m notoriously bad at this, with a tendency to dive head first into things and overwhelm myself quickly, especially when I find success. However, I vowed to keep this DIY roadside stand fun and manageable, and I plan to stick to it. Trust me, it’s already been a challenge. But for me, this looks like sticking to a weekend schedule rather than being open every day, sticking to a maximum number of sourdough loaves per day, and more.

If you’re interested in creating a DIY roadside stand of your own, let my project inspire your journey. You don’t need anything big or complicated when you’re just starting out. Maybe that old, neglected piece of furniture in your basement is all you need to spark an unexpected moment of community connection.