The table rescued from "the shed"

Once upon a time, many years ago, I was rummaging around in my parents' shed and came across a side table among the odds and ends of furniture.  Ann and Ted collected "stuff" that they brought home to "the shed" where it lived while awaiting repair, refinishing, or repainting. This little table was buried behind something or another, dusty and dirty, but the paint captured my interest - it had naturally crackled and aged - and time-worn finishes were all the rage.

I wanted the table . . . Mom said "take it," so I did.  She assumed I would repaint it but once I cleaned the grime off, the genuine crazed painted surface was actually quite nice. Much nicer than could be "faked" with any of the bottled crackle finishes on the market. There were a few dings and scrapes on the top and legs, and a small section of the bottom shelf had broken off, but that was OK with me. After all, this was a "found" table, not something from Marlborough Barn.

I gave some thought to trying to paint over the blemishes, but I knew matching the color would be next to impossible - probably making the dings more noticeable rather than less.  Inspiration came in a 4 oz. bottle of Aleene's  "Paper Napkin Applique Glue" that had come in a craft kit I ordered from QVC.  (Yes, I did that.) I looked through my stash of paper napkins and just happened to have a package with wildflower and nature images that melded well with the table's paint. I was in business.

Following the directions on the glue bottle, I cut around  flowers, ferns, leaves, trees and butterflies and separated the plies (layers) of the napkin so I was using only the top layer of paper for the actual decoupage. Then I spread glue in one area at a time where I wanted a particular image to be and gently placed it on the glue. It was gingerly smoothed to remove any bubbles or wrinkles and then more glue went over the top of the image. After a few false starts and ripped images, I got the hang of it  . . . below you see the results on each side of the table.

I don't have any "before" pictures - twenty-plus years ago, I think I was still using a film camera and who would have anticipated needing photos of this little table for a blog post.  (Did blogs even exist back then?)

I must admit it took a while to finish this whole table project. I had intended to cover only the dings and then add enough images to balance the design, but once I got started, the table took on a life of its own. Although the process was fairly simple, cutting the images from the thin and floppy paper napkins was fairly time-consuming.

The top of the table

                                                                    
After I had added enough to the table and the images were dry, I used a gold paint pen and drew squiggles and dots on the surface of the table to add some interest and a bit of glitz.  I cringe a bit when I look at the amateurish pen work - it was one of my first attempts. I'm much better at it today, but it is what it is and has a charm all its own. A conversation piece, so to speak . . . with a kind of "found in a French ladies sitting room" feel.

Detail of the naturally crackled paint

If I were doing this project today, I may have used fewer images . . . I got somewhat carried away . . . but one never knows . . .

A closer look

To complete the make-over, the table feet were painted a darker gray color and felt floor protectors added to their bottoms. After several days of drying time, a clear coat was applied over the entire piece to protect the decoupage work.  A ceramic drawer pull replaced the damaged original (a gift from my friend, Donna) and its butterfly image complements the table perfectly. Finished!

If you have a tired, worn, or boring furniture piece crying out for help, try giving it a new personality with  decoupage. Book pages, maps. napkins, wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, newspaper - any type of paper, actually - can be applied to just about any piece of furniture with Mod Podge (or similar decoupage medium) with startling and unexpected results.  If you have been drawn into Pinterest, do a search for decoupaged furniture and you'll see some great stuff. Go for it!

Cheers!

The table sits in the hallway with some of my sheep