Table Makeover (also my first experiment with Mod-Podge)

A few months back,we decided to change our bed.The old one was getting to be a little too boring for our taste,so we bought a new one.Why am I telling you this you ask! I will come to the point in a minute but I love to ramble so let me be.;-)

Well ,we don't have things like Goodwill here where you can just donate stuff, so most times one ends up with all the old junk lying around.Anyhow,we decided to recycle and used all that junk wood and fiberboard and converted it into some small storage items and stuff.One of the things that came out of that was this :

It is supposed to serve as a coffe table and is quite useful ,but let's just say it was too boring for me.After much thinking ,I thought of something and turned it into this :

I may be biased, but I love it.It matches the colour scheme of my living room perfectly.I hope others like it as much as I do.

The process was simple.Here are the steps I followed, if anybody is interested.Sorry, I did not take pics of each step.Did not know I will be putting it in a blog, but it is pretty simple, so read on.

Supplies :

Mod Podge - I used Matte

Spare cheap paintbrush or a sponge brush for applying the glue

Decorative paper

Clear Varnish

Sander/Sandpaper and......

a Table !!

1. 
   
   Sand the table surface lightly.This helps in making sure that the surface is ready for the glue and the paper sticks properly.
2. 
   
   Clean the surface with a cloth or painter's rag.
3. 
   
   Oops ,before all that you can go ahead and measure the table length and width wise and decide on your design.I chose three different kinds of paper.One was a not so expensive rose patterned gift wrapping paper ,another with a nice paisley pattern and the last one was a beautiful cream handmade paper with gitter crystals.Loved that one.Since I was trying Decoupage for the first time, I wanted to keep it simple,so I cut just 1" X 1" inch squares of each paper.Do this step before you move on to step 4.Obviously ..duh.The control freak in me had woken up.Sorry!
4. 
   
   Apply thin coats of modpodge and lay the paper carefully as per your design.Use a small brayer to smooth the paper on to the surface and get rid of bubbles, if any.Be quick since Mod-Podge dries up pretty fast.Best to do it in small sections.
5. 
   
   Once the design has dried, apply another layer of Mod-podge over the entire surface .Don't worry, the glue dries clear.I applied 3-4 coats since Mod-Podge acts as a sealant.Use thin coats since you do not want visible brushcoats.
6. 
   
   Let the whole thing dry .Seal with a varnish.I don't know if I really needed to do this ,but I had read somewhere that it gives extra durability and since the table is expected to hold all sorts of things ,I thought why not!
7. 
   
   That's it .This is the result

All you experienced decoupagiers (Is that a word?? ),hope this process does not make you cringe.I do not have extensive knowledge about it and I will appreciate any comments your may have .

Cheers and have a happy weekend!

and

Debbiedoos' Before and After Party