Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Decoupage a Table {With Modge Podge}

I have to admit,
of every craft,
every project,
every idea I have ever had,
this is by far my favorite.

From the idea of it, to the process of it, to the final product.
More importantly, it wasn't even for my house.
This is was for my sister and the last part that
I am going to show you from her Room Makeover.

I started off with a table from Goodwill.
I think it was like $12 on half off day.

Confession: I bought this table like 2 years prior and was supposed to do this table for my sister like 2 years ago and wasn't confindent in myself enough to know what to do and was also afraid to screw it up. When I realized that I wanted to start this blog to hopefully help others see that you don't have to be so afraid, thats when I made the decision to dive in and try it.
I sanded it down so that it would take the paint and because sometimes I don't feel like priming things (I don't suggest following this advice, but that's just the truth)

Next I wanted to paint it green because I was going to sand it down in places and thought the green showing through would be awesome. As you will see later, I didn't end up sanding it down but it was still fun to paint it green.
Can you see that sweet little hand with the foam brush, yep, that's Boogs. He just can't stand to not be doing crafts with me or at least can't stand to just watch instead of being involved. lol!

This is the final product of the green.
Next I wanted to paint the table an off-white.
I didn't have an off-white.
I had a Khaki color and a white.

I did a little experiment and it worked out great!
I decided to mix the two colors and it worked out great. Now I am not a paint expert, and maybe for a wall it wouldn't work, but for this project it was perfect.
Here is the Final look of the table painted white. It took at least 2 coats to cover it but I loved out it turned out.
Next is the fun part.
The green and white, those are napkins.
Yep, just dinner Napkins that I bought at Williams Sonoma Home when I worked there for like $2 for the whole pack. I loved the color and I loved the big pattern of the flowers. When I bought them I knew I wanted to use them for this project. I already had the Mod Podge (which I have used for a ton of projects so I would suggest getting some) and then a foam brush and a rolling pin.

I started off by cutting the border off the napkins because I didn't want that on the table because I  knew it wouldn't look like it all ran together. The border would have given it a destinctive end.
 Next I had to remove the layer on the back of the napkin. This is EXTREMELY important. If you do not do this you will have a ton of bubbles in the finish and it will not lay against the base that you are using, giving it more chances to rip or crack.
I found out the hard way.
I removed one layer but it wasn't until I was 1/2 way done with the table did I realize there were 2 under layers of the napkin. The first part of the table was already done so there was nothing I could do about it but I did fix it for the last part of the table.  
Next, since I had a pattern on my napkins
and I wanted to know what it would look like.
I layed it out on the table how I wanted it to look.
Then I set them on the side of the table where they would go on.

Now on to the Modge Podge.
 I would work in sections about the same size as my napkin. I used a brush and spread the Modge Podge on the surface. Then I layed the napkin down over the Modge Podge. I wanted the napkin to wrap around the lip of the table so I also made sure to add the Modge Podge there too.
I was planning on using a rolling pin to flatten out the napkin and make sure it was flat with no bubbles. I quickly found out that doesn't work and it just rips your napkin. Instead I used a flat card, like a credit card, and that worked well. Once the napkin is layed on to of the table with the Modge Podge under it, then you put another layer on the top of the napkin.
This was the table about 1/2 way done. Right around the time that I realized that there was an extra layer there.
As you can see in this picture the detail really stands out from the napkin. When you are decoupaging something, it isn't supposed to be so dominate. It is normally something very subtle.

This is the Final Product!
I can't tell you enough how much I love it.
This turned out so well and I am so happy with it that I want to do it with another piece of furniture that I have in my house.

I have also see then decoupage done with tissue paper. How Fun!

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3 comments:

  1. That is so clever!! I love seeing all of your great ideas and how they turn out :-)

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  2. Hi - I really love this idea. Do you think it would work on a chair? and if yes, do I need to use anything more than Modge Podge for a final seal? Your advice would be appreciated. I love this project idea.
    Thanks,
    Louise

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very pretty and very creative!! I'm inspired!!

    ReplyDelete

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