Redoing a Card Table

On my trip to Catholic Charities I found a nice small card table for 3.00! Of course I happened to buy it during the 50% off sale... so it was 1.50. How could I pass that up?? It seemed pretty old and it was obvious the previous owners had done their own remodel using contact paper.

The second I saw the table I knew I would try decoupaging it. I have been wanting to decoupage something... and at 1.50 I wasn't going to be heartbroken if it came out poorly.

Ironically, on my Pinterest run that very same day, I found a link to a table just like the one I purchased showing how they did theirs. Very smart idea using a table cloth as a cover. You can find that Tutorial at The Bearded Family Blog.

These are the best before pictures I could snag. 
I had already started to take it apart. I get very impatient.
(Zoey was checking it out and sniffing it all up)


Impatient... This is an understatement! Thanks to the blog post I found as referenced above, I did learn how to take the table apart. Great first step. From there... it was all on my own. I wanted to decoupage as I said, and I wanted to use Fabric. The only reason I wanted to use fabric is because it was wide enough and I did not want any seams... Plus I have a ton of fabric laying around so it just made sense.

I didn't have Modge Podge, so I used the homemade version, which is Clear Glue mixed with Water. I bought a small container of Polyurethane at Catholic Charities, so I decided to splash some in there as well. No idea why... I just thought "Why Not?".

The first thing I did was spray paint the metal base in white. Below is the before and after. You can click the images to see them larger.

I told you I was impatient right? Well.. I didn't bother to wash down or sand the metal base. I knew I should, but I just wanted to get it done. Weather is getting cold up here and we were expecting a frost that night. Ok... I am making excuses, I just didn't bother.

Next I took my home made Modge Podge solution and using a sponge roller, I started to apply it to the fabric on the table top. Mistakes? Of course I made a few. The first one was that I didn't wash down or sand the table top at all, and to boot, I didn't put any of the solution on the table part itself to adhere the fabric to it from the under side. Not very smart all in all.

The Sponge roller was not working well. There were tons of tiny bubbles all around, so I took a soft bristle brush and brushed all the bubbles out.

I forgot to mention, I forgot to remove the glaring orange price sticker which was showing right through. Dopey Move! LOL! I decided I would just tell people that I did it on purpose to show the bargain I got. :)

I have to be honest... as it was drying, I just dreaded not having done any of it the right way. I would go and look at it now and then over the day and kind of groan at myself. 

Eventually it all dried and from a distance, I have to say, it looks really good! The table top is kind of rough to the touch, but I believe that is because I put a thin coat over fabric, which in itself is already a rough surface. On one side the fabric bubbled up. I am sure if I had glued the fabric down like I should have, it wouldn't have happened.

In the end... I really like it. It looks great, and it will function. What more could I ask for? Yes, I will follow the rules better next time I try and decoupage something and I promise you, I will be doing it again.

So here it is... the semi finished version of my very first decoupage project.
Voila! (The picture below was taken before I trimmed it all up etc)

I will post better pictures when the sun comes up. :)

Looking forward to my next project.

Kelly