Coffee Table Makeover...Mod Podge Style

Did you ever live with a piece of furniture that you really don't like for a very long time and then all of a sudden...on a whim...you want to transform it. Well, that's the story of a coffee table in our family room.

When my parents moved in with us, they had 50 years worth of furniture that they had collected while traveling the world with the army. My mom was also a yard saler/thrifter and loved her deals. They had several teak dining room tables that they bought while thrifting years ago. This table was one of them.

However, we didn't need a dining room or kitchen table, so a few years ago I switched out the legs of the dining table for the legs of a coffee table. It works great as a coffee table...large enough for all our family gatherings and parties. The thing I hated the most...my dad varnished the crap out of it. Sorry about that, but I couldn't explain it any other way. The wood was so shiny, you need sunglasses if the light hit it. Ok, maybe not that shiny, but not the natural wood look that I like.

What are my quickest options...sanding (no), chemical striping (no), painting (no) because that would require sanding and priming. What's the answer...MOD PODGE and an old dictionary!

Here is the semi before. Forgot to take a full picture of the table before I started gluing.





Guess when I started this project...the day before Thanksgiving, when we were having 25+ for dinner. I told you it was a whim.



Boy was I keeping my fingers crossed with every page I glued down. The girls were home from college and all they kept asking was...Do you think daddy will like it? Well, maybe not looking like this in the middle of the project...but I knew it would be great when it was all dressed with accessories. So I glued faster...


tore more pages out...

and glued some more!

Looks good, but needed to dry to get the full effect.

and here it was all set for Thanksgiving, just a few hours after I started.

What do you call your TV remotes? We call them clickers and we have a box of them...tv, dvd, vcr, wii.

Here it is all set for Christmas. For last weekend's party, it was covered with food and drinks and held up perfectly. We have another party this weekend, so I'll let you know.

I always put a wreath on the table...it adds some color and when we have a party, I add a pedestal plate for appetizers or a punch bowl for egg nog in the center of the wreath.

I had mentioned before I am a clearance woman...I bought 4 of these wreaths at a gift shop for $1.00 each...woo hoo!!

Here's the link to the Tool Time tutorial where I made these boxes. More ideas over at that post, so don't miss it! That galvanized plate is a switch plate from the electrical section in the ( where else) the hardware store!

When I was tearing out pages, I made sure (thanks to Courtney) to pick a few words that had meaning to our family. The girls danced their whole life together and Kelsie is still dancing at college.

Courtney is a graphic design major.

Hubby's favorite sport...Golf!

Courtney's boyfriend Courtland loves every thing to do with music.

and mine is sewing...I love to sew, but if they had the word blogging in this 1952 dictionary, I would have ripped it out and glued it right in the center! Our last name is in the dictionary, so that's fun to have that on there too.

Remember when you are using Mod Podge...brush on a coat of glue, add your paper and then add another layer of glue right on top of that. Once it dries, the top coat acts as a sealer to protect the paper.
spaceHope you can give this a try. You can use any paper...scrap booking, old books, copies of photos etc. If you want to do a smaller project, try a tray or side table to start.

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Take care,

~Karen~

I'm sharing this post at It's a Hodgepodge Friday...come join the fun! Also sharing at Just A Girl and Tatertots and Jello and Funky Junk Interiors.