"card" table......

I'd like to share my most recently completed project,

This has been a bit of a marathon due to some  unforseen discoveries, more of which to follow, surfice to say it is now finished and I am pretty pleased, (pleased that it's finished and with the end result). The cards on the top are decoupage, and the inside of the drawer is dark green,

I scanned the playing cards spread out on the scanner in five lots on to thick lining paper then cut them out and stuck them to the table with paste.

The paintwork is matt emulsion with a wax finish and the top has been varnished.

Now, I don't want to go on and on, but this table has been a voyage of discovery (pain in the proverbial). We bought it at auction (heavily painted) but it looked pretty nice and didn't inspect it too carefully but when we picked it up realised most of it was made of the dreaded MDF!  

 

 I've got nothing against MDF in the right place but that place is not in a table that I want to distress to expose the wood.

 Okay, the legs and the trim were pine so that's not so bad I can still distress it. Started to strip it and found a strange pattern coming through..........

very odd, the whole thing was covered in this weird paper which was an absolute pig 

(no dissrepect to pigs) to get off! 

 

 So eventually all stripped I decided to stain the timber bits darker for when it showed through the distressing, all back on track.

After priming and the customary age contemplating what colour to paint it, decided on the green and away we go, looking good. Took some sand paper to it to expose that wood and........oh dear, where I sanded it, it went yellow! Not a nice creamy yellow that you could just about get away with but a nasty acid yellow. What next! this would never do, so decided not to distress it after all. 

When it was all painted and waxed I got on with the paper sticking and all was well, except, this little table had one last suprise for me. The acrylic varnish I used to seal the top made the colours smudge on the paper.......aghhhhhhhhhh! I blotted it where I could and although it's not as perfect as I would of wanted it, it's not too bad really and it will have to do because I am beyond the point of no return with this one..............and breathe.

I do have one more card to stick on it though............................

thanks for reading!