French Provincial
piece of furniture.
It isn't the one that I have refinished in this particular post, but, since in my rush to begin I forgot to take a before photo it will have to do.
My neighbor observed me refinishing a piece of furniture out on my deck one day and said she had this bedside table that she no longer used. If I wanted it, I was welcome to have it.
Of course you know exactly what I said, "YES! I would love to take it off your hands, thank you."
This bedside table was FREE!!!!!
So, when I took a good look at it the drawer function was perfect.
I could see that it was missing one of its drawer pulls,..not a problem. I could either replace it or create a substitute.
The paint finish was not to my standard, but that was GOOD! Who want's a piece of furniture they can't add their own personal touch to? NOT ME!
All that was left to do was to imagine what direction to take this piece.
So, it suddenly occurred to me to go to the wild side.
As you can see from many of my previous posts, I love animal prints.
Many people think they are tacky, but take a good look through an interior decorating magazine sometime,....just about every room depicted contains either a rug, a piece of furniture or a decorative pillow made with some sort of animal print.
The ones I see predominantly are zebra and leopard which just happen to be my two very favorites.
In this post we are going to brave the Serengeti to capture a leopard,.....
O.k.,....now that we have a leopard, we can begin.
Alright! All you animal activists can just simmer down, the leopard is just for inspiration.
So, here I have an ugly bedside table, some leopard print napkins, some paint and some rope.
I bet you're thinking WOW! This girl is just like MacGyver.
I wonder what she could make with a stick of gum, an old plate and some dirty shoes?
My answer would be simple.
I would chew the gum, then stick it to the bottom of the dirty shoes and then set the shoes onto the plate,....now VOILA, a snow board!
NOTE: If you happen to be too young to know who MacGyver is,....I think I might hate you! Ha ha!
As you can see I am prone to flights of fancy.
Anyway, back to the post.
Here are the steps I took to complete this project.
1) Scuffed up the old finish enough for it to accept new paint.
2) Painted the entire exterior of the piece with, you guessed it, gloss black.
3) I antiqued the black to make the white finish underneath peek through.
4) I used a mixture of chocolate brown paint and water and rubbed the entire surface with it. This step makes the exposed white paint appear more muted to give a vintage look.
5) Now, I separate the layers on my leopard print napkins.
6) I decoupage (How to decoupage) my single layer napkins in a pattern to the inset side panels of the table.
7) I seal the entire piece with 2 coats of varathane.
8) Now, I take my rope and pass three strands through one of the holes drilled for the original handle.
I tie the three strands into a knot on the inside of the drawer.
Then I proceed to braid the three strands together and pull the other end through the remaining handle hole, then I knot on the inside of the drawer.
NOTE: We have now created a custom handle.
Here is the finished project.
I hope this post has inspired you to incorporate everyday items such as napkins in this case, into your home decor.
The sky is the limit when creating new things, just let your imagination soar for a while to discover the secret artist within!
Have a great day!
Until next time, bye for now.
