French Sewing Table

Good morning friends...  It has been a while since I posted but,  as most of you are experiencing the same thing....  School is out and that makes for busy Moms and Grandmas...  So, blogging is always put on the back burner to our little (and big) ones needs....  Today I have a project that I have been wanting to try for quite a while but, had much trepidation about it....

A French calligraphy table.  I have wanted to do one of these for months now but, was afraid to try to do the lettering.  Then I read about a very simple method on The Graphics Fairy blog about BlockPosters.com.  you can read about here  It was so simple - I got so excited about it and had to try it right away.  So, I decided to use this table...

I picked this table up at a yard sale for $5.  Yep - $5.  The top was warped and it was looking pretty awfulas you can see here.  But, we thought it had 4 great looking legs if we couldn't fix it.  Well, it sat in our garage with some weights on it thought the hot summer last year and lo and behold the top flattened out.  How cool is that??  I had set it in the house and thought it would make a great sewing table.  But....what to do with it was the question.  Because, as you can see, it was quite ugly.

First I painted it white with some homemade chalk paint.  But, it was still pretty plain looking and a French label would look so cool on it.  So I searched the Graphics Fairy for one and found this little number....

I changed it from a gif file to a jpeg file with my I-pad then down loaded it to BlockPoster.com.  Then I just followed the instructions as written on the Graphics Fairy Link and wallah.  So simple to make a stencil to use this way.  I then traced it onto the table with artist's graphite paper.  Then I used a Sharpie to trace and fill in the lettering.

Easy, peasy....

I then decided I wanted it to have a little more dimension than it had.  So, I went over it with a wash.  I used some clear paint glaze mixed with a dab of brown latex paint.  Clear paint glaze is translucent and can be mixed with any paint color to make a simple but beautiful wash.  It's very easy to use ... just brush on and wipe off with a soft clean cloth.  It doesn't dry exceedingly fast so you have a little time to play with it. I have been using it for years on  furniture, walls, whatever I'm working on at the time and whatever look I am trying to achieve.  I love glaze.  (Now, I must tell you - I had read that several bloggers were using Sharpies to do their stenciling and thought I would also.  However, when I glazed it I did get a little bleed from the color but, with this particular table it turned out fine.  I would not use a Sharpie again for this.  I would definitely use a paint pen to forgo any real problems with bleeding and having to redo an entire project.)

I am in love with this table now and think it is going to make the perfect sewing table.  What do you think?My next projects are......

A small sewing box, a bentwood chair, and a picture frame.  Be sure to come back to see what I do with these. 

                                   Have a great day and get out there and create something.....

                                                            

Click here to see the parties I am linking to this week.

Please visit them and see all the great projects and inspiration found there....