a table with a tale

we inherited a side table from D's mother; it had wonderful lines and was one i always admired.

MIL's tastes were stain and varnish everything but she sure could re-upholster like a pro!

several years later, i came to  love the shabby chic look and decided to paint it -

in fact, it was one of my firsts and it really was an experiment.

 i was hooked!

it's also my first piece in decoupaging sheet music - something i have never done before.

after reading up on decoupage, i finally took the plunge.

as i write this, it seems laughable now -

but my first two tries were a disaster!

i started by cutting the music sheets to fit.

soaked the paper in coffee water for several hours, 

letting it dry overnight. 

after ironing it on a low temperature setting, i was ready to begin.

so far, so good!

i applied the decoupage, butting the edges together, 

but, alas, it bubbled...

 in lots of places!

so i scrapped it off with these results...

yep - it needed another primmer coat. 

by this time, i had talked to a friend who tears the edges of the paper,

and...found a recipe for decoupage, 

using a quarter cup water to a three quarter cup of  Elmer's Glue.

score...it was perfect!

but i wanted to stain it a teeny, tiny bit to darken it...

- AND -

it looked like this! 

DISASTROUS!

so i started over again, minus the coffee soak and another paint job,

with success this time! 

LOVE!

i wasn't sure what hubs would say about this new project,

and was shocked out of my socks when he said he LIKED it!

i grabbed his arm and said,

'you do...you like it?!'

which is huge, considering he tends to think some of my ideas are a little dorky my taste is...

well...definitely different!

(remember...he's from the era of stain and varnish EVERYTHING!)

God bless him...i felt TEN FEET TALL! :) 

here she is!

now let me tell you...

she doesn't look like this ANYTIME unless i'm dusting her or she's posing for pictures!

she sure has lovely legs!
this is what she looks like most of the time...

real life stuff! :)

and i was sorry to waste the lovely sheet music -

but i do feel like a pro now!

i was delighted to find a fat french/english dictionary at the local thrift shop

and i'll be using that in project soon.

check out my give-away!
it's open until Monday midnight, Nov 22.

...be blessed!

ox