UPDATE - foiled sofa table

You might remember a cheapo sofa table I redid a while back. No? Let me refresh your memory:

 After I faux silver leafed it (ie. aluminum foiled it), it looked like this:

One of my wonderful readers commented and asked if I was going to do some cool lettering on it like I had done on other pieces and it got my wheels turning.  I decided to go with a french/postal theme and now we have this:

I used a white chalk ink marker I got from Michael's and I also used my trusty black sharpie.  First I drew out all the postal images (thank you Graphics Fairy!) in the white chalk ink marker.  Then I sanded them all down to almost nothing and added some black to bring out the details.  Sanded it back down again then waxed with light wax.  That was enough to just make the images subtle on the top, but if it hadn't worked I was totally prepared to use dark wax all over the top to tone it down.

 

And, voila! It's finished now.  Going to the shop this weekend.  Simple and sophisticated.

Have a smashing weekend!

Foiled sofa table

On the heels of my last post I'd like to share a new table with you.  I picked up this run of the mill pine sofa table last weekend because I really liked the clean simple lines.

It had some water spots on the top and it was, well, boring.  It didn't have any 'life'.  Hopefully, I've fixed that problem.

I used basically the same technique as this post but instead of modpodge I used this spray adhesive which I picked up at Michael's.  It's like Elmer's spray adhesive but WAY stickier.  I coated the table outside and then brought it in to work.  I also sprayed each individual piece of foil before applying them.  I had a small box that I used to spray in so I didn't get sticky all over my house.  {one tip - if you get adhesive on your hands use oil to remove it.  I used body oil, but cooking oil would work fine - soap and water are hopeless}

After the table was dry I did a three step wax process - clear, clear mixed with Graphite ASCP for an aged look, and then clear again.  It gives the foil this 'soft' look, not super shiny like foil normally is and the Graphite mixed with the wax gave it a well worn look.  Without further ado, here she is:

I stripped the top and stained it with Minwax walnut stain.  This is two coats and still not quite dark enough.  I will probably add another coat and then wax it with Hannants medium wax.  

I just finished it about an hour ago and was too excited to wait to share it!  I just love the way the foil and dark top play off each other.  What do you think?